"Henry," Regina gasps, moving quickly to break her embrace with the blonde, and for some godawful reason, Emma's first instinct to hold the woman closer, needing to protect her in the moment from the disaster that's about to rain all over them.
"What is going on?" He screeches, his tiny voice cracking under the weight of the circumstance. "Why are you guys kissing? Why are you kissing her?" He bellows, his face scrunching up in utter bewilderment and he honestly looks like he's in severe pain. "What are you doing?"
"Henry, I'm so sorry you had to find out this way," Regina softly whispers, twirling around in Emma's embrace and bending down to reach out for her son.
But as always, he's quick to dodge her unwanted touch and Emma flinches this time, not Regina though, and Emma knows it's because she was expecting his dismissal after what he just witnessed.
"No, stop! I knew you were being too nice. You want to steal her, so she stays on your side. You don't want her to believe that she's my mom. You don't want her breaking the curse," he screams hysterically, his volume rising with each passing breath and stealing all the oxygen from the room.
"Honey-"
"No! Don't listen to her Ally! She's evil. She doesn't want you to break her curse! She doesn't want you to be my mom because she knows your good and you will take me away from all of this horrible stuff!"
"Kid, please, you need to calm down. Listen to your mother, alright? She loves you," she gently reasons but his little body is trembling and there are fat tears streaming down his face, that he probably doesn't even realize. "Your mom is not evil. This isn't some plot, we like each other a lot and-"
"No! This can't be happening! You need to break the curse! You need to stop all of this. Everyone is suffering!"
There's a warm liquid clinging to Emma's eyes from witnessing such a little boy completely breaking down, because she does care for him now. She never thought it would be possible, but this little human wiggled his way into her heart and she does adore him.
"Everyone is suffering?" Emma softly asks, reaching for his hand. "Or just you?"
He jerks away as if she's contaminated by some hazardous waste, but Regina is stepping forward again. She's silently crying and stretching forward for her son, but he's vehemently shaking his head and countering each step she takes.
"Please baby, please stop all of this. I love you, Henry. I am your mother and this woman cannot save you from the pain you're dealing with inside," Regina carefully says, but he's not listening as he sobs.
"No! No, it's all wrong. She's my mom!"
"Henry, she is not your mother!"
"She is! You're lying! You know she is, you don't want her breaking the curse and taking me away!"
"Henry," Regina exasperates, slowly losing her patience after an entire year of this debacle. "Enough is enough. This needs to end, Allison Cameron, is not your mother," she firmly announces, but he's violently shaking his head and rejecting her.
"Yes, she is." His hazel eyes fling to Emma's in an instant. "Tell her! Tell her how you gave me up to give me my best chance, so we could break the curse.
"Henry, I am not your mom!" Emma unexpectedly explodes because she cannot possibly deal with another moment of this insanity, he needs to face his reality.
"But-"
"No, Henry," she bends down so she's eye level with him and holds his gaze. Glassy green eyes challenging soaking wet hazel orbs, all wide-eyed and petrified. "I am not your mother. I've never given birth. I've never even been pregnant," she vows and to her own horror, she watches this little boy completely crumble.
"But no," he wails, pressing his palms into his eyes to stop the uncontrollable tears. "I can't...this can't be it, this can't be-" he stammers, hopelessly gasping for air.
"Oh honey," Regina cries, pulling her son into her arms and guiding him gently to the ground.
He collapses against her chest and she holds him as if he's three-months-old again, shrieking cries of hysteria from being so colicky. She carefully settles on the ground and rocks him slowly, whispering promises that everything will be alright.
Emma inhales sharply, bells and whistles are shrieking in her mind to run as far and as fast as possible, but she finds herself kneeling beside mother and son. She tentatively reaches out and gently rubs Henry's back to help console him.
"I don't...she-she can't be..." he stutters, hyperventilating from his harsh truth; that his birth mother tossed him aside, and his adoptive mother lied to him for eight years, and his grandmother lost her mind, and his grandpa died out of nowhere. "I, please," he cries incoherently.
"Henry, please calm down, baby," Regina sniffles, pressing kiss after kiss to the crown of his head and holding onto him as if he will shatter into a million tiny pieces if she releases him.
"I don't want her to be my mom," he sobs, balling Regina's shirt into his fist and burying his face against her chest.
Emma's taken back by his statement, so she furrows her brows and stares at Regina, urging her to explain. Regina mouths the word, later, and Emma accepts that, understanding he's too emotional to even touch on the sore subject.
"I know, honey, but it's okay. I promise you, I love you, no matter what, and I will never let you go."
Emma's not entirely certain how long the three of them sit on the cold hardwood floors in the kitchen while Henry sobs, Regina rocks him and Emma continuously rubs his back. Regina proceeds to reassure him that everything will be alright and how much she loves him. When his heaving settles down, Regina offers him dinner, but he shakes his head and crawls further into her lap, and never has he appeared so small before.
Regina carefully maneuvers him, encouraging him to stand before she guides him upstairs to his bed. Maybe he's embarrassed about everything, but it's the first time he doesn't request Emma's presence. She feels an ache in her chest from not being wanted, but she shoves that all aside because Henry's mental state is what's most important.
When Regina is away, Emma reheats the pasta sauce sitting on the stove. When she hears Regina say goodnight, followed by her soft footsteps on the stairs, she begins plating their dinner.
"I thought you might be hungry," she sheepishly says, holding up both plates and shrugging so shyly.
Regina pouts, her eyes falling closed and prompting Emma to quickly set down the plates and pull this woman into her arms. At first, Regina doesn't hug her back, she simply rests her cheek against Emma's shoulder and breathes slowly while Emma places one hand at the small of her back and her other swims through those dark tresses to massage her scalp.
"I'm sorry," Emma apologizes and she's not even sure if she knows what she's apologizing for, but that's what she does when she's uncomfortable. That's what she was trained to do in the foster system, just say sorry before the guardians become too angry and kick her out again.
"It's not your fault," Regina whimpers, her cold fingers sneaking beneath Emma's shirt to lightly scratch the flesh and maybe even cling to her for her own sanity. "I just hope we got through to him without him reverting."
"I know," Emma mindlessly babbles, squeezing the woman even closer and that's the exact moment she knows she's in too deep.
She rests her head on top of Regina's and closes her eyes, wishing this wasn't the way she found this amazing woman. She knows she has to tell Regina the truth, enough is enough, but first, she has to make a drive and speak to her Captain about everything before things really get out of hand.
"Come on, let's eat," Regina weakly mumbles, "I know you're starving," she sasses with the most pathetic smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.
"I am," she proudly agrees, pressing a small kiss to the woman's forehead.
Regina steals the plates of pasta Emma prepared and leads them to the small kitchen table, instead of the dining room, where the three of them usually eat together. They take their seats and Emma pours them each a glass of wine, knowing how badly Regina will need the liquid to calm her body down tonight.
"Is he asleep?"
"He passed out rather quickly."
"Well, that's good. Maybe he needs to rest and we can discuss some things in the morning with him," she suggests while Regina nods along behind her white wine. "So, here's a question..." Regina hums in response, not even bothering with looking up as she jabs her fork around her plate. "Um, so, Henry knows you're gay, right? I mean your mom was speaking so openly in front of him, but now he saw us kissing and-"
"Yes," she replies, so matter of fact. "He's known for quite sometime. When he was younger he would inquire about his father a lot and so I explained to him that I like girls and that I had him all on my own without a father."
"I bet that was a hard topic."
"He was little, he didn't know any better, so he accepted the concept fairly easily. Now, that he's getting older, I do worry that some kids at school may say something when they find out or tease him, but so far I haven't had any problems regarding that."
"Right. Because other stuff has been taking up top priority, right?"
"Yes. After he shut down and stopped speaking, that's when the bullies started at school." Regina sighs, pushing her pasta around her plate, completely lost in thought.
So, Emma timidly rests her hand against Regina's forearm to recapture her attention, still so unsure how to navigate through feelings and emotions in a relationship.
"Hey, it will get better. He's doing so much better and I know this night ended kind of shitty, but don't you dare forget that he hugged you. Willingly," she stresses with the most adorable smile consuming her face, that Regina has no choice but to smile along with.
"True."
There's a heavy moment of silence as they both eat and slowly sip their wine. When they are almost through their meal, Emma decides to speak up and break through the quietness, even if it's most likely going to cause more tension between them.
"Um, so, if you don't mind me asking..." she pauses, waiting for brown eyes to seek out hers and when they do, and there are no signs of rejection, she proceeds, "uh, what did Henry mean when he said, he didn't want her to be his mom?"
Regina inhales deeply, filling and expanding her lungs to their fullest potential before she sighs heavily. She nervously twirls the stem of the wine glass between her fingers and holds Emma's gaze.
"After Henry found out he was adopted and he started pushing me away, he kept insisting that his birth mother would have never given him up. I told you before that he started resenting me and couldn't grasp the concept that the woman tossed him aside."
Emma swallows thickly, because she knows that urgency to feel belonged. There came a point where that gaping hole in her heart needed to be filled and she was frantic for anything to fill the void. She never found what she was looking for and eventually she succumbed to numbness instead. Recently that numbness has started to lessen and maybe she's found something worthy enough to fill that void.
"So, I tracked the woman down."
"You did?"
"Being mayor has some perks," she smugly replies. "Anyways, I took Henry to meet her because the woman refused to answer my calls. We showed up on her doorstep, some rundown apartment in New York City."
"Really? Did she freak out?" Emma inquires, leaning in closer and hanging onto every word Regina speaks.
"Yes." Brown eyes roll dramatically in annoyance as Regina takes another sip of her wine. She slams her glass down with all her pent up rage toward the woman and scoffs. "She was furious, but Henry was determined." A disgusted snarl forms around Regina's mouth, provoking her upper lip to twitch. "The entire apartment reeked of cigarettes and was filthy dirty. She was obviously strung out on something, but luckily, Henry was too young to notice. She invited us in, reluctantly, and my poor baby was so hopeful. He tried so hard to engage with her and he kept asking all kinds of questions. He was an excited ball of energy, but she was annoyed and couldn't be bothered."
"Bitch," Emma breathlessly breathes.
"Indeed," Regina confirms, slowly sipping her wine again. "He was little and he kept asking her if she wanted him or missed him and she snapped. She completely lost it and screamed at him, telling him that she never wanted him and that he was a mistake."
"Did you punch her in the nose? Please tell me you decked her."
"Oh, I wanted to, but no, I refrained for Henry's sake and dragged him away. That was the last time he spoke to me," Regina confesses, before her enchanting eyes drift toward Emma's and she offers a gentle smile, "until you came into his life."
"Yeah, but that wasn't the healthiest of circumstances either."
"No, you're right, but little by little, my son is coming back to me. Every day that he spends with you," she shakes her head, her eyes fluttering closed for just a moment. "I don't know how or what you're doing, but it's working. Allison, you're somehow mending this broken family."
"I swear I don't have the slightest clue how," she nervously chuckles. "I'm still shocked that you two keep inviting me back."
Regina slowly rises from her chair with Emma's eyes tracking her, every step of the way. This sexy woman pushes Emma back against her chair as she slowly lowers herself onto strong thighs. Emma's hands move all on their own, gliding around the slim waist to hold the woman close. Regina drapes her arms around Emma's neck and smirks down at her with lust beating in her eyes.
"I'm shocked that you keep coming back after seeing my disaster of a life exposed," Regina muses, her lips delicately brushing against Emma's before she nips at a thin bottom lip.
"I promise my life is even more complicated," she complains, but this gorgeous woman is dragging her pillowy lips against her mouth in the most delicious way that's causing Emma to lose focus.
"Mmm, I highly doubt that," Regina husks, pressing her lips more firmly against Emma's and eliminating the nagging thoughts about coming clean.
Regina parts Emma's mouth, her tongue diving right in for that dance they are becoming more familiar with after seven days of playful kisses. Emma's palms press into Regina's bottom, admiring the plumpness before she squeezes and urges this sexy woman in even closer. They both groan when Regina's heated core drags slowly against Emma's lower abdomen.
"Wait," Regina abruptly disrupts the passionate kiss and reels back. "There's something that's been bothering me," she fully admits, taking Emma by total surprise that her eyes almost bug right out of her head.
Her heart brutally pounds against her sternum, making it almost impossible to breathe. "Oh, yeah?" She tries to play it cool, but her voice cracks like a thirteen-year-old boy.
"I understand that you are recently divorced from a man." Emma swallows again, and she almost chokes on nothing but the desert-dry air suffocating them. "So, I need to know, am I the first woman you've ever been with? Because I need to know if this is just some fling or experiment? I have Henry and I don't allow women in his life, but you were already there-"
"Regina," Emma gently cuts her off and grins like a lunatic. "Between you and me..." Regina nods curtly. "My marriage was a sham. I've always been with women," she smirks, fully proud of herself, inspiring Regina's head to tilt back as she laughs lightly.
"Oh thank god," she chuckles before she dips down and captures Emma's mouth again.
"I want you to know," Emma mutters into the kiss, gently guiding Regina's head back, so she can gaze deeply into her eyes and hold her attention. "I told you some things are complicated in my life and that I'm trying to work through them right now, but I do want this. I want to try with you and I hope you know I'm serious. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have shared my story about my parents."
"I know," Regina softly murmurs, swaying forward to reconnect their lips for an intimate kiss that has Emma tingling all over. "So," that seductive drawl in her raspy voice electrifies every cell in Emma's body, pleading pathetically on its hands and knees for this woman to be writhing beneath her. "Would you like to stay the night?"
Emma groans, a real animalistic groan of a lion that was just shot in the heart while running so blissfully in the wild. She grips Regina's hips and tugs her even closer, forcefully dragging her warm center against her own lower region.
"You're making this so hard," she whimpers against those plump lips.
"Am I?" Regina taunts, knowing damn well what she's doing.
"Yes," she produces an audible gulp against her own free will. "I thought we were going to take it slow?"
"Yes, well, my son already caught us," Regina easily debates, her palms gliding forcefully over Emma's shoulders and down her chest in the most antagonizing manner. She dips lower, ghosting her lips over Emma's just to tease her a little more. "So, I really don't see the issue with indulging."
"Ugh, you're the worst. I am trying to be responsible here," she whines, her nails biting into the thick denim encasing Regina's hips. "I think we should still take things slow, especially with Henry around, but I don't want you to mistake this for a rejection. God, I want you so bad."
Regina's infamous evil smirk slides into place as her finger twirls Emma's long hair around. She grinds down more firmly upon Emma's lap and teasingly skims her lips against a pale set, begging to be kissed.
"How bad?" Regina taunts, fishing for an ego boost to help settle her fears about Emma's commitment issues.
Emma's grip tightens around the dainty waist before she aggressively pulls the woman closer again, forcing her to grind against her lap once more. "I've wanted you since the first night you invited me over and you taught me all about that book," she confesses through a raw groan that expresses the anguish she is in from keeping her sexual desires on lockdown.
"Good," Regina husks, hovering over parted lips. "That's how long I've been waiting for you to woman up."
Emma chuckles, stretching forward to slam their lips back together again and she really wishes her skin would stop prickling the way it does whenever she kisses this woman. She hates the way her heart flutters and thumps rapidly like a damn puppy's tail when receiving a good belly scratch. She would give anything at this point to lift the beautiful woman in her arms, carry her upstairs, and ravish her body until she passes out from the exhilaration.
Except, with a good conscience, she can't. She couldn't possibly sleep with this woman under false pretenses. She would feel sick to her stomach listening to this woman call out her name, a name that doesn't belong to her. No, when she and Regina finally decide that they are ready to have sex, she wants this woman to know her real name.
That is, if Regina will still want her after she finds out she's been lying to her about her identity for almost two months now.
A/N: I hope this clears up the burning question, is there a curse or not. Please don't spoil the surprise in the reviews :)