Chapter 35. Revealing Truths
Emma walked out of the room to find her parents talking with Henry. She figured Ruby must have arrived from the school while she had been talking with Regina. She made her way over and draped her arm around her son's shoulder.
"Hey, ma. How's mom doing?"
"She's doing good kid. Go ahead inside, she's asking for you."
Henry ran to the room yanking the door open in his haste to get to his mother's side.
"Is Regina really alright?" Mary Margaret worriedly asked.
"Yes, she's fine. Just a little banged up."
"Well that's to be expected. But we are so glad to hear it wasn't worse." David replied.
"You can say that again. I don't know what I would've done..." Emma trailed off as she suddenly flashed to a sword held above Regina.
"Emma, what is it?" Mary Margaret asked concerned by her daughter's sudden paleness.
Emma shook her head dispelling the memory quickly. She decided at that moment, she was not going to waste any more time.
"Guys, I have something really important to tell you. But I'm not too sure how to start." Emma nervously wrung her hands.
"Sweetheart you know you can tell us anything." Mary Margaret smiled.
"Well, um...Regina and I are...officially together." Emma blurted.
"Together, like as a couple?" David asked.
"Yes." Emma replied.
"I am so happy for you both." Mary Margaret squealed before throwing her arms around Emma.
"Um, you are?"
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well the whole trying to kill one another bit kinda had me on the fence of whether or not you would be." Emma joked.
"That is all in past. Regina and I came to an understanding, especially after Neverland." Mary Margaret grinned.
"I for one, only care that you are happy and it looks to me like Regina makes you happy." David said as he clapped his hand on Emma's back.
"I say it's about freaking time." Ruby joked as she made her way over to the group from the waiting room, with her arm around Belle.
Mary Margaret looked from her old friend then to the librarian. Seeing the closeness between them, she gasped before throwing her arms around the two women.
"Oh my goodness, has the True Love bug bitten everyone in town?" Mary Margaret laughed.
"Well, I wouldn't say true love just yet, but it is definitely something." Ruby smiled.
Mary Margaret pulled Ruby back into a hug.
"Congratulations, my dear friend. You deserve happiness." Mary Margaret whispered her eyes filled with tears.
"Thank you." Ruby squeezed tighter, her own tears spilling forth.
"No need for tears ladies, I am very much alive." Hook laughed from his wheelchair as the fairy rolled him into the hallway.
Tinkerbell helped the pirate make his way over as he tried to maneuver with his freshly casted leg and placed him by one of the chairs.
Emma knelt in front of Hook placing her hand on his.
"I want to thank you for all you did today."
"Not necessary Swan. I have a long road of redemption ahead of me. Helping you all was my duty."
"Well getting hurt in the process still merits you some appreciation. But I got a feeling you won't be complaining being taken care of by a certain fairy." Emma winked.
"Aye, no man would ever object to being looked after by his lady love." Hook smiled. "But I suspect you know all about that."
Emma nodded before standing up.
Henry rushed out of the room and nearly barreled Emma over as he threw his arms around her waist.
Emma looked down to see her son beaming up at her.
"So it's all true?" Henry asked expectantly.
"Yeah kid. Are you happy?" Emma replied.
"You bet. I can't wait." Henry embraced his mother tighter.
"Can't wait for what?" Mary Margaret curiously asked.
"Sorry Grams, it's a secret." Henry shrugged.
"I'm a little insulted. I can keep a secret." Mary Margaret huffed.
Everyone looked at her in disbelief. David covered his mouth to keep from laughing.
"I will have you all know I kept the secret that my daughter lusted after Regina all these years." Mary Margaret declared.
"Mom!" Emma exclaimed covering her face.
"Sorry." Mary Margaret apologized.
"Point proven." Ruby laughed.
"Please calm yourself Snow, no need for hysterics." Regina stated as she stepped out from the room. "Just this once, I believe I will indulge you."
Regina stood in front of Mary Margaret, her hands clasped tightly in front of her.
"I am with child." Regina shyly muttered.
Mary Margaret's eyes go wide.
"You're going to be a mother? I mean, you're already a mother. But...oh Regina, you're going to have a baby." Mary Margaret smiled through freshly shed tears.
"It appears so." Regina smiled.
Mary Margaret shook with excitement, however held back from grabbing the woman. She was well aware of Regina's distain for physical contact from anyone other than Henry and now Emma.
Regina could see the brunette trembling from the effort to restrain herself. She shook her head laughing before opening her arms allowing Mary Margaret to leap into the embrace.
Everyone gathered to share their congratulations and well wishes.
"David!" Mary Margaret shouted.
"What's the matter?" David asked concerned by his wife's outburst.
"We are going to be grandparents again." Mary Margaret gleefully exclaimed.
"Excuse me?" Emma questioned.
"Snow I don't see how you can say..." David began but stopped when his wife held up her hand.
"It is very simple really. Emma is our daughter who is now in a relationship with Regina. As they now share parentage of Henry, then it goes without saying they will do so with the baby. Henry is our grandson by Emma and Regina's adoptive son. Regina's baby, who I hope will be Emma's adoptive child, will then be our grandchild too. That is unless we perform the royal wedding before the birth and so the child would naturally be Emma's by way of marriage. But even if we wait, the child would still be of royal blood and heir to both thrones. Goodness there is so much to think about." Mary Margaret explained.
Emma stood alongside her father and stared at her mother. She could not believe what she just heard. She leaned in close to whisper in his ear.
"Did she just marry me off?"
"I believe she did."
Regina leaned towards both of them.
"I will have you know Prince, I have no intention of relinquishing my title. I have worked too hard to be Queen." Regina smirked as she looked on David.
David swallowed audibly and opened his mouth to speak.
"No one would dream of it." Mary Margaret interrupted, pulling David behind her. "It is only befitting that Emma be Queen's Consort."
"Wait what?!" Emma exclaimed.
"I'd stay out of it if I were you." Ruby said as she patted her friend's back.
"Never mind your mother, dear. Enchanted Forest politics were always her favorite pass time." Regina replied.
"I really don't care for any of it honestly. As long as I have you and the kids, I'll be just fine." Emma smiled.
"Then you do not wish to marry me?" Regina asked her, a delicate eyebrow arched.
"I didn't say that...I would...I mean...if you wanted to..." Emma stammered.
Regina's boisterous laughter at the panicked look on Emma's face caused the blonde to frown.
"You're fucking with me right now, aren't you?" Emma asked hands firmly on her hips.
Regina placed a soft kiss against Emma's lips.
"Yes I am dear. I have no intention of planning a wedding any time soon."
Emma took Regina by the waist and pulled her closer.
"I'm not opposed to discussing it in private." Emma whispered in Regina's ear.
"Neither am I." Regina replied stroking her fingers across Emma's cheek. "However, right now, I wish to not spend a moment longer in this hospital."
"Then let's get you home, Your Majesty."
Emma led Regina, who grabbed Henry's hand, down the corridor towards the exit. Mary Margaret followed, chattering about decorations and invitations with an obviously flustered David who simply nodded trying to appear interested.
As the bug parked in front of 108 Mifflin Street, the first thing the passengers noticed was someone standing near the front door.
"Who's that?" Henry asked as he tried to peer out the back window.
"Henry I want you to stay in the car." Emma ordered as she removed her sidearm from its holster and reached for the door handle.
Before she could step out, Regina laid her hand on her forearm.
"You can put away your pistol Sheriff. The trespasser is Gold." Regina spat as she opened the passenger side door.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Emma replied.
"I have no idea. But, I intend to find out." Regina stormed up her pathway.
"Good evening dearie." Gold greeted.
"You have some nerve showing up here." Regina snapped.
"I know you are angry with me Regina. Nevertheless, my hands were tied and there was nothing I could do." Gold stated.
"Then we have nothing to say to one another. Leave my home at once." Regina replied as she headed to the front door.
"I cannot." Gold answered before stepping in front of her.
"What do you mean you cannot? And step aside before I forcibly move you." Regina snarled.
"I need to tell you something before you enter." Gold said as he glanced over his shoulder.
"What is going on Gold? Why is Regina not able to go inside?" Emma asked as she came to stand beside the brunette.
"In exchange for my deal with Mr. Falleré, I was promised to have my true heart's desire returned to me. I did not believe it was possible yet it seems I was mistaken." Gold replied.
"And what does that have to do with me and my home?" Regina agitatedly queried.
Gold took a deep breath before turning weary eyes on her.
"Honestly, I do not think you would believe me if I told you."
"For goodness sake, out of my way and let me see for myself." Regina huffed.
"Regina wait!" Emma exclaimed as she tried to follow behind her.
Gold grasped her arm and pulled her back.
"Let me go." Emma barked.
"I think it best that Regina do this alone." Gold insisted.
Emma looked around at her family who all stood apprehensively waiting on her next move. Shaking herself loose from Gold's grip, she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Spill it. What's waiting for her inside?" Emma ordered.
"Not what, Miss Swan, but who." Gold replied.
Regina carefully made her way into the foyer. She was apprehensive as to Gold's strange behavior outside and at a loss as to what was happening.
As she stood by the stairs, she immediately noticed not only was the door to her study open but the light was on when she specifically remembered leaving it otherwise. Conjuring a fireball in her hand, she stepped inside ready to confront who dared make themselves at home. Yet nothing could have prepared her for the sight of the woman who daintily sat on her couch.
"Mother?" Regina croaked.
"Hello Regina." Cora smiled.
Regina stared at the woman who she equally loved and hated. When she was a young girl, there was nothing more she had wished for than to be rid of her mother. But on that fateful day on the floor of Gold's shop, clutching Cora's lifeless body to her chest as she sobbed, Regina had prayed that she could be given more time.
Cora staggered for a moment clutching her chest. She looked up to Regina and regaled her daughter with a brilliant smile. Regina could not stop herself from smiling in return.
"Mother."
Cora began to laugh overcome with a feeling of joy. Although unfamiliar with the emotion, she is overwhelmed by what she can only suspect is love. Then suddenly, a terrible pain pierces her chest. She looked down to find a strange wound appear. Her knees become weak and she falls to the ground.
Regina gathered Cora into her arms confused by the unexpected change.
"Mother? What's wrong?" Regina frantically asked.
"This…would've been enough." Cora gasped. "You…you would've been enough." Cora shut her eyes with a last breath.
Regina sobbed as she realized her mother is dead.
"Regina? Darling are you ok?" Cora asked concerned by her daughter's silence.
"I'm fine." Regina replied as she wiped at her eyes. "How are you here? I watched you die."
"I am not quite sure. I remember dying, in excruciating pain actually." Cora answered.
"Magic can do many things, but it cannot bring back the dead." Regina stated as she marched across the room. She reached for her decanter of cider, then remembering her current state, frustratingly slammed it down.
"What do you want mother? Are you here to enact another one of your brilliant plans to rule? Because I will tell you right now I have changed." Regina declared.
Cora stood from the couch and made her way over to Regina. Reaching out she tentatively took Regina's hand in her own.
"I do not know by what magic I have been returned to the world of the living. What I do know is that I do not want to squander this chance. I wish to be the mother I should have been, no, who you needed me to be. If you will let me." Cora professed.
Regina stared at her mother, moved by the sincerity she heard in her voice. Then remembering all the other times her mother had lured her with false promises, she forcefully pulled away.
"And how do you presume to do that? You cannot love without a heart." Regina spat.
Cora flinched at the venom she heard in her daughter's voice. However, she knew she deserved that and more.
"Then appears it is a good thing that I have this." Cora plunged her hand into her chest and removed her heart.
Regina startled and backed away a step.
"How is this possible? You told me you removed your heart." Regina stared at the beating organ glow brightly in her mother's hand.
"You returned it to me, remember. As such, when I was brought back I returned with it." Cora smiled.
Regina slowly approached and leaned forward to take a closer. She was confused by the unblemished appearance of her mother's heart. Immediately she began to suspect that it did not belong to Cora.
"I am to believe that this heart belongs to a woman who wielded dark magic so easily." Regina scoffed.
"I must admit I found it strange myself. I presented the same question to Rumple." Cora shrugged as she casually slipped her heart back inside her chest.
"And?" Regina queried.
"His only guess was, since I removed it before I began using magic it was not present in my body to become corrupted by my deeds. So in my effort to safeguard my heart to prevent me from succumbing to emotions, I in fact protected it against becoming dark." Cora replied before taking her seat once more. She held her hand up to her head, feeling a wave of dizziness.
Regina noticing her mother's sudden discomfort quickly took a seat beside her. She grasped her mother's hand and soothingly rubbed it between her own.
Cora glanced down at their hands and smiled.
"You have no idea how much I want to believe what you are saying is true. But all the times you deceived me...I do not think I could suffer another betrayal from you." Regina sobbed.
Throwing caution to the wind, Cora embraced her daughter.
"I do understand and I am so sorry. All I ask is that you grant me the opportunity to prove myself." Cora pleaded.
Regina remained silent but nodded her head against her mother's shoulder.
Cora smiled and held Regina tighter, whispering her promise over and again.
Regina pulled back and wiped at her eyes. She took a long and deep breath, settling her nerves as she prepared to entrust her mother once again with a part of her life.
"Mother, if we are truly going to start anew then we must begin with being honest." Regina began softly.
"There will be no more secrets between us." Cora agreed.
"Then I have something I must tell you. I hope you will be both supportive and understanding." Regina replied.
Cora clasped their hands together once more and nodded her head.