This was where her child was kept, their princess…
Where Emma said her first word, where Emma took her first steps, where Emma was… raised.
The one thing Snow could never imagine her evil stepmother to do, is what effectively killed her, what destroyed her inside. The one thing that she thought the evil queen could never take from her. Yes, she could have killed them both, could have cursed them all to an endless sleep of fire and pain, but this… this was a true hell.
Regina stole her child and took away something that could never be returned.
She'd never experience what it was to watch her daughter grow, she'd never know… never know why it was that Emma left, why? Was she tortured, had her child suffered under the hands of this cruel, cruel woman. This woman she had to avoid for the sake of her now grown child's happiness? And If happiness truly was what Emma felt, she'd never know if it was a kind of spell, or a false memory… Emma could have been cursed as well couldn't she?
She would never know.
unless…
"Honey it's…" her husband had placed his hand on her shoulder, all the items they needed to take already in a duffle bag in hand.
He'd stopped and calmed her, always at the right moment, saving her from sleeping curses and this nightmare.
"Honey it's Emma's room…" he whispered, tears already visible in both their eyes.
Both their feet slowly yet eagerly stepping their first footsteps into Emma's room, a room that was so close to them, for such a long time.
"So close."
She could not help but repeat that painful thought amongst them both.
She could hear Charming drop the duffle bag and walk towards the red flannel printed bed sheets.
Had Regina never changed these sheets? They were so, so child like.
She shook her head to avoid any awareness that the Regina just might have cared, because if she did it'd make this harder.
As Charming laid himself on the bed and closed his eyes to feel what was His daughters childhood bed, Snow did the only thing she could not stop thinking about.
She would never know.
She would never know unless…
….
His heart felt full and in pain, if that was possible.
He could almost feel his little girl in his arms, he could almost feel...
"WHAT ARE YOU?" He was harshly cut off by the sound of a loud thud, and snow urgently rummaging through their daughter drawers, her clothes, her books, her everything.
"Charming I have to know." His wife spoke, crying a new.
"Snow there is nothing we can…" he began to say, admitting to himself just a few minutes ago that his daughter loved the evil queen, and he had to accept that, he had to accept what made his daughter happy, because he wasn't wasting anymore time with her. He wasn't pushing her away.
"She won't know." Snow answers, already noticing his concerns.
"This won't hurt her." as if Snow knew what he was thinking, like she always somehow did.
"We have to find out charming… we have to know if our daughter was cursed or not." He stays silent, not ready to acknowledge that Snow might be right.
"Why did she runaway all those years ago Charming, why?" her voice trembles with fear.
Before he can respond, she continues to rummage, eager to fight back and take what is hers. He could see it, Snow wasn't going to let this go, she wasn't a quitter… she was after all a fierce bandit with a true heart, that heart he would always follow.
He grabs her hand, stopping her line of fire.
Her eyes grow wide, the bags apparent as if she hadn't slept in days.
"You won't do this alone, I'm here Snow." He smiles, calming her instantly.
….
After a few more minutes of searching she found it.
She found it, she found Emma's...
"Is that some kind of spell book?" Her husband stands behind her, unsure of what she'd found.
It had been in the chest, the chest with so many of Emma's precious things. The journal, the one Emma kept so secret at the library. She opened the first couple of pages and stopped impatiently where she could. They both glanced and read the first words their eyes could see.
"Mom went out with Graham tonight, she went on a DATE!"
Yet having this in her hands, eager to read what else she could find, charming stops her, his hand caressing hers to close the book.
"It's her diary my love, our child's memory's…"
"Whatever it may be Snow, I'm afraid we have to go… it's been to long." He regretfully speaks, the duffle bag already on his shoulder.
She knew he was right, Regina didn't curse them because they were careless… she was after all the evilest of them all, she had brains, and that is something they couldn't take lightly. EVER.
She possessively takes the valuable book and places it in her coat, nearest to her heart, a place the queen would never get to again.
…..
"That night, that night you went on a date…"
She couldn't stop, she wouldn't. All her memories, all her unspoken words, the drive in her was unstoppable. She'd survived the streets, made a home for Neal and her both, she even had a field of expertise, one that taught her not to give up till you had the bastards stopped and handled.
Regina was never an exception, and had she'd been this experienced then so much could have been different.
"It was all a sham Emma." Regina answers with no caution, ready to end anything remotely dreadful from their past, surely.
"A… a what?" Her fists unconsciously clench, her jaw immediately mimicking her hands. The drive, her experience slightly affected by her emotions.
"You were a child, their was, their was a mad man on the lose, he wanted to hurt me, he wanted to hurt you…"
"It was a WHAT?" Emma questioned louder, the frustration inevitable.
"Emma you were a child, Graham was the town Sheriff, who else was going to help me stop Sidney… he was."
"He was your mirror…" Emma's eyes closed, processing all the facts she wishes she'd known. And just when she thought she could handle all the lies, more followed suit.
She could hear Regina cough uncomfortably, but it surprisingly didn't stop the once fierce Mayor to continue.
"Yes, my mirror Sheriff." She smartly adds, her comfort gone, her defenses up, her once fearful words now smug and…
"Damn it." She mumbles.
Even now, Regina's hurtful words did things to her, but she wouldn't let her, she wouldn't become that 12-year-old scared little girl again. That girl was gone. She was Emma Swan now, she was the towns Sheriff and no one; not even Regina would hold her down.
"Tell me Madam Mayor, why not tell me after, why let me believe you were with him." She fires back, her words not able to hold the tease in them.
"YOU WERE A CHILD EMMA, WHAT MORE DO I…"
"AND I LOVED YOU!" she yells back, her teasing voice no longer there.
No longer there and now silence.
And more silence.
"Well that, I didn't… umm." Regina tries to break it, but she seems to find her hands more interesting, unable to stop them from holding her stomach in place.
"I'm sorry Regina that was unnecessary and…"
…
Since when had she gotten so used to her name coming from Emma's mouth?
"It's mother Emma." She corrects her, unnecessarily. She just needed something to avoid that unforgettable subject.
"Unless you'd prefer Madam Mayor." She smiles kindly, obviously daring Emma to try it.
"Regina stop I just…" Emma reacts, the fire gone, she hit something and she regretfully takes it back.
"You left Emma, that night not even a week after my release… you left."
She tells her. There is no lie, no cover-ups, and nothing else to tell.
"Shit."
Emma turns around and begins to walk away, finding the desk nearest to her… and she not able to follow, the steel bars holding her back.
…
She throws the nearest object she can find, a stack of paperwork on the desk nearest to her.
Regina had raised her; throwing things seemed to help them both now and days.
She can see Regina look down, somber. But than look straight back up and ready to fix any problem she might have.
"Is that the way you want to treat your new office Ms. Swan?" She pokes, an understanding smile holding her stable, her hands unable.
She smiles to herself, ready to end this conversation, ready to heal and see what is next in their chapter.
She picks up what she can and places the papers back on the desk.
"Your wish is my command Madam Mayor." She winks in return, causing Regina's lips to form an o and an animated blink on repeat.
But before either of them can respond and explore this new game, Mary Margaret and David had returned.
"We got what you've asked for honey." Snow is the first to talk.
"Yeah and… whoa what happened here?" David adds, his detective like eyes analyzing the papers on the ground.
"Someone tried to get it and Emma scared them off." Regina interrupts, looking at Emma, telling her quietly that not everything needed to be shared.
"Probably one of the dwarves." Emma shrugs, informing Snow and not missing a chance to make Regina grin in her cell.
"Oh, well… I think it's time your father and I talk to those dwarves and." Snow begins to explain.
"And tell them to stand down, and we can decide on what to do next." David helps her finish.
"Yes, and maybe soon Emma we can.." Snow adds.
"Eventually yes, we can do that." She looks at them both trying her hardest to genuinely smile, because in her mind all that mattered right now is that blazer-wearing woman in the cell.
That and NEAL!
"Oh gosh, Neal… Regina we have to."
"Neal?" Snow questions, both her parents eyes questioning, they were part of her life now. They wanted to know, she could give them at least that.
"Emma's boyf…." Regina wants to tell them.
"He's my best friend, and I love him… he's one of the reasons I made it out there on my own." She wouldn't go down that path again.
"Is he your boyfriend Emma?" Snow's eyes are a mix between gloominess and happiness? Possibly for missing her child's "first love" but she'd never guess who…
"NO! He's like a brother and, and right now he's In a coma that was my fault and I need to, he needs to be with us, I must go see him and make sure…"
"Go!" David pushes kindly.
"I will stay here with Regina and you can…" he tries again.
"I don't know if I can do…" she is cut off by a warm low voice that was this stranger of a man that she somehow felt she'd known always.
"I was a King and a swordsman back home Emma, she will be okay I promise."
And just like that she knew, she knew she could trust him, or at least rush to the hospital and come straight back.
"OKAY, Snow you and I can go talk to these people you call your friends and then we go straight to the hospital and back here."
She wasn't questioning anyone; she was planning.
She glances one last longing time at her, and grabs the radio's close by.
"David take one, IF ANYTHING OR ANYONE come near my mother you call me."
"You got it Sheriff." He squeezes her shoulder firmly.
"Snow, lets go stop this mess."
…
Her throat tightens, and her heart begins to heal. Her daughter and her alone together, ready to fix this mess.
"I'm right behind you Emma." She responds supportively.
They would surely stop this mess, Emma, Charming and her.
She taps an object in her coat and squeezes what she and David only know.
"We will stop this mess."