A/N: Hello everyone! I can't believe that this story is almost over. It has taken me far too long to get this far, but I'm so happy with how much you guys have seemed to enjoy it! So, here's chapter 28! I hope you all enjoy it. So, don't forget to review/fave/follow! Thank you all so much for your support! xoxo


CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - The Council

*Three days later - Town Hall*

Emma and Regina walked through one of the hallways in the Town Hall hand-in-hand, quietly discussing their plan for their council meeting. Emma cradled a very content Amira on her hip as Regina read through the outline that she and Charming had agreed on for the meeting. The thought of plotting her abductor's demise was a little overwhelming for the blonde. She really didn't want to have to sit in on the council meeting, but her mother's very demanding request meant that she had no option but to agree. Regina hadn't said as much, but her suggestion for Emma's attendance was enough.

"Are you sure that I have to be here for this?" Emma asked after Regina had paused her reading to acknowledge a civil servant passing.

"I'm sorry, Emma," Regina squeezed her hand tightly and pulled them to a stop. "We just need you to be here so everyone knows what happened. It's going to be an incredibly trying day for you, but the council needs to make an official decision for all of us."

The blonde's dejected shoulders said everything that was swimming around her head. She readjusted the toddler on her hip and held her closer. She down looked at the tiny blonde head that rested comfortably on her collarbone and smiled slightly. If she hadn't been abducted, there never would have been an opportunity for Regina to meet Charlotte and Amira at the Children's Home, and for her to meet them at the hospital for the first time. In a masochistic way, Emma was almost grateful that the situation had led them to the girls. She and Regina were given daughters from it, Henry was given two sisters that loved him, and the girls were finally given a home and a proper family that they could call their own. Her relationship with Regina may never have grown in the way it did – it could have been an uphill struggle from the very beginning. There was a silver lining, she supposed.

"I'm going to be there the entire time, and if it's ever too much for you, then you've got this little princess as an excuse." She smiled at the toddler in Emma's arms and delicately pushed back the wild blonde curls that never seemed to stay in the same place for longer than a moment, no matter how hard they tried. Regina glanced back up at the older blonde. "I also want you to be happy with their sentences because you experienced this and you have to live with the memories of it all. That's why you have to be here."

Emma sighed. She knew Regina was right, but she had wanted to at least try to see if the brunette would cave and agree that she didn't need to be there this time. She already knew that she would have to live with their decision for the rest of her life - they had been through this multiple times in the previous days, and she had even read the full case file. She knew exactly what was going on, and she had already told Regina that she wished she didn't.

"Fine…" She drawled like the child Regina insisted she still was. "But after this we're going straight home, getting in sweatpants and doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day."

Regina grinned at the plan that surprisingly sounded heavenly - minus the sweatpants,
of course. "Deal."

She took Emma's hand again and led the blonde towards her office, where David had organised their meeting to be held. A few of the council members had already found their seats around Regina's marble conference table in the middle of the room. Belle and Rumple sat together, while Granny and Ruby sat opposite. Charming and Snow were talking animatedly with Grumpy and Doc - the only two of the dwarves that willingly put themselves forward for the council. All of Snow's faithful followers had turned up in pairs; even Archie and Marco had arrived together shortly after Emma and Regina's entrance.

The neutrals that Charming had brought in, however, simply seemed to be some of their close friends. Kathryn and Regina had attempted to repair their friendship at some point after the curse broke, so when the blonde arrived and gave the brunette a friendly hug, Emma couldn't help but smile at how much Regina had actually changed in the last few months. Ashley, Sean, Dr. Whale and a few nurses were the last of the council members to arrive.

"I told you that we should have brought Alexandra with us," Ashley swatted at Sean when she spotted Amira running circles around Emma's legs with a huge grin and a screaming laugh plastered on her little face. Ashley made eye contact with Regina, smiled and slowly approached the woman. "She's gorgeous, Regina."

"She is," the brunette mused, not entirely sure which blonde she, was talking about. She couldn't bring herself to take her eyes away from Emma and Amira as they laughed and teased each other through the oversized office. "They look so much alike."

Ashley merely nodded and touched Regina's arm. "I'm really happy for you, Regina. For
the both of you; you deserve your happy endings."

"Thank you," Regina offered the other woman an honest smile. She hadn't expected so much support from the rest of the townsfolk when she and Emma finally announced their relationship with some serious PDA at Granny's diner a few days before. She had been even more surprised to find so many people that wanted her to be happy.

When the clock on Regina's office wall chimed 11am, Charming began rounding up the rest of the council that had yet to be seated around the table. Emma and Regina ensured that they found seats beside one another and gripped their hands together beneath the table. Amira hadn't even been left alone to play for a minute before she came bumbling across the room requesting to sit on her blonde adoptive mother's lap. Emma wondered whether she had sensed the anxiety that bubbled in the pit of her stomach.

Charming remained standing in his position at the foot of the table and cleared his throat, instantly gaining the attention of the entire council. "Thank you all for attending this morning. As you have all been informed, a little over a week ago, Emma was kidnapped as she left Regina's home and held hostage in the basement of the Children's Home." He looked over at his daughter, who was obviously trying to ignore everything her father was saying by distracting herself with the toddler on her lap. She didn't need to hear this again - she had already experienced it - wasn't that enough?!

"The Sheriff's Department spent the last week trying to find Emma and investigating to find her abductor. After a long and trying questioning period, we had to result in the use of a truth enchantment to learn what really happened, and the Blue Fairy seemed to be more than accommodating. So, Deputy Lucas and I believe that we have two people in custody that were involved."

"Who do you have in custody?" Whale asked. He had been more than concerned when Emma left the hospital with her extensive injuries, and had called Snow's apartment at least twice a day to make sure that the Saviour's health was improving. With his lack of magical knowledge, Whale had been convinced that no one in town had the magical abilities to cause the trouble that they had.

"We have the Blue Fairy, as I already implicated," Charming fought the urge to roll his eyes; someone hadn't been paying attention at the beginning. "And we also have Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Or Hayden, as he goes by here."

Most of the council members looked at each other in confusion. No one in Storybrooke had actually taken a great deal of notice to the people that they didn't already know from their pasts in the Enchanted Forest, so when no one recognised the boy's name, Charming took out a photograph from a manila envelope that he had tucked under his arm. He slid it onto the middle of the table for everyone to see. A few acknowledgements of recognition passed around the table, but Emma couldn't think to look up. Instead she held Regina's hand firmer and watched as Amira scribbled on a piece of paper in front of them with a pencil that Emma had fished out of the bottom of Regina's purse.

"But what happened? What did he do?" Doc asked, completely oblivious to the irritated look that Emma flashed him when he proved his ignorance to her attendance.

"He tried to kill me," the blonde woman snarled at him. Her mother gave her a warning look about her attitude, but she continued anyway. "He knocked me out and magicked me to some basement where he tried his damn near hardest to drain every litre of blood from my body and torture me mentally and physically. Do you need to hear any more?"

Doc's face fell a ghostly shade of pale as he wished he had never been the one to ask for a few more details. He sank back into his chair and twiddled with his thumbs with a shake of his head in decline of her offer. Across the table, Regina held her and Emma's joined hand in her lap as she traced comforting circles with her index finger on the top of the blonde's hand. No words could soothe the raging fear and irritation that bubbled beneath the Emma's skin.

"But where does the Blue Fairy come into this?" Asked one of the male nurses that Emma didn't recognise.

"She aided Hayden," Regina started as she squeezed Emma's hand a little tighter between her own. "She informed Hayden of her disapproval of a prophecy that she had been told. Before we returned from Neverland, the Blue Fairy learned that Emma and I would break Rumple's curse with true love's kiss, much to her own annoyance. The Blue Fairy told Hayden about it, but didn't expect him to act upon her hatred, especially not in the way that he did."

Charming nodded in thanks to Regina as a silent offer to take over from her. "When Emma went missing, Rumple was able to use his magic to trace the source of Hayden's magic. It led us to the Children's Home, where we began our search. At this point, the Blue Fairy was questioning Hayden. He physically showed her Emma's whereabouts and her already declining state-"

"And she didn't stop him?!" Granny spat in disgust. She never liked the fairy to begin with, but this was too much.

The acting-Sheriff shook his head, but before he could say anything, Emma stood from her seat and hoisted Amira onto her hip. Her eyes were clouded with worry and lined with thick tears. "I'm just gonna… We're just gonna get some fresh air."

She let go of Regina's hand and stormed out of the office, much to the confusion of the little blonde toddler that she held tight to her body. The entire council watched as the blonde left in an emotional world wind. They all sympathised with her, but none of them were seemingly willing to follow her out of the building. Regina and Snow exchanged guilty looks, knowing that they were the ones that had convinced her to be there in the first place.

'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine.'

'Do you want me to sit with you outside for a moment?' Regina knew not to follow her immediately. The blonde needed some air and some space before she could even comprehend what she was hearing. She had experienced the worst of it, and Emma didn't want to hear about it too.

There was a momentary pause as Regina waited for an answer from the blonde. 'I'm by the coffee machine.'

Standing from her own chair, Regina excused herself from the meeting and stormed out of the office after the blonde. It didn't take long for her to hastily walk through the corridors to find Emma in the public open area of the Town Hall. The blonde guiltily gripped a handful of candy bars that she had bought from one of the vending machines.

"That doesn't look like coffee to me, dear," Regina laughed in an attempt to put the other woman at ease. She graciously took the Three Musketeers bar that Emma offered her as they sat on one of the many plastic sofas that furnished the area. "Candy bars aren't the answer, you know."

"No, but they make everything a little easier to swallow," she admitted as she watched Amira attempt to reach for the random buttons on the vending machines in between stuffing her tiny fists into a bag of cheese puffs.

When Regina spotted their adopted daughter's orange hands and mouth, she couldn't help but whack Emma on the thigh. "You know that she's not allowed those, Miss Swan. There's fruit in her bag."

Emma laughed and leaned against the brunette. "To be honest, I wasn't really thinking about fishing an apple out of the bag after all of that." Regina nodded and wrapped her arm around the blonde's shoulders and pulled her closer. "I'll remember next time - I promise."

Regina 'mhm'ed at Emma's promise and decided to address the elephant in the room. "I'm really sorry, Emma. You shouldn't have to hear all of this again." She sighed and bit into her own candy bar. It had been a ridiculously long time since she had indulged herself in the sugary confection, and Emma was right; they did make everything a little easier. "It was stupid to have made you come with us for the entire meeting. They're discussing the rest of the events now and your father has agreed to text me once they start deciding where we should go with this… That's the only bit you really need to be a part of. How are you faring with it?"

"Honestly? I'm not okay. I didn't think it would have been this hard, you know?" Emma sighed and tied a perfect knot in her empty candy bar wrapper. "I don't wanna be here and I really don't want that lot knowing the ins and outs of what happened down there. Before we know it, the entire town will know."

"But then, it will all be over. We will have moved on with our lives together and you'll be safe. We're all going to be safe after this. The chatter will die down eventually, and Storybrooke will be back to gossiping about the same rubbish that it always has." Regina squeezed Emma's shoulders. "Maybe they'll start discussing how your daughters are older than you."

Emma pushed herself out of Regina's hold with an incredibly confused look and a furrowed brow. Regina waited for a moment with a small smile until the penny dropped for the blonde.

Emma finally gasped and blinked between Regina and Amira. "Oh my god… So technically, Amira is, like, thirty and Charlotte is…" She paused to count on her fingers, ignoring Regina's raised eyebrows. "Forty-three. Our kids are forty-three, thirty and eleven…"

"Technically," Regina laughed at the blonde's animated features. If something was going to take her mind away from the conversations in her office, then this most certainly would. "And you're not even going to want to think about how old I am."

"Well, if we're living together, surely that's something I should know." Emma wagged her eyebrows at Regina with a devilish smile. "How old were you when you cast the curse?"

"Let's just say, that if you're looking for technicalities, I should be sixty-two." Regina stood and dusted off her black slacks with a grin before chasing down an incredibly overactive and orange toddler, while Emma sat staring slack-jawed at the brunette. She was too distracted by the idea that Regina was technically twice her age to see the woman magically clean the cheesy orange dust from the child's hands and mouth before disposing of the discarded packet. "Miss Swan, your father is ready for us."

Emma sobered slightly from her thoughts and pushed herself away from the plastic couch. She took the tiny pale hand that Amira offered in her own, while Regina took the toddler's other. They walked at Amira's pace back to the office with smiles on their faces and multiple teasing remarks passed between them. They had settled into such a comfortable way of life in an incredibly short time, and Emma knew that she wouldn't change it for the world. If their small little essence of normality could distract her from the council meeting, then Emma knew that she would be seeing the rest of her life through rose-tinted glasses.

As the three re-entered the Mayor's office, the chatting voices all fell into a thick, uncomfortable silence. Even Amira felt it when she released Regina's hand and begged her 'Mama' to pick her up. Emma obliged and carried the toddler back over to the conference table with Regina and retook their seats.

"Thank you for re-joining us," Charming said to his daughter and Regina, seeing how uncomfortable Emma already appeared to be and stuffed his cell phone into his pocket. "We've discussed what happened, and now we are left with the decision of punishment for Hayden and the Blue Fairy."

Regina nodded her head. "Does anyone have any suggestions?"

The entire council ignored Grumpy as he held his thumb to his throat and dragged it along his stumpy neck. Regina and Charming had already decided that a death sentence was definitely not going to happen; they were supposed to be the heroes this time, not the grim reaper. Too much blood had already been spilled between them.

"We could just send them both into a netherworld and destroy every portal to it…" Ruby suggested without having any idea if it was even possible.

"Ooh… Or we could trap them both in mirrors!" Granny threw her own idea into the mix, actually knowing that this one had been done before, and who would be better to do it than the Queen herself?! "We could smash the glass to make sure that they can never get out – they'll never be able to do what they did again."

"No," Charming shook his head. "We can't punish them in the same way. Blue withheld information and essentially tampered with our investigation. She didn't have the same involvement. You wouldn't convict a murder and a thief under the same sentence - it's not justice. They need to be tried differently."

Regina nodded in agreement. For once, Charming was absolutely right. They couldn't do the same to Blue as they wanted to do to Hayden. She tapped her nails on the table as she waited for someone else to suggest something before she lay out one of her ideas for Hayden's punishment. When the council simply shared blank looks between one another, Regina spoke up.

"When Hayden was dismissed from his family setting in the Southern Isles, he travelled to Arendelle, where he fought against Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. He escaped to the Enchanted Forest before Elsa's men could capture him and punish him for what he did." The council all turned to face the redeemed Evil Queen, patiently waiting for a brutal suggestion of punishment for the young man. "We could always return him to her hands and allow her court to sentence him. The Arendellean sentences were a little too… cold for my usual liking."

Regina smirked a little when she heard Emma groan at her wording. Behind the smirk, however, she waited with baited breath as she watched the ideas swim around the heads of the council members. Her suggestion was possible - it was simple and it wouldn't leave Hayden's demise to weigh heavily on their shoulders. She knew that Emma wasn't the biggest fan of the Enchanted Forest's justice system, and the justice system of this world wasn't something that had done the blonde any favours either. But from what she could recall, Queen Elsa wanted to crush Hayden like the bug that he was – and that would happily work for everyone.

"I like it…" Rumple finally said, breaking the silence around them. He had no memories of a dispute between the Arendellean royals and Hans, but if Regina was suggesting it, then he knew it must have been bad. "If we can convince the Ice Queen to take him prisoner, we'll be rid of him for good."

A few other council members began nodding their heads in agreement.

"You would never be able to get him there, Regina. We've got no magic beans left, remember?" Snow tilted her head, trying to state the obvious, but she had to raise the question on everyone else's lips.

Regina smiled at the pixie-haired brunette across the table. "You seem to forget that Elsa and I were friends during my marriage to Leopold. She kindly gave me an active portal to roam between worlds and realms after we first met; the mirror in my study is still connected to the Orientalis. It would take us directly to Arendelle, should we require it."

Emma looked at the brunette beside her in fascination. Their tour of the mansion had been filled with artefacts from the Enchanted Forest that Regina had willingly divulged in their storytelling. But this one, she seemed to have missed; they had, after all overlooked the downstairs study, because it had been a room that Emma had frequented whenever she was welcomed into the Mayoral Mansion.

"That could work." Charming smiled at Regina. He knew how hard it was for her not to revert to her old ideas and sentencing suggestions when someone she loved was involved. "Regina, would you be willing to escort him to the Queen's court?"

"Of course," Regina offered him a tight lipped smile and entwined her fingers with Emma's in a tight hold. She didn't want to cross realms on her own with Hayden, but since she was the only one that actually knew Queen Elsa, she had no actual choice in the matter. "And the Blue Fairy?"

This time, no one had any suggestions. Many of them had hoped that the fairy would fall from grace at some point, but now that they were in the position of sentencing her for her fall, no one could muster up a single idea.

"Could we…" Emma started, but hesitated and shook her head. "Never mind."

Regina squeezed Emma's hand and looked deep into her worried eyes. "No, what were you saying, love?"

'Could we do to her what she did to Tink?' Emma shook her head to fill the silence between them.

'What, remove her wings and take away her magic? I'm not sure… I like the idea, but only Rumple would know if it is possible.'

Emma cleared her throat and addressed Rumple at the top of the table. "In the Enchanted Forest, Blue took away Tinkerbelle's wings and her magic. Could we do that to her? She relies on her magic a lot, and it's justice for my mom since she did get cursed because of all this. It's a punishment, but it still lets her live here and try to be a normal person."

"Yes."

"No."

Rumple and Snow spoke simultaneously. Snow glared at Rumple as he grinned at her. She hated the idea of doing such a thing to the fairy. They had been friends ever since she could remember, and even though she did have a part to play in her daughter's abduction and almost demise, she still didn't believe that she deserved that.

"I think it's a marvellous idea, Saviour." Rumple practically giggled. "It is most certainly possible, but we're going to need some help from the one of her idiotic minions at the Convent and Children's Home. I suggest Sister Nova. She is always more than willing to help a cause whenever Leroy here is a part of it."

Grumpy turned a deep shade of crimson and suddenly became defensive. "We're just friends, okay? She's a nun and that just… just… plain wrong!"

Regina rolled her eyes at him and looked towards Rumple. "Do you think you can handle Blue?"

"Of course, your Majesty," he feigned a bow as he remained seated. "The Blue Fairy will be the squib that she always deserved to be by the time you leave for Arendelle."

*#*#*#*

An hour later, found the council finally leaving the Mayor's office at Town Hall, leaving Emma, Regina, the Charmings and Amira the last ones in the large office.

"Are you sure that you're going to be okay with this, Regina?" Charming asked out of concern for his daughter's love. Everyone in the council could see how worried Regina had seemed before they left, yet none of them had been willing to highlight her nervous and even weak disposition.

"I don't suppose I have much of a choice." Snapped the brunette, she glared at him until she noticed the concerned look on his face. She was worried about it, but there was nothing any of them could do about it. Something had to be done, and sending him to Arendelle was the best decision they had. It was the only one they had. Regina sobered slightly as she sat behind her desk. "It will be fine. I'll be gone for no longer than an hour, then we can all just go back to our realities."

Charming nodded and leaned over Regina's desk. "As soon as this is over, you can actually be a family."

Regina offered her love's father a thankful smile. She had been surprised at him the most through all of this. He had stood by her side and defended her to the very end. Even when she and Emma came out as a couple he had been supportive of them. Charming had been worried at first, as any father would have been, but the moment he saw how happy the two of them already seemed to be together, her couldn't help but want to be happy for them. It almost made up for the fact that Snow had kicked up a fuss in the meantime.

"I could always come with you, if you needed someone to accompany you?" He offered.

She shook her head and glanced over to Emma. "If anyone was to accompany me, Charming, it would be Emma, but that's never going to happen." She ruffled her hands through her hair in frustration. She couldn't ask Emma to cross realms with her and the man that kidnapped her. It was an impossible ask. "I just need you to make sure that Rumple will actually do everything in his power to get me back if I don't return within the hour."

"Of course."

On the other side of the office, Emma lay sprawled like a starfish on one of the couches with Amira laying on her chest in a nearly identical manner. Every time Emma let out an exasperated sigh, Amira would mimic it. Anyone outside of Storybrooke never would have questioned the child's parentage in this scene; the toddler looked and acted so much like her blonde adoptive mother, and occasionally mirrored her brunette adoptive mother's personality quirks, but in this moment, Emma and Amira looked like they had been cut from the same cloth.

Snow watched the two from the opposite couch with a grin. "You are going to teach her far too many bad and lazy habits, Em." She observed.

Emma turned her head to face her mother and held in her laughter as Amira did the same. "You're starting to sound like Regina, now." She did laugh this time. She laughed even harder when Amira squealed at the movement of Emma's stomach as she laughed. "Besides, I don't have any bad or lazy habits. Just a few… quirks. But dad seems to think I got them from you anyway."

The pixie-haired brunette playfully glared at her daughter, not wanting to admit that her husband had probably been right. No words could describe how much she loved to just veg out in her chambers sometimes when she lived in the Enchanted Forest, and when she discovered television in Storybrooke, that only seemed to get worse. That was most certainly something Emma had inherited from her. But her eating habits – that was all from Charming.

"Well, your father is a liar," Snow teased. "Just make sure than my granddaughter actually eats some healthy foods and doesn't spend all day every day in front of the television."

"Those are some habits I'm trying to ingrain in your daughter, Snow." Regina interrupted with a smile. She leaned over the arm of the couch to place an upside-down kiss on Emma's waiting lips, then onto Amira's nose when she saw the toddler purse her own lips in the same way as the older blonde.

"I do eat healthy foods." Regina raised her eyebrows questioningly at Emma as she rounded the couch to lift Emma's legs and sit beneath them. "I order spinach or kale on a pizza sometimes. And, not to mention, I eat the food that you've put in front of me since we've been living in the mansion. There were a few things on those plates that were green!"

"Occasionally eating spinach or kale on a pizza isn't healthy, Emma. You actually have to eat proper fruit and vegetables on a daily basis." Snow added to Regina's argument. However, this time, the raised eyebrows were aimed at her. "What…?"

Regina tutted and rolled her eyes at Snow's ignorance. It was only banter, but Regina knew how dense her former nemesis could be sometimes. "Snow, dear, you cooked for us daily when we were staying at the apartment, and I don't remember a single time you served anything that contained fruits or vegetables."

The pixie-haired brunette's cheeks flushed a deep shade of crimson. It had only dawned on her then that Regina was actually right. "Okay, fine. Sometimes I don't eat them every day, but I have them regularly enough to say that I eat healthily."

Emma looked at Regina and smirked. 'Before the Dark Curse broke, I never once saw her eat anything that wasn't pasta or covered in cheese sauce. She even drank more beer than I did.'

'You do know that their entire frozen compartment is full of Häagen-Dazs and pizzas, right?' Emma nodded at the brunette and tried not to laugh.

'My dad ate three bags of microwave popcorn last week while we were watching TV, and that was after dinner.'

Regina frowned in a slight disgust. Now she knew where Emma and Henry got their bottomless appetites from. 'This conversation is giving me a whole new reason to dislike your parents. And I swear, if I find out that your eating habits are just as bad, you can kiss your junk food goodbye, Miss Swan.'

This time, Emma couldn't hold down her laughter. She knew that Regina was slowly but surely warming to her parents, and their gross eating habits wouldn't have any effect on that.

"Okay, this is weird…" Charming muttered from behind the couch that Snow sat on. He had watched the entire exchange between Regina and his daughter, with no idea what was going on between them. "You can't just sit there looking at each other pulling faces without telling us what you're talking about."

"It's their telepathic connection," Snow grumbled. She acted like she hated it, but every time she saw either one of them doing it, she never missed the smile that it plastered on their faces. "And it's annoying."

Emma and Regina grinned at one another, then grinned at Snow and Charming.