A/N: Ok, don't hate me too much here. If it makes you feel any better, I am almost done with the next chapter too so the wait won't be as long.
In the future
It took Emma a while to find Henry. Stupid forest she thought as she went trudging through it to where Henry was set up with his bow and arrows – his sights set on a deer, which quickly took off when she noisily approached.
He turned around and looked at her with annoyance.
"What do you want?"
"Look kid I feel like we have been over this like 100 times already. I am not the same Emma as the Emma from this time you messed up things for herself and you, so I would appreciate it if you could cut me a little slack," she said.
"Yeah, well, you are the Emma with the brilliant plan to go back in time and fix it all. How did that work out again? Oh, that's right it didn't," he said standing up.
"It didn't work out," she said crossing her arms. "Does that mean we are supposed to give up?"
"You know since you left, well since the other Emma left for Boston, Alex hasn't tried anything. She hasn't threatened anyone or used her magic against anyone that we know of. That peace was bought by Emma leaving. Now I know my grandparents want Emma to be back here to deal with this and they had been trying to get her to come back so she could deal with Alex, but maybe we should all just leave it alone – live and let live."
"Where is this philosophy coming from all of a sudden?"
"I just think we will all be better off if you leave."
He tried to walk past her but she grabbed his arm. "I am not leaving. You can hate me for what my counterpart did, but she loved you. Believe it or not she loved you and I love you. All I want to do is fix this."
"How? You tried before and failed. If Alex finds you out here she won't go after you, she will go after the rest of us because that will hurt you more. Is that what you want?"
"Of course not, but I am not going to sit back while she uses the threat of her power against our town. She has to be stopped. I tried to keep any of this from happening but obviously I failed, but some change had to have happened. That is why I am out here to find you so I can figure out what changed."
"Nothing has changed."
"You don't know that, you wouldn't know that because you have been in this time line. If anything changed you wouldn't have noticed – you would have just accepted it as your reality. I had hoped that even if I couldn't convince my younger self that Regina is who she is supposed to be with that at the very least my younger self would have protected Regina – kept her from dying but she didn't. Alex can't exist without Regina's death so how did Regina die?"
He looked at her like she was crazy, a look she was getting used to from him.
"You know how she died."
"I know how she died before, from when I first came to this time." She let go of him, all of this time stuff giving her a headache. "When I went back, I may have changed how she died, but obviously she still died, I need to know if that changed. When I first came here I found out Regina was dead – she had been shot, and my counterpart had ruled it a suicide, but it wasn't. Hook was working with Gold and they conspired to kill her to get her soul. Is that still what happened?"
"No," he said shaking his head. "That's not how she died."
"How did she die then? I need details."
"Hook took her. He was upset over Emma breaking up with him and he thought something was going on between her and my mom so he took her one night. It was days before … before her body was found."
Emma stepped away from him. Hook. This was probably her fault, for her interactions with him while back in the past.
"How did he kill her?"
"Her um her neck was broken."
"Damn it," Emma said moving away from him even more. "Why is this happening to our family?"
"We don't have a family, not anymore."
She watched him as he walked away knowing she should say something, do something, but right now she felt inadequate. There was no way for her to warn Emma or Regina of the past.
Yes, she had learned magic over the years, but nothing major. She never wanted that kind of power. Besides if something of some magnitude needed done, she had her wife at her side. Then all of a sudden, she didn't.
She was trapped in this time line and the only way to go back in time was to have an even stronger magic – a magic she stole from Gold.
She took the dagger out from where she had it strapped to her leg. She needed to keep it near her just in case. She needed to be ready if she needed to call upon that power. She needed to be ready because she wasn't going to leave. She wasn't going to abandon her family here.
In the Present
Regina felt Emma's lips pressed against her. There was an urgency, a hurriedness to the action. And it caused Regina to back away from the blonde.
The two women stood there staring at each other.
"It was you," Regina said. She touched her lips with her two fingers for a moment, thinking about that kiss and remembering. "It was you in Agrabah, not her. That kiss was just like …"
She stopped talking but she could still feel Emma's lips on hers. It felt exactly like the hurried kiss that Emma had given her past self in Agrabah. She realized it wasn't the slow, passionate kiss that future Emma would have given her. That was the kiss you would give your wife. The kiss she had just shared with Emma and the one from the past – that wasn't the kiss of someone who was used to your lips, used to the way you liked to be kissed.
Regina backed away from her and then turned her back on her entirely. Emma started to take a tentative step toward her and then stopped. She hung her head down and put her hands in her back pockets, trying to figure out what to say.
"When you first told me about what you remembered from Agrabah I got to thinking and I was wondering how my future self would have known about that spell book. I mean if her future was so happy then why would she have need to know about it. I suppose it was possible for her to have learned about it in the alternate timeline but I don't know it didn't seem right somehow to me. The only thing that made sense was that I was the one who traveled to the past."
This time Emma did take the step forward. She didn't like that Regina had her back turned to her, but she was afraid that she had crossed a line with her actions. She wasn't even sure why she had kissed Regina – just that she didn't like Regina talking about Robin like there was something between them.
Regina turned to face her. "That isn't possible. This isn't possible."
Regina moved past her and Emma let her go. She knew now wasn't the time.
When Emma woke the next morning, she left the house early – checking in with Henry and making sure he knew to call her if anything happened. Regina's door had been closed like it had been the previous night when Emma had finally turned off all the lights down stairs and gone up to bed.
She had no communication with Regina all day until receiving this text letting her know when dinner would be ready.
All day that kiss had played over and over again in her head. It hadn't lasted long, yet Emma could swear even in that brief amount of time that she was still able to imagine what Regina's lips felt like. They were softer than what Emma was expecting. She wasn't sure why she thought that they wouldn't be soft, maybe it was because of all the scowls that Regina had given her since her arrival in Storybrooke.
She had told herself more than a dozen times to stop thinking about it, but it didn't do any good.
Now she realized she was dreading going back into that house and seeing the other woman. After Regina had left the room, Emma had sat down thinking about all that had happened in such a short amount of time. She looked at the timeline that they had worked on together and realized that in every one of them now she and Regina had at the very least kissed.
What would she have done if Regina hadn't backed away from her?
Would they have kept kissing? Would she have taken it any further?
She honestly didn't know the answers.
All she knew was that the idea that Robin might sneak away from his wife to see Regina and Regina apparently being ok with this had hit her the wrong way. Then she thought about how future Emma had been jealous of Robin. Her catalyst, she had called him. He was the reason she had finally taken the step to ask Regina out on a date.
Could the same thing being happening now? To her?
She had a headache just thinking about it.
Emma called up the text message again. It was straight-forward and gave Emma no clues as to Regina's mental state over what happened. She quickly typed back, "I will be there."
Maybe Regina would respond and it would help her know what to expect when she got there. But Regina never responded, and now here Emma was driving from work to go to Regina's home. She thought about stopping at her place and grabbing more clothes, but decided that it would make her late and Regina hated things like that.
The thought came into her head and she realized that she knew that kind of thing annoyed Regina. She knew lots about the other woman as far as things that got on her nerves or annoyed her. But outside of Henry, she wasn't really sure she knew much about the things Regina enjoyed. Their budding friendship had been ruined when she had brought Marian back so she never got the chance to learn more about Regina.
She pulled into the driveway and looked around to make sure nothing was out of place around the house. She walked into the backyard to check there as well, finally using her key to get in the back door and into the kitchen where Regina was at.
"I was just checking the perimeter, making sure nothing was out of the ordinary out there," Emma said, feeling like an idiot for her explanation.
"I suggest you wash up, dinner is ready."
Emma went to the sink and washed her hands, thinking yep, that is not a happy Regina.
Dinner was extremely uncomfortable as even Henry seemed to sense some tension in the air. There was barely any speaking during the meal and after it was over Henry made a dash for the upstairs. Emma stayed behind and helped Regina clear the table. They didn't speak as they cleaned off the plates and put them in the dishwasher. Once loaded, Regina turned the machine on.
"Are you upset with me?" Emma asked finally. "Because if you are, I am sorry for you know kissing you like that. I was out of line."
"Robin stopped by today," she said.
"Oh."
Silence.
"Look if you and Robin want to continue to see each other, you should."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, I mean it's your life and his life and no one should get a say in it but the two of you if you want to be together."
"So you no longer object to him and I pursuing a relationship. What changed your mind?"
"Nothing, I just … look it's none of my business who you choose to date. As long as the person doesn't pose an issue with Henry then it's none of my concern."
"I would never be with anyone that would pose any harm to Henry."
"I know," Emma said.
"Good. I am glad we understand each other then. Perhaps we could retire to my office and continue our work then."
"Yeah, just let me go to the bathroom first."
Emma went to the bathroom while Regina headed to the office. Emma didn't really need to pee or anything but she needed to get away from Regina for a moment at least. As soon as the door closed behind her and she was sure Regina was out of ear shot, she hit the sink with her hand.
"What the hell is she thinking?" Emma said.
It was followed by her lecturing herself about how this wasn't any of her business and that if Regina wanted to be with Robin then that is who she should be with. She wasn't going to say a word. She was just going to go in there and work together with Regina to stop that alternate future from happening.
She left the bathroom and went into the office where Regina was already seated at her desk with the laptop open. I guess we are back to watching videos, Emma thought.
She came around and stood behind Regina.
"Are you ready?" Regina asked, keeping her eyes forward.
"Yes. No."
"Which is it Miss Swan?"
"Stop calling me that," Emma said. "My name is Emma; it's not a hard name to pronounce."
"You seem a little on edge," Regina said turning her head slightly to look catch a small glimpse of Emma.
"I am fine," Emma said. "Just play the video."
"Are you sure you are ready this time because you still seem tense? Are you sure the idea of Robin and I doesn't bother you?"
"I said it's fine." Her teeth practically fused together as she said it.
"He's going to leave Marian."
"Don't tell me you actually believe that?" Emma said, and she walked away from her. "God, don't you know that is what every married man says when he is cheating on his wife? How long do you expect he will be stringing you along, eh?"
"Robin is a good man, an honorable man."
"Oh yeah, his actions scream honorable. I didn't realize you were this naïve."
"You really are jealous, aren't you?" Regina said standing up, a slight smile on her face.
"Jealous, no I'm not jealous. That's ridiculous."
"Then which is it Emma, are you ok or not ok with me and Robin being together?"
"I told you it is none of my business if you want to go out with an adulterer."
"This would be a lot easier if you simply admitted you are against this."
"You want me to tell you the truth? The truth is that if you get back together with Robin you will be making the biggest mistake of your life. He is married. He has a child with his wife. You will be tearing a family apart if you do this."
"So your concern is for him and his family? It has nothing to do with the fact that you kissed me last night?"
"Kissing you was a mistake."
"Is that so?"
"Yes because clearly it didn't make a difference to you in any way."
"It didn't need to," Regina said calmly. "Because I know the future that I want. Just to be clear that future doesn't include Robin. He never even came over today. I only said that because I wanted to see your reaction. Robin isn't who I want to be with."