AN: The last few scene changes look like this: ~0~0~ instead of this: ~0~0~0~0~0~. This is because these last few scenes all happen consecutively and aren't separating from person to person or kingdom to kingdom, merely time and place in the Shadow Castle (and sometimes from person to person still inside the castle).
Emma was sprawled half naked on the bed. Her wife had managed to take control and keep control; Emma was helpless under her touch.
"I'm so excited Chip is coming back!" Emma said happily.
"Hey." Regina looked down at the blonde as she crawled and settled astride Emma's hips. "I'm supposed to be lording my power of seduction over you and you're supposed to be putty in my hands…"
Emma gave her wife a kinky smirk, "That sounds like fun."
"Then be putty in my hands!" Regina half-whined.
"Damn, darling that is so sexy…" Emma looked off to the side to show just how sarcastic she was being.
Regina didn't do anything in response; she simply stared at her. A stare down. When nothing else worked, a stare down did.
Emma quickly swallowed and looked over the woman on top of her, a new wave of lust running through her.
Regina's stare turned playful, "You still thinking about Chip?"
"Who?" Emma genuinely couldn't place the name.
Regina smirked. "Are you going to let me ravish your naked body?"
"Yes."
"Yes, what?"
"Yes, sir." Emma gave a cheeky smile as she sat up, wrapped her arms around the witch and turned them around so she was now on top, "I love you, wife."
"I love you too. Now, let me ravish you." Regina commanded, snapping her fingers so she was on top again.
"Mmm… Magic. I like it when we use magic…"
Regina smirked, "I know." She let her hands fall to Emma's tummy and let the magic flow out of her over Emma. She watched as the blonde began to twitch and moan, and she smirked as she finally got the control she'd been wanting. "You're mine now."
"Always."
~0~0~0~0~0~
Chip had been traveling for only a day when he heard scared muffled cries in the dark woods. He veered off course and made his way into the forest's depths.
Just as the sun was dawning on the horizon, he found two kids, two human kids still alive, looking to be starving and banged up.
"Good gods." He whispered before he ran over to them, "What's happened here?"
"We got lost." The little boy whispered out.
"Why do I feel like that's not the whole story?"
"Our parents can't afford us anymore. They lost us on purpose." The girl looked up at him, "We tried to find our way back. Please help us?"
Chip stared hard at the little girl, trying to understand why she thought he would just leave them. Without coming up with a good reason that wasn't people just pretended not to see them, he scooped them up and looked to his horse, "East. The nearest village. That's where I'm taking them. Meet me up as soon as you can, okay?"
His horse nodded his head and stopped his foot. Chip ran off, full wolf speed. The horse kept up for a while, but sooner rather than later, Chip outran him.
As Chip got to the tiny, main town of the village, he looked along the one large street that had yet to open for the morning to find a doctor's office, but no hospital. He ran the kids to the office doors and started kicking on the door by way of knocking.
"Hello?! Anyone in there? Open up! It's an emergency! I have two kids! Please!" He hollered between his kicking.
A light turned on and a small, brunette woman came to the door, unlocking it, "What's happened?" She flipped her brown mane from her lab coat as she ushered them inside.
Chip followed her and put them both on the examination table, "I found them in the middle of the woods." He said as he took a moment to catch his breath.
The doctor, who had put her stethoscope on to check the children's breathing, looked his direction, "And you…carried them the whole way here?"
"Yes." Chip nodded.
"From the middle of the woods? What constitutes the middle of the woods?"
"The halfway mark between the Western Castle and this town." Chip said, still catching his breath.
The doctor looked at the children, "That had to have been at least a day's journey… Did you feed them?"
"No, it only took a half hour and I've no food."
"It took you only a half hour? What are you? A werewolf?"
"Yes." Chip said as he finally looked to the doctor he had been talking with.
The doctor turned and looked at him with surprise, "You're a werewolf?" She didn't break his stare, if anything she made it more intense, "The only werewolves in this land are one of the queens and the prince. Though no one knows the second for certain, though there are rumors about what's happened at the Battle Royale…"
Chip nodded, "Yes, we're rare breeds nowadays."
The doctor took him in. She saw the insignia he often covered, and would have been in that moment had he not just pushed himself to the limit to get those kids to safety. She looked back to his eyes, "You're Prince Chip…"
Chip swallowed and glanced to the children behind her, "Can you just help them?"
As the doctor worked on the children, Chip watched her. He watched her put in IVs to get them hydrated, he watched her clean and bandage their wounds, he watched her make them feel safe. He just watched her. He'd never seen anyone so beautiful in his life. Finally, as they moved them to separate beds and let them sleep, Chip had the courage to ask, "What's your name?"
"Allison." She smiled, "Dr. Allison Cameron, MD, if you want my full title." She looked him over, "You don't look well. Do you mind if I look you over? I studied werewolf biology in med school…"
"Werewolf biology?" Chip asked as he watched Allison pull and tear the white roll of paper on the bed for him to sit on.
"I was curious of how someone could look so human and change with the moon's cycle…" She shrugged.
He nodded, "I must warn you… I'm nothing like you've studied." He said as he took his shirt off, thinking she was going to give him a physical.
Allison ogled. She felt herself ogle the man—the prince!—before her and she had to turn about face from him. She bit her lips and shook her head. "I'm sorry…" She turned back around, "How's that?"
"Well, please don't scream because the last thing I'd ever do to someone as perfect as you is want to scare you, but…" He let his face change, "I can half change and fully change whenever I feel."
Allison was still staring, but she was no longer ogling. She grabbed his face and brought it closer to her. It felt oddly familiar, but Chip didn't know why. Everyone tended toward the reaction after he'd made friends with them, or they were his mothers. She examined his face, zeroing in on his forehead and eyes, "Interesting." She breathed as she moved to his mouth and teeth.
She left the room and Chip wasn't sure what to do with that, so he followed. He followed her into a small kitchenette and he moved behind her to see what she was pulling from the refrigerator. But Allison stood and turned before he could think to move back and she ran into him, or maybe he just didn't want to move back because he knew this would happen. The bottle on his chest was cold, but it was worth it to see this woman, who clearly was never flustered.
"Sorry." Chip said, "I didn't know if I should follow or not…"
Allison stared at the middle of his surprisingly hairless chest. She swallowed, "You, um… You need to drink this. You've overexerted yourself. You'll feel it soon."
"So, I probably shouldn't leave right away, then?" He gave her a cheeky grin he'd learned from… someone he couldn't think of in that moment.
Allison smiled up at him, "No, I'm recommending you recoup, take it easy, and don't travel for a couple days."
Chip smiled, "I think I can handle that, doc." He took the bottle from her and opened it, flexing a lot more than needed, but getting all the attention he wanted.
Chip never made it to the Shadow Lands. He sent a note with a postmark from the town he'd made it to, a town that is famously not on the map, a town that his land and the Shadow Kingdom border. The town with Dr. Allison Cameron, MD.
He spent all his time there. Each two weeks, he began going to the town, rather than to the Shadow Kingdom and then he came home. Red and Belle followed him one trip; Red hadn't smelled either Shadow Queen on him, but she smelled a girl and she and Belle both knew their son was in love.
Chip had known that his mothers followed him, and he knew that they knew that he let them follow him. He was actually ready for them to meet Allison. But nerves came, and he tried to ignore them as he knocked on the door to her office then stepped back down the five porch steps.
Allison walked out and gave him a soft smile as she only stepped down one of the steps before they were the same height. She reached out to his cheek and rubbed it with the pad of her thumb before she leaned forward on her tiptoes and let him catch her before he kissed her. He pulled her down the rest of the stairs and bent down the few inches as he held her kiss. He pecked her twice more before standing straight.
"I missed you." She said softly.
"I missed you too." His eyes darted around.
This made Allison knit her brows, "What?"
Chip swallowed his pride, "My moms are here. They followed me; they think they're still stealthy and I can't smell them even though they know I know they followed me."
"But you can tell them you know they're here. Especially if they already know you know…" Allison knit her brows and looked down, making sure she got the wording of that sentence right. Then she realized that they were there, in the town somewhere. "Are they—?"
"You don't have to meet them, but I'd like you to some day."
Allison stared at her boyfriend, "I'm not dressed to meet your mothers. I'm not dressed to even be in your presence…"
Chip smiled that boyish smile and kissed her cheek, "You're lovely." He offered his hand.
She took it.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Cordelia would you at least consider?!" Arely swam after the woman as she turned and started moving away from him. He'd asked his grandfather to temporarily turn him merman so he could spend time with the very woman that was driving him mad.
Cordelia gave him a look, "Consider going up there? No." The mermaid shook her head and started making her way away from the man.
"Why not?" Arely stopped her again.
"Because! Humans are greedy. Humans are annoying. Humans are idiots. They're lost, they're scared, they're—"
"Humans are flawed, yes. But we are also passionate. We're loving. We're good. Do you remember Regina? Emma? You didn't actually see them together, but you saw their raw, unbridled love. How can you tell me that you don't want to experience that?"
Cordelia crossed her arms and looked around, "If it's love you want, you can have that with me here."
"I can have it with you up there too. Mermaids don't cuddle. Partners don't sleep next to each other, you don't hold each other for long periods. You can't dance. You can't stroll. You can't sit in the morning sun and thank the gods for everything you've been given. You just… swim."
Cordelia looked him over, "Yes, that not sleeping is wearing you down…"
"Can I show you something?" Arely ignored her last statement; she'd said it as an insult and he didn't care to argue over sleep.
"What?"
Arely offered his hand, "Please?"
Cordelia stared at the hand and back to him, "Fine." She took his hand.
Arely led her to a place his father told him about.
"Where are we going?" Cordelia asked as she saw the cavern they were approaching. She pulled her hand from his.
Arely smiled, "Don't worry, it's nothing bad." He proffered it once more, "I promise."
She eyed him for a long moment before finally taking his hand again.
As they entered the cavern, they saw the makeshift shelves of mainly destroyed human trinkets.
"Wow, look at this stuff…" Cordelia picked up a corkscrew, "There must be twenty of these things here."
Arely looked over her shoulder, "Yeah, that's a corkscrew. My father used to call them thing-a-ma-bobs." He chuckled.
"What's a corkscrew do? It's kind of scary looking…"
"It opens wine bottles—any bottles that require corks."
Cordelia nodded. She swam around, picked up and turned over, shattered and broken things. She came upon a picture that had been ripped in half. The part she held had a burning candle on it. She touched the flame.
Arely had followed her and was standing behind her, "It's called fire."
"I've heard of it. Why does it burn? What's 'burn'?"
Arely smiled at her, "It burns because it's hot. That's only if you touch it. In reality it's more enchanting than the picture; it also warms you." He placed a hand on her shoulder, "That's another thing about being human. You can feel warmth. You can feel heat in the summer and the bitter chill of the winter. But the best moments are the warm moments, whether you're on the sand or in the arms of a lover."
Cordelia turned around, "If you want to make love to me, you just have to ask. I can show you how it works…"
Arely shook his head, "I don't want that. Not just that. I don't want to make love to you for one night. I want to make love to you for the rest of my life." He moved from her, "I want to show you who I am. I want to ask for forgiveness, lots of forgiveness, for the man I was before you. But most important, I want you."
Cordelia stared at him a moment. She bit her lip as she thought it over.
"Okay."
"…Okay?"
She nodded, "I'll go up there with you. I'll see what all the fuss is about." She turned from him and called over her shoulder, "I've always wanted to know what dancing is like…"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Artie was still on his way home when he heard the rumblings and saw the gathering at the sword in the stone. He told his cousins to go on. He wanted to stick around and watch the clumsy drunks and gallant knights give their try to the sword.
It had become a local attraction over the years. One that Artie never though he'd consider participating in. But, he hid his insignia and watched for the rest of the day.
He took shelter in the nearest Inn and the next morning he decided that he was going to officially take his try. He just wasn't sure when.
He bided his time by people watching the large crowd that always seemed to gather through the daylight. And it was as his eye traveled over the people just coming down did he see the girl he'd had a major crush on in high school. She had been a real nerd back then too, but that's what made them so similar. Now, though, her braces were off, her face was cleared and she was clearly sought after by every man.
"Guinevere." He whispered.
He swiftly, stealthily made his way over to her as she talked with her friends—the same girls that she hung out with in high school.
He coughed to get her attention, "Excuse me, Guinevere?"
"Yeah?" She turned bored at hearing her name from yet another guy, but she was quickly taken aback. "Hi…"
"I'm uh," He smiled as he realized he couldn't remember his own name. That's how beautiful she was.
"You're Prince Arthur…" She smiled sweetly.
He nodded, "We uh, we went to high school together. You probably don't remember me. I wasn't the greatest catch like I am—" An overbearing oaf of a man pushed him as he walked by. It seemed his entire high school congregated in this area; everyone that ever picked on him. "Now." He glared at the oaf as he gathered himself.
"Yeah, I can really see how much you've changed…"
Artie narrowed his brows, "I can't tell if you're being facetious or not."
She smiled, "Are you asking me to tell you or stating a fact?"
"A little of both, I suppose." He smiled back to her.
She looked down and around, "I remember you from high school. And you haven't changed that much, but you have at the same time."
He took that to mean he might get a 'yes' if he asked his next question, "Would you go on a date with me?"
She smiled and tried to silence her friends that all started laughing.
"What are you ladies laughing at?" The same brute from before asked.
"Nothing, Gaston." Guinevere rolled her eyes.
"He asked her on a date!" One of the girls pointed and laughed.
Gaston looked Artie over, "And is our fair Guinevere going to say yes?" He laughed heartily, "Why would you ever consider dating a pipsqueak like this? I'm the only one that's ever come close to removing the sword. Everybody knows it."
"The sword?" Artie laughed, "All I have to do is pull the sword from the stone to prove my worth of Guinevere?" He looked from Gaston to the girl of his dreams, "After I pull it, will you go no a date with me?"
"I would have said 'yes' before…" She whispered.
Artie only smirked before he shouldered Gaston out of the way and he made his way to the rock. He heard many a claim of how small and pathetic and weak looking he was. He heard some people stick up for him, tell them he'd helped vanquish the dark one and Cora, then 'realize' that he must be weak from that. He rolled his eyes as he waited for the man at the stone to finally give up.
He sauntered up to the stone, grabbed the handle and pulled it out like it was an ordinary occurrence. He held onto the sword and walked back over to Guinevere. Everyone was cheering and whooping and hollering around him, but he only had eyes for her. He offered his arm with a smile and she took it.
He turned around, "I've to return to my castle as soon as possible. I must tell my cousins what I've won." He turned back around and continued walking with Guinevere to his horse.
Guinevere let Artie hoist her up and watched as he climbed on himself before she turned, "Do your cousins really care of such legends?" She indicated his sword.
Artie smiled, "Guinevere, I was talking of winning the chance to be with you. You don't mind a full day's trip to the castle do you?"
Guinevere shook her head, "Of course not."
Artie and Guinevere had been engaged for a year before he finally called it off. He told her it was because he was unfaithful and he didn't deserve her; what he didn't tell her was that he was going to go for a ride one day, heard her voice in the stables, and found her doing the horizontal tango with his cousins' and his best knight, Sir Lancelot. No, he let her keep her dignity; after all it wasn't like he'd fallen out of love with her, she'd just fallen in love with another man. It took another two years to get over Gwen, but he did eventually.
Artie had snuck out of the castle as he was prone to do and made his way to the northern stretches of his lands where he found a tavern. He'd heard through commoners' talk that it had good music and great dancing. He ordered a pint and sat in the dark shadows away from everyone; he'd just wanted to take it in.
It wasn't long before a waitress girl caught his eye. He watched her dance with patrons, he watched her interact with barflies, and he watched her wait tables all evening long. He was a moth to a flame that night; completely and utterly drawn to her. And as the crowd came and went, she had to stay and clean. She finally walked over to him and asked him if he was done.
He took her hand before she could reach for his pint, "What's your name?"
"Lyonors." She hadn't looked to see just who was trying to take her hand, she simply tried to pull from him as she did all the men that tried to pick her up.
"Are you involved?"
Lyonors looked at his face finally. She knew exactly who he was, and she quickly became flustered, "Me? No… I… I-I uh.. I, uhmm. Single." She finally pointed to herself, "Uninvolved, unattached, unwed—practically a spinster with all too many cats."
Artie didn't let go of her hand, he simply stood, "Would you like to dance with me?"
Lyonors looked around and saw that only the bartender was left cleaning a mug, staring at them, at her protectively. She smiled his way, letting him know she was fine before turning back to the Prince, "There's no music…the band's already gone home."
"We don't need music…"
Lyonors bit her lip as she stared him in the eyes. She finally turned to the bartender, "I'll lock up, Ralph. You go home."
"You sure?" Ralph eyed the man behind her.
Lyonors nodded, "Yeah, go on home to Stella."
Artie and Lyonors watched Ralph slowly make his way to the door, a scowl on his face the entire time, "Goodnight." He slammed the door behind him.
"I need to finish cleaning. Stay where you are and I'll be done in just a few minutes." Lyonors suddenly got incredibly nervous.
Artie smiled as he watched Lyonors carefully, fully wipe each table down. He helped her turn the chairs over on the tabletops and smirked when she excused herself to the ladies' room. When she came back out, he watched her carefully fold her apron and gently place it on the bar. This was when he walked over to her, he came up behind her so close that she could feel his breath, even his body heat, but he didn't touch her. He simply whispered, "Now will you dance with me?"
Lyonors slowly turned and stared him in the eyes, "Yes."
That dance led to another, and that dance led to Lyonors's bedroom…
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Is this still punishment for not telling you who I was originally?" Dunstan looked to the woman he'd fallen completely head over heals for.
"No." Esmeralda smirked before smiling, "You'd know if I was punishing you for not telling me you're a prince." She looked him over, "You look fine. Now come on."
"But I don't want to go dance in public with you at the festival." Dunstan whined. Djali stared him down and bleated, tapping a hoof against the ground. The Stormhold Prince held his hands I surrender, "Okay!" He said relenting, "Okay, Djali. I will go dance with you and Esmeralda." He patted the goat's head and moved to his lover, "But this is the last one." He said of warning, "The last one for a while, right?"
Esmeralda tried to outstare him, but he was resilient and much too cute to say 'no' to again, "All right." She nodded.
Dunstan smiled as he sat down, over-exuding his confidence in himself, "You love me." He said cheekily.
"Yes, and you love me." Esmeralda was more than certain in her abilities of seduction; men, women, humans, non-humans, everyone had tried to have their way with her. A part-star like her lover was no challenge to her. But he was cute, kind and treated her with the respect she'd never thought she deserved. And that made him just as sexy to her as she was to most everyone. She smirked at him as she straddled his legs and sat, "Right?" She asked, that smirk still on her face.
Dunstan swallowed hard, he was no longer confident in himself. "Yeah…" He breathed out. As he played his answer in his head he felt he sounded unsure and shook it out. He stared into those teal eyes of hers, "Yes, I'm in love with you."
Esmeralda smiled and leaned in, kissing the side of his neck, "I like it when you do that." She moved up to his hear and sucked on his lobe seducing him, melting him.
"Do what?" He barely managed to get the words out.
"I like it when you make sure that I know that you are in love with me rather than you just love me." She pulled and stared into his eyes, "Do you know that I'm in love with you too?"
Dunstan nodded, "That's why you're coming with me to my castle and meeting my family."
Esmeralda nodded, "That is true. That is why I'm doing that…"
Dunstan couldn't handle it anymore; he needed to kiss her. And kiss her he did.
~0~0~0~0~0~
After they got back to France, Gustave's King and Queen told him to take a leave for a few months. They told him he'd done more than enough for them and for the Shadow Kingdom and he deserved to do something for himself.
Gustave jumped on his horse and went straight back to the Shadow kingdom. He wanted to spend time with Kendall and Gwyneth. The both of them were everything he wanted in a woman: they were two women. They were both beautiful and randy; and the women could cook! He felt at home when he was with them, but he didn't know how to express that explicitly. He'd tried to show them both before he left, but they were more preoccupied with giving him a proper sendoff.
He didn't want to cause an uproar in the Shadow Lands by coming back to the castle in all his knightly glory, so he hid his insignia and traveled to the women's shared home that was in the small neighborhood made for the castle workers just east of the castle. It was the middle of the night when he finally showed up. He didn't worry about waking them; he was much too excited at this point.
He saw a light turn on and the muttering of questions between the two before Gwyneth peeked out of the window. She smiled brightly and pushed Kendall out of the way to get the door open.
"Gustave! What are you doing here?" She asked as she hugged him and kissed him before bringing him inside.
Kendall pulled Gwyneth from him so she too could greet him. "Yes, Gustave, what are you doing here. Should you not be with the King and Queen of France?"
"You know, ladies, I got all the way home and my king and queen told me to take some time off. Go and do whatever I felt. The only thing I wanted was to come here and be with you both."
He sat down between them on the couch. He looked to Gwyneth, who leaned in and kissed him then he looked to Kendall who leaned in to kiss him as well. He licked his lips as he looked off in thought.
"What's running through your mind?"
"I'm a greedy man." He said softly as he stood and started pacing. "I could never choose between you. I want you both." He looked over to them, "I hope you're okay with that…"
They were.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Patrick had been given leave not unlike Gustave. Nancy and Edward merely asked where to send word if they needed him.
He told them that he wanted to go camping and fishing and there was a great, almost private spot up in the Eastern Enchanted Forest. Nancy and Edward were smarter, more intuitive, than all the other kingdoms had been led to believe. They knew why their knight failed to pass the second round of the games. And they knew the real reason he was going up there.
They didn't question him on it; they simply smiled and let him go.
He'd thought about stopping for a day to actually fish so he wasn't fully lying to his king and queen, but his want for his boyfriend made him pass at the thought.
He snuck into the castle ground and quickly made his way around to Alexander's room. He threw a couple rocks, "Alexander!" He whispered harshly.
The window flew open and Melody poked her head out, "Next window." She motioned with her head which direction he needed to go.
Patrick covered his mouth in embarrassment and apology. He nodded and started making his way to the next window before he realized it was Princess Melody at the window and not Princess Alexandra. "Princess Melody?" He questioned with knit brows.
Melody smirked as Patrick realized she was just as out of place as he, "You and Alexander aren't the only ones to scream rainbows and piss butterflies…"
Alexandra came to the door, "Melody, what are you—Patrick!" She stared wide-eyed at the knight, "You, uh… Alexander is the next window over."
"He knows." Melody said.
"He knows…" Alexandra nodded dumbly as she stared at the man that found her and her lover out, "Okay. Well…" She stared at him, "Have a nice night."
Patrick smiled, "You too, ladies." He bowed politely before moving to the next window. "Alexander!"
Alexander opened his window and smiled happily when he saw Patrick, "Is it really so hard to count windows?" He laughed as Patrick realized he'd heard the whole exchange and was simply waiting for him to find the right window.
Patrick set to climbing the wall, an easy task because an ivy fence had been built against it. He pulled himself into the window and he and Alexander stared each other in the face, "So, you and your sister both…?"
Alexander nodded, "Yup."
"And you've told each other?"
"Obviously." The prince rolled his eyes as he pulled his window shut.
"How much more small talk are you going to put me through before you let me kiss you?"
Alexander turned from the window and smiled, "None." He walked over to Patrick and wrapped his arms around him, kissing him deeply.
It was as Alexander and Patrick had shed each other of their clothes and fallen into bed, it was as Patrick kissed his way down Alexander's body, it was as the knight silently asked the prince for permission to go further, it was as Alexander nodded his answer that Alexander's door opened.
"Alexander? The guards said that they thought they saw someone trying to sneak into—Oh dear gods!" Ella screamed and turned into her husband's chest.
Thomas stared at the two men. He was red in the face as he did this, but as the two tried to find their clothes and put them on, Ella noticed that his stare was completely vacant.
"Father?" Alexander asked as he looked his parent's general direction.
They didn't receive an answer.
"Thomas…" Ella pushed him he took a step back.
She turned back to her son, "We are going to talk about this as soon as your father gets over his apparent aneurism." She started pushing her husband step by step.
It was as she got Thomas out of the room, after he couldn't see Alexander and Patrick anymore that he finally came to. He ran back in and grabbed a still-naked-from-the-waist-up-too-concerned-for-hi s-lover-at-the-moment Patrick by the shoulder.
As soon as the knight turned, he received a punch in the face, courtesy of the King of the Enchanted East.
"That is my SON!" The king bellowed for the entire castle to hear.
"Father!" Alexander screamed.
Patrick scrambled to get up and as soon as he did, Thomas was after him.
"Thomas!" Ella tried to intervene.
"Patrick!" Alexander yelped as he saw his father lunge with another punch.
Melody and Alexandra rushed in to see the rest of the exchange.
"Daddy!" Alexandra cried as she watched him go after Patrick.
Patrick ducked from that particular swing, and just barely got out of the way for the second, "Your Majesty, I apologize that you had to see us like that, it's just that we—" he was shoved into the wall. "I love your son!" He screamed. He ducked from another punch just in time and this time, he decided he was done not fighting back. He pushed from the wall as the king took a moment to look at his hand and bulldozed the man out of his space, "I love him!" He yelled as he looked down at the king that had fallen on his ass. "I love him…" He spoke quietly this time as the king didn't move to stand.
"He's my son." The king said again. "You've taken everything from him."
"He's taken nothing from me, father." Alexander walked over to Patrick.
"He's taken your innocence." Thomas spoke gruffly.
Both the prince and the knight looked up guiltily. "He's taken that…" Alexander admitted and before he could continue his father started in.
"He's my son. He's my boy." Thomas had angry tears lining his eyes. "You don't deserve him."
Patrick nodded, "I know…" He said as if it were common knowledge, "But I try everyday to change that."
Melody interrupted the silent moment between Thomas and Patrick. "So… it's good that you found out about Patrick, and hopefully wasted all your energy with him, or, you know, draw the line at hitting women because like Patrick loves your son, I love your daughter…"
Thomas and Ella turned to the Caspian Princess and back to Patrick before doing a double take to see who it was.
Alexandra stepped in front of her as she saw fire in both parents eyes, "She's nothing like Arely!" She cried hoping that did the trick.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Red and Belle had been in communications with Emma ever since they met Allison. They did not tell her that this woman that Chip fell in love with was Emma's doppelganger. No, they wanted to save that for when they actually dragged the two up to meet the Shadow Queens. They were fortunate enough to easily convince their son that he owed Emma more than a letter every two weeks that promised his presence the next two weeks then failing to show.
So, it was with giddy eyes that the Western Queens showed up at the Shadow castle with their son and his girlfriend in the carriage behind them.
Emma had been running around excitedly like she did when she was young. She weaved through both her parents, her great-grandfather, her great-aunt, Aurora and her wife about three times before Regina made her stop by way of hugging her and trying to keep her in place.
"But I'm so excited! They're gonna be here soon!" She looked over to the Morpheus princess, "Right, Aurora? They're coming soon?"
Aurora stared at Emma for a moment, taking her in, before she nodded, "A half hour or so." She turned to her wife, "Let's go to our room."
"What? Why? I'm rather enjoying watching her run rampant…" Maleficent indicated the other blonde.
"I have secrets and I need to share them. I promise to bring you back for the good parts." Aurora responded.
Maleficent turned to everyone in the dining room, "We'll be in our room."
Emma didn't even take the time to smirk like she normally would as she broke from her lover's hold, and started zipping around with her abundant energy, "Have fun!" She waved at the smoke cloud as it formed and dissipated, thinking they were going up to have sex rather than just talk; that seemed to be the reason they left more often than not.
"I think I'm gonna try to float again… or fly!" The remaining blonde started running to take off in a leap, but Regina zapped a shackle to Emma's ankle and padlocked it to the ground causing the blonde to trip and fall; thankfully Regina knew this would happen and zapped a few pillows to catch her. "Hey!" Emma glared to her wife after picking her face from the soft pillow.
"Thank you…" Snow mouthed.
Regina smirked at her mother-in-law and nodded. She stood and walked over to the blonde that sat, waiting to be scolded, "Darling?"
"Yes, my love?" Emma asked with puppy eyes.
Regina knelt down, "You need to calm down…" She spoke softly, "What is it going to take to make you calm down?"
Dirty immediately made its way into Emma's eyes. Regina nodded before Emma could say a thing and turned to her parents-in-law, "We'll see you both later…"
~0~0~
Red and Belle arrived in their carriage first. Chip and Allison were about 5 minutes behind them, mainly so that Chip and Red wouldn't eavesdrop so easily on conversations of the other pair. Emma ran down the steps, pushing past her wife and her parents, "Red! Red!" Had she been a child, this is the part where she would have jumped in Red's arms.
"Emma!" Red looked at her with a matching excited face.
"Boy have you got to see something amazing!" Both Emma and Red said at the same time.
"... In about 5 minutes." Red finished, not bothered with the fact that she and the new Shadow Queen said the same thing.
Emma eyed the Western Queen a moment then looked to her wife before shrugging, "Me first then!" She took Red by the hand and they ran up the stairs. Emma started yelling at the guards, "Someone get Graham and Ruby!" She cried, "Someone get Graham and Ruby! Get them now! I need Ruby! Tell them to go to the sunroom 'cause that's were Regina said we were gonna catch up! Please!" She turned back to Red as they got into the sunroom. She was going to speak, but was interrupted by her mother, who followed them along with Charming and Van Dyke, not wanting to miss Ruby and Red seeing each other for the first time, and Belle who wanted to know what was going on.
"It's disturbing how you both can act as though you've known each other all your lives…" Snow commented.
"Very." Belle added.
Maleficent and Aurora appeared. Maleficent had a wicked smile on her face, "We're back for the… festivities."
Emma knit her brows as she looked the two women over, "Okay…" She heard muffled voices from the hallway and skipped off, hoping it was Ruby and Graham, but it was only Chip, his girlfriend back-faced to her, and her smiling, flirting wife facing her—Wait… Flirting?
Emma crossed her arms, "Regina?" She glared as she marched back into the room, telling her wife to watch herself. She didn't give Chip or his girlfriend a second glance; she was too busy proving a point.
Regina quickly caught up to the blonde and squeezed her hand, "Darling, don't be rude… You need to meet Allison." She said as Allison and Chip walked into the room.
Emma and Allison locked eyes on each other. "Woah…" They said at the same time.
Allison walked closer, as did Emma. They stared at the woman before them. Emma raised her right hand and Allison raised her left. They dropped those hands and moved to the other ones, playing mirror with each other. Finally, Emma reached out and pinched Allison's shoulder.
Allison jumped and reached for the spot Emma just touched, "This is fascinating…"
"It is…" Regina commented from behind her wife, "It really is." She smiled to the brunette version of her wife.
It was as Emma turned to give her wife a glare, letting her know that she still heard flirty in her tone, and as Allison turned to look at her boyfriend in bewilderment, that Ruby and Graham walked in.
Ruby stood next to what she assumed was one of the Western Queens as they were supposed to be coming to the castle and she was pretty positive she'd never met the woman before. She didn't look the woman's direction as she was too transfixed on Emma's double, "What, so, Emma's managed to clone herself?" She asked.
The Western Queen, watching as the two look-alikes turned back at each other. "No, my son fell in love with the brunette version and he honestly doesn't see the resemblance. Even though my wife and I have tried countless ways to tell him."
The accent of the woman caught Ruby by surprise, "So you decided to show him instead?" She chuckled as she looked to the Western Queen finally.
The Western Queen looked back to Ruby with a smile on her face as well, but the smile faded as she saw her wife with slightly exaggerated make-up and a streak of red added to her hair, "Oh my good gods…" Belle stared wide-eyed at the woman before her. She grabbed Ruby's face and pinched her cheek then examined her ruby red painted lips, "You look just like my wife!" She tried to open Ruby's eye by stretching the brunette's brow up and the apple of her cheek down, "You look just like my wife!" She said again.
Red turned from watching Emma and Allison interact to the commotion next to her, "Darling!" She pried her wife from the other woman then took in the woman before them. "Holy gods."
Maleficent and Aurora watched all the excitement as they stood next to Snow and Charming, who were both wide-eyed, trying to keep up like everyone else.
Aurora smirked, causing Maleficent to need to know what was happening, "What? Why are you making that amused face?"
"Five people are thinking dirty thoughts…" She smiled wide as she watched Maleficent to survey the people before them to guess who were the dirty thinkers. She continued as the blonde looked at everyone, "Two are amazed with how much they look alike. One doesn't want Emma to be mean, but doesn't want to admit that finally seeing them next to each other he sees the resemblance that his mothers tried so hard to make him see."
Maleficent looked at her, "Okay, who are the five? I thought it my great-niece, but she's got to be one of the two… So who are the five?"
"The brunette Shadow Queen—"
Maleficent smirked, "The brunette Shadow Queen? Kinky little vixen of the bed—"
"Maleficent!" Snow turned to her, finally gaining a voice after all the excitement, "That is my daughter-in-law!"
~0~0~
"Gods, Allison is awesome." Emma said as she and Regina moved around their quarters for the evening.
"Indeed. Chip is a lucky man." Regina moved to the bathroom, "She's so smart, and unexpectedly sarcastic, and witty, and just… nice."
Emma glared her wife's general direction as she stripped and grabbed her pajamas, "She's not nice. She's… bittersweet."
"Bittersweet?" Regina came in from the bathroom to stare at the woman before her.
"'Nice' sees past faults and tries to bring people up all the time. She's lovely, but I get the feeling that if you stray from her moral compass that she will judge you with a fiery passion…" Emma looked off to the side, "But, I don't know what that moral compass is, seeing that she and Chip schtupped the first night they met, and Aurora told me that she once had a re-lay-me-ship with a man just out of convenience…" Emma looked to her wife, "So… that's all I'm going to say on that."
"You've said more than you should." Regina scolded her wife as she moved to her closet, changing into her silk nightgown, and moving back into the bathroom.
Emma looked to the woman in the bathroom as best she could, "You find that sexy in a gross way." The blonde shook her head, "There is no beating this woman! What do I have to do to win with you?"
A wave of nausea fell over Regina. She looked at her drawer of the bathroom counter and carefully walked over, opening it, and picking up the pregnancy test she'd taken earlier that day.
She had been feeling nauseated in spurts since the day Allison, Chip, Red and Belle arrived for their visit the week and a half before, and after Allison cornered her and questioned what she thought she'd observed, she knew that she had to take a test to make sure. She stared down at the positive sign.
"Hey are you feeling okay? You didn't respond… I know I'm either in trouble or you're not feeling well when you don't respond right away… And you're not yelling at me now that I've started talking again…" Emma's logic was sound.
The blonde peered into the mirror to see Regina holding what she thought was a thermometer, "Oh, darling, what's your temperature?" She walked over and took it from her wife. She looked down and stared at it. It took a moment to process that it wasn't in fact a thermometer, but a pregnancy test. "Wait…" She knit her brows and looked up at Regina, "You're pregnant?"
AN: Thoughts and feels? Please Read and Review!
