It felt right to go in the morning, and right to go together. Other than the minor external damage, nothing was really wrong with the house. Henry went straight to the room that was his nursery. Emma explored ahead of Regina, eyes on bookshelves and photo frames but listening to Regina going slower behind her. She loitered when Regina did, far away enough to give her space but close enough to be there if she needed anything.
Regina stopped for several minutes at a photo. Emma wandered over and touched the small of her back.
"Hey, what's that?"
Regina held up the silver frame. It was a baby wrapped in a grey and white blanket, maybe four weeks old. Emma gasped.
"Is that him?" she asked and Regina smiled and swallowed. "I remember that face" Emma whispered
"I have so many pictures at home"
"When we go back can I see them?"
"Of course" Regina replied after a second of reading Emma's face, set on the photo "keep that one"
Emma sniffed and nodded. They found more baby photos, clothes and toys that Emma took a lot of time over. She rubbed the fabric of a baby blanket between her fingers and felt connected through space and time to her baby boy.
She wanted to explore a room Regina refused to call a library ("you should have seen my old one") which was lined with well stocked bookshelves.
"You've read all these but not Sherlock Holmes?"
"Excuse me, I have read Sherlock Holmes"
"Yeah you have now. I taught you something" Emma said smugly pulling out a leather bound encyclopaedia.
"You've taught me lots of things" Regina purred into her ear as she passed behind. It was all she could do to hold onto the book.
"Moms, come look at this!" Henry shouted from somewhere.
"Henry?" Regina called back, stalking from the room
"Moms?" Emma said to herself as she followed, another ache in her heart.
He was in the garden.
"That's the apple tree!" He pointed
"It looks the same" Emma said "like, the exact same"
Regina approached it with curiosity. "It does" she murmured. She ran her fingers up the bark and gasped as she remembered. "This is the heart of the town"
"What?" Emma frowned
Everything she knew burst to the fore of her mind. The tree, it's roots, what it meant to her, the part of her that the curse centred on, cast out of hate the magic had still centred around love and the closest thing to it that Regina had been capable of feeling. The tree was the heart of Storybrooke.
"I knew it was here somewhere but I couldn't place it. It's this, of course, how didn't I remember that?" She was talking almost to herself
"What does that mean?" Henry asked
Regina's smile when she locked eyes with him was bright and breathtaking "it means we're going home"
Regina stood stiffly at Emma's side in Snow's apartment.
"So that's the last thing that Gold needs, right? His plan was to destroy the town's heart and...what did you say?" Emma looked to her
"Tear the fabric of this realm to gain access to another, similar to how the first curse worked, but not the same. This one doesn't have quite the same...firepower, I would imagine."
"So what else does he have? That's all he needed?"
"Well yeah we think so" Emma nodded
"But you don't know for sure?" David asked
"Why hasn't Gold told you the plan?" Snow added
"I would be suspicious if he told me more than he absolutely needed to." Regina sighed with slightly more patience than she usually had for the woman since Emma recounted the entire conversation they had about how Snow could see Regina was madly in love with her. It was infuriating how it softened her edges. "You won't tell me your plan either and we're supposedly on the same team now" she crossed her arms and the cuff was visible where the sleeve came up.
Emma looked between the two of them with a tight smile that begged them both to get along.
"Storybrooke sucks" Henry said as they returned back to their apartment
"That was rather the point, dear" Regina said
"People are getting their happy endings back though, I reunited like three families this afternoon." Emma said hopefully "But it still shouldn't be like this, right?"
"It won't be for much longer" Regina replied
"Can I help?" Henry asked
"You can set the table" Emma replied
Henry slouched like she does when she doesn't want to do whatever she's been asked to. "I meant something important"
"Oh I see. Well we have to eat to survive, dinner is important. Set the table" Emma smiled
"How did my lovely little boy turn into a teenager in 3 months of living with you?" Regina asked
"Oh come on, he couldn't be your little prince forever" Regina turned to her sharply, eyebrows raised "I heard you call him that when we were looking at photos"
"Well" she sniffed and turned back to the counter "he is one"
"Then what am I? Co-queen? Are we lesbian mommy queens?"
"Supposedly you're a princess, darling, but I've never met one that skews the stereotype so effectively"
"A princess? That could be cool. Maybe I'll change my business cards"
"That sounds very smart. So now they'll say 'Emma Swan, Princess and mystery consultant'"
"Just because you never figured out what I do, doesn't mean my mystery job isn't valid" Emma said, stealing a piece of chorizo before Regina could stop her
"I know what you did"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes, consultant"
"Go on then"
"You used your bullsh-" she stopped herself and looked at Henry who grinned and waited for her to swear. "Your superpower for business purposes"
"Yeah, that's pretty much it. Consultant sounds way better though. I could be a consulting princess. I'd rather be a queen though."
"Careful, your mother is next in line. Royalty can be possessive"
Emma laughed and spices jumped into her nose, making her eyes water a little "dear god, never say that kind of sh-...stuff to her"
"Oh she knows" Regina tapped Henry's hand as he went for a piece of chorizo too.
"I know she does. She'd probably bring the bow and arrow back for a reunion tour if you said it though"
Regina laughed and for a moment all three of them were giddy with how ridiculous it all was. They laughed and it felt like something old and familiar, like their life in the city.
"Ok" Emma said, drawing the eyes of both her parents and Henry. They sat at their kitchen table after Regina won the argument of having the home turf advantage for this conversation. "We need to talk to you about something"
Snow and David both looked at Regina, though she kept her eyes on Henry. His reaction mattered the most and she wondered if they should have found a way to tell him first.
"It's...um" Emma's brow wrinkled as she struggled to find the words.
There was a diplomatic way to explain this. There was a delicate statement out there somewhere that took into account everyone's feelings and intentions and wouldn't add to her parents' disappointment in her, but they didn't have time for that. Emma pressed her lips together and looked at Regina.
Regina touched the cuff on her wrist, then slid it over her hand and placed it on the table. She folded her hands and looked at Henry sitting next to her. He didn't look angry or surprised, but he didn't look pleased either.
She guessed he wanted to know the reasons first, wanted to know why she had thwarted his heroes, the good guys, when their intentions had been to help.
"Since when?" David was the first to speak
"Does it matter?" Regina asked
"The first night" Emma replied
Regina practically felt her defensive mask of indifference slide over her face. David wiped his mouth and looked at the cuff, then at Snow. She was staring across the table at Regina.
"Why do are you doing this? Why do you insist on sabotaging this relationship-"
"Excuse me?" Regina hissed
"Why are you fighting us?"
"This is dark magic!"
"We were trying to help!"
"Stop it, both of you. We're not having this conversation again" Emma interrupted and they fell silent.
Regina seethed, remembering the hatred she had for Snow White and even though it had dissipated over the years and especially the last few days, at times she just could help but indulge it.
"Why did you take it off?" Henry asked
She let the rage drain from her face before turning to him. "It was an accident, but even if it wasn't...it made me feel something I haven't felt in a very long time. Something bad and scary. Even though they" she inclined her head in Snow's direction "we're trying to help, I couldn't have stayed like that for long. No one has the right to make others feel that way" she said pointedly glancing at David.
Snow scoffed and looked as though she was going to argue until Emma silenced her with a look.
"Bad and scary like from before? Before you were the evil queen?"
Her heart ached in her chest. She wished he didn't even have to know that part of her life, that she had felt trapped and scared, alone and tormented, like a toy kept around for the occasional amusement of others but ultimately without purpose or a reason to live. She had been weak and scared and drained of life and that was how the cuff made her feel. She nodded, unable to voice any of this in front of the Charmings.
"How did you do it?" He asked "I thought you needed magic. Are you too strong for it?"
"No, son" she said, looking up at Emma who was fighting to control a blush. "It was an accident."
She looked across at the Charmings "an accident which has much larger implications than just this. Emma took it off" There was a gasp "which means-"
"You have magic?" Snow whispered as they stared at her
"Ta-dah" Emma said weakly and looked at Regina.
"She has magic" she confirmed with warmth she usually only kept between the three of them. She let herself smile at the woman at the head of the table. Her shyness at her unknown talents. The things she still had to know about her. The woman who was so self sufficient, but quietly soaked up affection like she needed it to live.
The next morning they pulled up to the town line and stopped a few feet away.
"I wish we could just keep driving. I am so ready to be out of here" Emma said and took a deep breath
"Gold has the curse, I have the heart, all we need to do is ensure Henry's safety and we're ready. It'll be over by this evening" Regina said with half a smile.
Letting Henry go without them was hard, no matter how sure they were that he would be ok and that they would be back with him soon.
Rather than her bright suits, Bobby wore a leather jacket with a shirt underneath. Her hair was still epically quiffed but if Emma didn't know better, she'd think Bobby toned down her usual flamboyance for the kid. She leant on the side of her car looking out at the trees around them.
"Can she hear us?" Emma asked
"No, we are completely imperceptible to the outside world"
"Right" Emma said, taking another deep breath in
Regina's hand found Emma's arm and she squeezed gently "This is the only way to make sure he's safe"
"I know" Emma replied, though her heart seemed to be doing backflips in her chest.
Henry slammed the trunk of the car shut and lethargically walked over to them with his bag.
"I don't want to go without you" he said.
It took Emma milliseconds to close the gap between them and crush him in her arms. "We don't want you to go either, but you have to" she held him as long as she could without crying and released him with a kiss on top of his head.
"Mom" he said turning to Regina. He buried his face in her jacket and she wrapped her arms around him like nothing would ever get through them to hurt him. Her eyes were closed and she pressed her lips to his hair. She breathed in and Emma wondered if she was smelling him. He kind of smelled like his minty shower gel, and like home.
"Mijo" she whispered and stroked his hair "everything is going to be ok"
"You never call me that anymore" he said as tears spilled from his eyes "how do you know it's going to be ok?"
"Because" she said and he looked up to squint at her, looking for the lie. "I know that as soon as you cross that line, you will be safe, and that is all that matters" tears glistened in her eyes and they hugged one last time.
"She's watching the road so you'd better go through the trees over there and come onto the road from the side" Emma said
"I love you guys" was the last thing he said before he was gone.
As soon as he crossed the line they turned into each other's arms, both looking to fill the hole the barrier tore into each of them.
"He's gonna be ok" Emma said into Regina's hair as they watched him walk through the trees, irrevocably separated from them both.
"I know" Regina whispered but her fingers gripped Emma's jacket as they clung to each other and watched.
"Hi" Henry said, emerging from the trees at the side of the road
Bobby jumped and spilled half the contents of the bag she was eating from across the road. Henry looked at the little snacks rolling around them on the road "sorry" he grimaced. She stared for a moment and offered him the bag. "What are they?"
"Roasted broad beans"
"Ew" he wrinkled his nose. From behind the line, Emma snorted a laugh which Regina quelled with a look. "I mean. No thanks" He amended
She shrugged "So you're Henry" she rolled the bag up and dropped it through the open window onto the dashboard of the car.
"Yep. You're Bobby"
"Yep." she nodded "Henry, do you always go walking through the woods to scare the crap out of strangers you're going on roadtrips with?"
"Yeah, always" He smiled
"Smart kid."
"She's kind of like you" Regina said watching them talk. "She talks to him like an adult, you do that"
"She's not like me" Emma huffed. "And my leather jacket is nicer than hers"
"Which one?" Regina smiled up at her.
"So what did your moms tell you about me?" Bobby asked
"Mom told me you'd take me to my uncle Max's and you have all the details"
"Yep"
"I have them all too just in case. Emma told me to trust my instincts"
Bobby nodded "that sounds like her. Anything you wanna know before we head off?"
"Does your car have a name?"
"Mushu"
"Why are you doing this?"
"I owe Regina a favour" He frowned and looked up at her "Holy shit"
"What?"
"You look just like her!"
"Like who?"
"You have Emma's bullshit detector, don't you? God damn, I was gonna have so much fun telling you about how Emma used to work for the mafia but you're not gonna believe that, are you?"
"Nope. Why are you really doing this?"
"Honestly? I owe Emma more than a favour, but don't you dare tell her I said that. Anything else?"
"Do you have any better snacks and can I be in charge of the radio?"
"Wow. Cookies in the glovebox and not even a little bit, but well done for trying"
"Maybe we can take turns" Henry said, getting in
"Did Regina teach you negotiation tactics?" Bobby asked, opening her own door with a smile
"You're derailing" was the last thing they heard him say before the door closed.
They watched until the car turned out of sight. Emma let out a long sigh and Regina wiped her face gently.
"He'll have a great time with Max"
"Harper had better not spoil our son"
"Yeah our son. His nephew" Emma smiled and Regina couldn't quite hide hers at the idea of Henry's family getting a little bigger, like he always wanted.
"Ok, let's get this over with, we could be having dinner with them tonight" Regina said as they turned back to the car.
So I'm going to be honest with you guys, I'm thinking about taking this one down. I was so new to writing when I started this. I really didn't expect it to go the way it did (let's be honest, we all got a bit lost in the middle with all the pain, wow that was tough). There's only 1 chapter left so I would finish it before taking down, but I feel like this fic was such a huge learning curve. Anyway, let me know what you think!