They couldn't recover the conversation after Maleficent's threat. Regina quickly came up with a cock and bull story about Henry due to come home soon and the Dragon and Sea Witch took their leave.
The door had barely shut behind them before Regina turned to Emma.
"Are you alright?"
Emma nodded. "I'm fine. It went better than I thought it might." She cocked her head to the side and worried her lip nervously. "You didn't happen to notice any similarities between Maleficent and me, did you?"
"I see what you mean," Regina said. "You both hold yourselves in same way, reserved but warm when you get to know someone. You do look rather alike, I must admit."
"Well the potion will help decide things. How long until it's ready?" Emma asked to get the subject off her despite the fact she'd opened up the conversation. She wasn't ready to think of the implications of possibly being the daughter of the Dragon, the most powerful of the "Queens of Darkness".
"I'll go check on it," Regina replied. "It might be done already. The brewing period depends on how fresh the flies are that go in the mixture. The fresher they are, the more quickly it is prepared and useable."
Emma grimaced at the ingredient. "Sure, you go do that."
Regina laughed at her expression before leaning forward to press a soft kiss on the blonde's cheek. With a flick of her wrist, Regina poofed out of the foyer and into her vault, leaving Emma alone again.
Not wanting to be left alone with her thoughts, she headed towards the living room and set up the PlayStation to shoot some zombies. This was the only way to distract her and practise so that she could beat Henry fair and square next time without having to magically make a pillow cover his eyes when he was about to win.
oOoOo
A few days passed and Emma found herself sleeping in Regina's bed more than her own. A few of her clothes had even found their way into a spare drawer Regina had cleared for her but there were still no mentions of labels. However, people were starting to notice; albeit because most of them also spent the majority of their time in the Mayoral Mansion.
Zelena had been the first, naturally, and she had clearly told Belle at the first chance she got. The librarian had caught Emma slipping from Regina's room one morning when she was going to shower so she was still wearing her pyjamas. She didn't comment on it but raised her eyebrow knowingly. Emma had dashed into the bathroom as quickly as possible and prayed that Belle wouldn't tell. Fortunately, she didn't comment on it; then again, Emma wasn't sure why she was worried about Belle, the woman could definitely keep a secret.
It didn't take long for Elsa and Ruby to find out what was going on. The former had been told that something had happened in Boston but wasn't aware that anything else had since they came back. Ruby had just claimed she could smell the pheromones in the air between them and when Emma had zapped her up the arm with her magic, the wolf had taken that as enough confirmation.
The only person yet to comment on it at all was surprisingly Henry. He'd almost walked in on the two of them cuddling on the sofa more than once, but they had shot apart as quickly as possible. They were also pretty sure he'd heard them kissing before walking into the kitchen one morning for breakfast but again, he'd not mentioned anything to them.
It was only the day before the potion was ready, (it turned out the flies were nowhere near as fresh as Regina had thought so the potion had taken an extra day to brew), that he finally commented on it.
It was Friday morning and Emma and Regina were making breakfast as usual. Due to it being almost the weekend, Regina was whipping up a batch of pancakes to appease both Emma and Henry, despite wanting them herself. She had found that indulging her family was a weakness she was happy to have, at least up to a point.
Zelena was sitting at the breakfast bar, reading the first book of the next series she'd discovered after Belle showed her around the library- The Mortal Instruments. Who knew a bunch of teenagers drawing spells on their body could be so interesting? When Emma snickered at her newfound love of Young Adult novels, the Witch had returned a comment of Emma's not-so-newfound love of her sister which had made Emma stop her teasing immediately.
Henry walked into the kitchen at sat at the breakfast bar beside his aunt, reaching over to pour himself a glass of orange juice that was on the table ready.
"So, you two have been together for like a week, are you actually going to go on a date instead of hiding in the house?"
Three reactions happened simultaneously. Zelena spat out her orange juice, Regina dropped the spatula mid flip causing the pancake to fall onto the floor and Emma dropped the jar of jam she was carrying to the table causing it to smash all over the floor.
It was Zelena who cracked up laughing which broke the silence, but she couldn't form a question through her guffaws. Of the other two women, it was Regina who reacted faster, snapping out of her shock at her sister's merriment. She flicked her wrist and the fallen pancake returned to the pan as if nothing had happened and the jar of jam flew back up, reforming in the air and filling up with sweet confection, and landed on the table.
"What was that dear?" She asked.
Emma turned to the brunette. "You heard him as well as we did. The jig is up. He knows."
Henry raised his eyebrow. "Please, you've both complained about your hidden feelings for each other and Mom asked us to leave so she could talk to you privately. Since then, you've been inseparable despite the fact you've tried to keep a low profile on it. I've seen you cuddling together and kiss several times," he pulled a face at the latter, "oh, not to mention that everyone in town has known for years that there's more to you two than just friendship. It was as clear as day to the whole town, but apparently, just not to the two of you."
"Kid's got a point," Zelena commented after recovering from her laughing fit. She'd mopped up her orange juice and had picked up her book again, pretending not to be joining in the conversation but listening in intently.
The two mothers were glancing at each other, both silently communication how to proceed with the situation. However, the answer was pretty simple. Both had made the promise that they would never lie to Henry despite how awkward or hard the situation might be. Plus, Zelena was right, he had a valid point for everything he said.
It was then Regina who took the lead. She lowered the heat on the pan and turned to her son.
"Your mother and I are seeing each other, but it's very early days," she said. "We don't want to put too much pressure on each other. We've both got a past."
Henry nodded. "I get it, you don't need to explain. I just wish you'd actually told me."
"In your mom's defence, we didn't tell anyone," Emma said, explaining their thinking. "It's very new and you know what gossip is like in this town, it's merciless. Besides, we can't have Snow finding out otherwise we wouldn't hear the end of it." She privately thought that Snow finding out may actually herald the onset of the Apocalypse in Storybrooke.
At that, Henry laughed. "Yeah, you've got a point. She is irritating. I hope she isn't your mother." Then, to pre-empt any further questions, continued, "I know that I was super keen for her to be your mother, Ma, but honestly, she's proven that she's not very good at it, time after time. So, yeah, I know what a good mother looks like, I have two of them after all. She's not a good mother, and honestly, Maleficent may be a good mother, or at least a better one than Snow!" His part being said, he turned to look his adoptive mother. "When will the potion be ready?"
"Tomorrow," Regina revealed (blinking away her confusion at Henry's sudden topic change), before turning the heat back up and continued with the pancakes. "Mal will come over in the morning to donate some blood and then we'll know once and for all."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Emma who bit her lip nervously before returning to the drinks without responding.
The rest of their breakfast was spent in relative silence as no one really knew what to say. Henry was rather relieved when it was time to go to school. He quickly slipped from the table and bid his mothers and aunt goodbye before walking out the front door.
"I promise I didn't tell him," Zelena said quickly once they'd heard the door slam.
"No, I know," Regina replied with a sigh. "He's just intuitive."
"That comes from you," Emma said, nudging Regina softly. "I don't notice things right in front of me."
"Don't I know it," Reinga teased, nudging Emma back, "otherwise this would have happened sooner."
Zelena then stood up from the table, pulling a face of disgust at the soppy pair in front of her. "I'll meet you in the car, sis."
Realising what her sister was doing, Regina smiled and conjured her car keys. She threw them to Zelena who caught them with ease. She then followed her nephew's footsteps and walked out of the house, however, she shut the door without slamming it.
Once it was just them two left in the kitchen, Emma took hold of Regina's hand and lifted it to her lips to kiss the palm softly.
"I was thinking–"
"That's dangerous," Regina joked before Emma could finish her sentence.
Emma rolled her eyes before continuing. "As I was saying," she reached out and nipped Regina's side which she'd recently found made her squawk as she was quite ticklish, "I want to take you out on a date today. Lunch time if you like? I just want to have some time with you before all shit hits the fan tomorrow when we find out who my mom is. What do you say?"
Regina grinned. "I'd love to."
She leant forward until her lips were a millimetre away from Emma's when the sound of a car horn was blasted loudly, causing them to shoot back.
"I'm gonna kill my sister," Regina groaned.
"Not if I kill her first," Emma replied. "But she can wait a minute longer for that."
And with that, she pulled Regina back to her and kissed her thoroughly. They only pulled back when Zelena blasted the horn once more, both women laughing.
"I'll see you at one," Regina said before stealing one last kiss.
"You bet."
They both then left the house, with Regina locking up behind them. The brunette joined her sister in the car and Emma walked over to hers, not in the mood to poof to work that morning. After a final wave, they both set off in their respective directions.
The journey to the station was smooth as always. Storybrooke never suffered with traffic given that most people walked everywhere. Emma parked beside her father's cruiser which surprised her. He didn't usually start that early, unless she'd gotten the hours wrong. Heading in, she heard voices discussing something that seemed important.
Upon entering the main office, she saw her father sitting on his desk, rather than at it, along with Ruby and Elsa who were staring at him. The wolf looked angry; her hands were curled into fists despite Elsa holding onto her right hand in an attempt to calm her down. It didn't look to be working as her eyes were flickering from her desperate attempts to keep the wolf at bay. So perhaps Elsa's presence was calming her down a fraction.
"Have I missed something?" Emma asked as she took off her jacket and hung it up on her dedicated hook.
"I came to write an official complaint against Lily, but your father isn't having any of it," Ruby snapped, glaring at the deputy.
Emma's brow furrowed as she walked towards the others. She took a seat beside her father, well, perching on the desk beside him.
"What happened?" She asked, picked up her notepad that held the numerous complaints about Leroy's alcoholism and a few entries about Regina and insignificant comments about other inhabitants of Storybrooke. She had to write them all down to show she wasn't biased which included one where Leroy had complained about the colour of her car, not that she had actually done anything about that. It had been a ridiculous complaint, but one that had been made when he was grouchily sober.
"We were helping Granny open up this morning and Lily charges in, before we were officially open, and asked for coffee," Ruby began. "When we said we weren't quite ready for orders, she completely flipped personalities and started demanding it. Granny asked her to calm down, but she refused and started flipping tables and threw a chair out of the window! The only reason she stopped was because Elsa blasted a shield of ice in front of her so she couldn't get any closer. Granny picked up her crossbow and aimed it at her, I suppose that didn't help matters, and then she was engulfed in flames and disappeared! And David is saying that there's nothing to report because we attacked her!"
Emma turned to her father, her eyebrows high with surprise. "Dad, that actually is an official complaint that should be looked into. I know we don't do much in town that is actually worth half the paperwork that Regina demands, but destruction of property is a valid one. Also, if Ruby's account is correct, which seems likely from what I've known of Lily, then this is a serious crime."
"She can't help the outbursts," Charming said as if he was defending a puppy who had chewed up a toy after being left alone for the first time. "She didn't hurt anyone." He conveniently ignored Emma's comment of knowing that Lily was capable of violence.
"The glass from the shattered window sliced Elsa's hand," Ruby pointed out. She lifted her arm that Elsa was holding to point to where the glass had cut her. "Just because she was able to heal it, doesn't mean it didn't happen. That girl is already out of control; remember we didn't invite her here, David! You did, she's your responsibility. What are you going to do about it?"
Charming looked bewildered at the question of having to berate his daughter for the first time. "I'm not sure."
Emma rolled her eyes and put down her notepad. "We'll get her brought in for destruction of property this afternoon. It's probably best if we don't anger her any further right now because she won't be controlled." She glanced to the cells. "Our cells aren't magic proof." She then furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her father. "Since when did Lily have magic?"
With three pairs of eyes staring at him, Charming shuffled uncomfortably. "Only the past day or two it's started to show. I told her to come speak to you about it to help her get it under control. She said she was going to, but I guess that she hasn't yet."
"She hasn't," Emma confirmed. "Although, I'd say it was Regina she should speak to. She's better at helping people control their magic. I'm still getting to grips with it."
"Same," Elsa added. "It takes time to understand all aspects of it but David, you need to push her to seek help immediately. She's been raised in a world without magic and it's tied to her moods." She glanced at Emma. "If she is the dark child, her negative impulses will be growing with magic she doesn't know how to control. She could hurt someone." She then took hold of Ruby's hand which had unballed from the clenched fists they had been in since the conversation had first started. "We're going to go back to the diner. I fixed the damages, but I can recreate them if the investigation requires it."
Emma nodded. "That's fine. I believe you. Still, good to know that you can recreate it if we run into any problems."
They bid goodbye and the two women walked out of the station. As soon as the door was shut behind them, Emma turned to her father.
"You have to remain impartial," she sighed as she walked away from the desk so that she could complete the necessary paperwork on Ruby and Elsa's complaint. "You'd have to if I did the same so don't even start with the whole 'she's my daughter' thing as a defence, because it isn't one."
Charming sighed and moved to sit behind his desk. "I know, but it's difficult. I don't know how to handle her. Her moods flip in seconds if things don't go her way. She was fine when she first arrived but over the past few days, it's getting hard to know how to act around her."
"You should have told me," Emma said. "We're going to have to put a cuff on her if she continues so that she can't access her magic without proper training. Lily has always been volatile, but this is a new level of that, even for her."
"I suppose. Shall I go out of patrol?" Charming asked, not really wanting to continue the conversation.
"Will you promise not to find her and warn her of the potential arrest?" Emma countered with a raised eyebrow. She wasn't really sure where her father's head was at and right now didn't particularly trust him.
"Yeah," Charming replied. "I'll be back before lunch."
Emma nodded. "That's fine. Call if you need anything."
"See you later."
Charming then picked up his cell and slipped out of the office. He was muttering something under his breath, but Emma wasn't in the mood to listen to it. She was more concerned that Lily had started developing magic. It was also interesting that she was using fire as her main skill which is what Emma also used. Could it mean that Lily was Maleficent's daughter after all? But that wouldn't make sense if Emma's go to was fire. With a sigh, she decided not to think about it as she concentrated on the paperwork in front of her.
A couple of hours into her shift, there was a knock on the office door.
"Come in!" Emma cried.
The door opened to reveal Ursula. She was holding two coffees. "I hoped you'd be here. I brought sustenance."
Emma smiled gratefully and accepted the coffee. She drank half of it down in seconds. "I didn't realise how much I needed that." She motioned to the chair opposite her desk. "Take a seat, how can I help?"
"I thought I'd check how you were after meeting Mal," Ursula said after a sip of her own coffee. "She's been talking about you a lot."
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Oh."
Ursula nodded. "She likes your attitude to life. Then again, I think she just likes the similarities you have with Charming." She shook her head with a soft smile. "It's like she's a teenager in love again whenever she speaks about him. Although, she's still annoyed he hasn't tried to find her."
"It's like I said, unless he's told, he won't go to her," Emma said with a sigh.
"I haven't had the chance to tell him," Ursula revealed. "Whenever I see him, he's either with Snow or Lily and I don't want to tell him in front of Lily and could you imagine what would happened if Snow heard it?" Her eyes blew wide with fear. "I don't even want to picture it."
Emma chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I don't want to find out either. She'd probably challenge you to a fight then and there. What's Cruella up to these days?"
"No idea," Ursula said. "Since you came over, she's not been back. Her things have gone and her car is nowhere to be seen. I've no idea where she is."
"Oh," Emma repeated, her go to sound when she didn't know how to reply to something. "I'll try to keep an eye out on her."
"I haven't seen Hook either," Ursula continued. "I usually see him lurking around the docks when I go for my walks on the beach but since Cruella disappeared, he's been gone too so I have no idea what's going on there either."
"Perhaps they've run off together," Emma joked though her stomach turned at the idea of the two together. They were idiots on their own, but two idiots together were always trouble. "I'll keep an eye on it though."
Just as Ursula went to reply, the sheriff station's phone began to ring. Even without answering, Emma could guess who it was going to be. It was nearing half eleven on a Friday morning. Archie would be walking Pongo on his break.
As she picked it up, after saying, "Storybrooke Sheriff's station", she was unsurprised to hear Archie's sheepish voice saying that he'd lost Pongo again.
After Emma hung up, after promising to find him, she looked at Ursula. "I've got to go. Please make sure Mal is at Regina's tomorrow and if you hear anything from Cruella, Hook or Snow, let me know."
Ursula nodded and left the office. Emma flicked her wrist, locking the office from the inside before flicking it again and appearing in the park, right next to Pongo's favourite hiding spot. However, he was nowhere to be seen.
With an internal groan, she flicked her wrist once again, transporting herself to his second favourite hiding spot which was at the edge of the forest. Despite the dark trees and long grass, a large black and white dog was easy to spot in amongst the green.
Behind the first few trees, she saw him sniffing around quite casually, pausing every and then to do his business. Slowly, Emma creeped over to him as to not spook him and quickly grabbed hold of his leash before he could run away.
"Gotcha!"
Pongo looked up with wide eyes puppy dog eyes that always got him out of trouble. He really was adorable.
"You really need to stop giving Archie the slip," she chuckled before starting to head back to Archie.
As she walked through the town, she realised it was rather quiet for a Friday morning in the town. It was a workday but there were usually more people about. Especially now it was getting towards lunchtime, but she shrugged it off. The walk didn't take that long and she reached Archie's office where the man himself was wringing his hands with worry over his dog in relatively quick time.
"You have got to hold his leash tighter," Emma murmured as she passed it over with a chuckle in her voice. She had to admit, chasing Pongo was one of the tasks she secretly enjoyed as she loved the outdoors and animals. "Are you sure you don't want me to charm it so that you can't possibly drop it?"
Archie looked hesitant. He didn't trust magic after what had happened to his parents and had rejected Emma's offer several times already. With a sigh, he nodded. "I think it may be for the best. Step into my office."
Emma was confused that he needed to invite her in to cast the spell, but if that was what he felt comfortable with, she heeded his request. She followed him up to his office and waited for his nod.
Once confirmed, she concentrated and waved her hand over Pongo's leash. It glowed deep blue before returning to the purple it was before.
"Give that a try," she suggested as she passed it back over.
Archie took hold of the leash and encouraged Pongo to run but as soon as he got to the leash's maximum distance, he couldn't go any further and Archie still had control over the handle. He turned to the blonde and grinned.
"Thank you! I should have accepted it sooner."
Emma grinned. "Don't worry about it. Everyone reacts to magic differently. You know what I was like when it started developing and you know what Regina was like when she was trying to stop using it as much."
The therapist noted the warmness in Emma's voice when she mentioned the brunette. Unable to help it, he commented, "you and Regina seem to be quite close these days."
The blonde raised her eyebrow. She knew Archie's skill at getting her to talk with easy conversation. Despite getting his qualification through a curse, he was brilliant at his job.
"I guess," she replied cryptically. When he just raised his eyebrow in return, Emma rolled her eyes. "Fine, we're dating, I suppose you could call it. We're not labelling it with what's gone on in our pasts. Plus, there's Regina's relationship with alcohol to consider if things were to go wrong."
Aside from Henry and Zelena, Archie was the only other person who knew about Regina's slight alcohol problem. When she agreed to help Regina, Emma wanted Archie's advice on how best to approach it. He gave her a small booklet with some ideas and told her to contact him if she needed more help.
"I don't think Regina was ever an alcoholic from what you said," he said. "She seemed to get over it quite quickly. I think it was more a comfort to her, one which helped get over Robin. She would feel the need to drink now, even when she's got past their relationship, if she was an alcoholic. Although, I would still suggest that she needs a bit more stability before she can still drink. Define the relationship, it'll help her more than she thinks it'll hinder her progress."
Emma cocked her head to the side as she listened to the psychiatrist. "Really?"
Archie nodded and smiled kindly as always. "Yes. Show her you won't leave, which we both know you won't, and she'll be fine. I mean, don't encourage her to drink if she doesn't want it but when she next suggests having a glass, casually mind you, not when she's stressed, join her for one so she's not alone. It'll do wonders."
"I'll see how it goes," Emma responded.
Her phone then started to sing with the reminder to meet Regina for lunch. With her tendency to be late, she wanted to make sure that wasn't the case on their first official date. Pulling the phone out of her pocket, she turned off the alarm, unable to grin at the title of 'first date with Gina', before slipping it back into her pocket.
"Sorry, Archie, I've got to run."
"Not to worry," he replied. "Tell Regina I say hello."
When Emma raised her eyebrow, Archie just winked. "Your face said it all. Thank you for finding Pongo…again."
Emma grinned before bidding goodbye and walking out the office.
As she walked towards the diner, she glanced around and the town was even more silent than it had been before she'd stepped inside Archie's office. The fishermen who were usually making their way towards the diner for lunch now they'd clocked off for the day were nowhere to be seen.
Again, she shrugged it off as she knew she'd get too side-tracked when she needed to make a good impression. So, without looking around again, (meaning she failed to see that Lily was stalking down the pavement at the other side of the road looking furious with Snow, Cruella and Hook hot on her heels), she went to meet Regina at the diner, completely and blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.