"I don't know about anyone else, but I would love some pizza right now," Emma announced to the group at large, when they passed through the threshold of Regina's Mansion.
They had left the Apprentice's Mansion rather quickly after he told Emma to prepare for the fight, Emma had not had anything more to say to him. What could you really say in response to that kind of news? It was quickly decided without really any discussion that Regina's house was the place to go as it has become the unofficial hangout spot for Operation Dots.
Even though the operation had pretty much disbanded, Ruby and Elsa were usually found at the Mayoral Mansion to hang out when they weren't working. Ruby was often Henry's main competitor at his video games while Emma and Elsa would chat with Regina. The teenager and the wolf were rather competitive, which was only heightened when Emma joined. Elsa had started making sure Emma was in a deep conversation with her when they set up playing to avoid any arguments, there had been a couple when Ruby cheated or Emma jinxed their remote controls so that she could win; normally after Ruby had already cheated.
Plus, it wasn't really like Charming could go home. He only reluctantly left Maleficent's side to go pick up Neal from Ashley's because he didn't want Snow to grab their son first. He was going to get sole custody of his son, no matter how difficult it may be. But in his heart of hearts he knew that both Emma and Regina would be on his side and that would probably do it.
What shocked people the most was when he admitted the child's existence to Maleficent, she had simply smiled and said she wished to meet his son. There was no malice in her voice at the fact that Charming had had yet another child with Snow.
Once Charming had left the group, Ursula raised her eyebrow at her best friend.
"I can't be angry at him getting on with his life when I wasn't there, can I?" Mal asked rhetorically. "As far as he knew, I was dead."
Ursula didn't look convinced. Emma could understand why, there was something the dragon was hiding but while they were in a group with everyone and the fact, she barely knew the woman, now really wasn't the time to ask. Emma made a note to find out what Maleficent was hiding at a later date, but she didn't think it was anything dangerous or malicious.
As they walked through the front door, Regina heeded Emma's request for pizza. It was barely lunch time and she usually didn't want to eat anything so greasy so early in the day, but her girlfriend had been turned into a fire breathing dragon for the first time and found out that another dragon was actually her mother. If she didn't deserve the greasy food now, she never would.
Therefore, instead of saying no, she found herself asking everyone for their order preferences which were a mixture of meats for Ruby, Emma and Mal, the latter of whom had learnt what pizza was only a few days ago when Ursula had introduced her to it. Elsa and Ursula had both asked for tuna and anchovies due to their fish preferences. Zelena and Henry requested their usual BBQ chicken and Belle agreed with Regina that simple was the best way to go with pizza, and agreed to share a Hawaiian pizza with the Mayor.
"What about David?" Regina asked as she realised that he still hadn't arrived.
"He'll go halves on a meat feast with me," Emma replied she then looked at Mal who was standing awkwardly beside Ursula. "Or with Maleficent, I suppose."
Regina nodded and finished the order before putting the phone down. "We can go wait in the dining room until the food arrives."
The highly dysfunctional family made their way into the dining room with most people taking their usual seats. Regina, Emma and Henry all sat at the top of the table but Elsa, who usually sat beside Emma, faltered as she saw Maleficent looking longingly at the space beside Emma.
"Go ahead," Elsa murmured to the dragon, offering her an encouraging smile. "Ruby and I will move down a few spaces."
Maleficent flashed the Ice Queen a grateful smile as she took a seat beside Emma and Elsa sat beside the empty chair beside her, leaving the space for Charming to sit there when he arrived.
"Is this alright?" Mal asked her daughter nervously.
Emma nodded and flashed her a smile. She was feeling just as nervous. They'd gone from strangers to intimate family within the last hour. It would take some getting used to. "It's fine."
The pizza soon arrived and Henry started passing the boxes out, making sure everyone got their preferences, but Charming was still nowhere to be seen. Mal wasn't the only one who kept glancing at the door worriedly as Emma was just as panicked, although the younger blonde was doing a better job at sneaking surreptitious glances toward the door. Ashley didn't live that far away from Regina so he should have been back with Neal by now. If he didn't arrive in the next half hour, she was going to have to go out and find him.
Just as the clock was about to strike one o'clock, the time Emma had set as the latest to go find her father, there was a loud bang on the front door. Emma and Mal rushed out of their seats and into the foyer with the former flinging the door wide open to reveal Charming standing there with a sleeping Neal in his arms. Charming's breath was rapid and sweat was dripping down his forehead as if he had been running as fast as he could.
Emma quickly lifted her brother from her father's arms so that he didn't have to keep holding him so tightly. Fortunately, Neal stayed asleep during the transfer. She quickly waved her hand over him, checking for any injuries which may have been hidden, but thanked the stars that she didn't find any.
"What happened?!" She whispered harshly, not wanting to wake the baby.
Maleficent had already started checking Charming's wounds and had healed his head and arm without commenting on them. At that point, Regina and Henry joined the group in the foyer.
"Grandpa!" Henry shouted as he saw Mal healing the burn on his arm.
Unfortunately, Henry's cry woke up the baby. Neal promptly began bawling more out of being startled than anything else. Henry bit his lip sheepishly. "Sorry."
Charming smiled, wincing slightly and Emma realised there was more damage than he was showing. "It's alright." He went to reach over to Neal but winced again before slipping to the floor, out cold, thankfully not knocking his head too hard against the shiny flooring.
"David!" Mal cried as she dropped down to the floor, checking him over for injury and found there was more than met the eye. "He's got internal bleeding. He needs to be healed immediately. Where can I take him?"
"Follow me," Regina instructed. She knew Mal wouldn't want him to go to the hospital and she knew there was no need. Mal's ability to heal was much more impressive than Whales' ever could be. Plus, the fact she was Charming's True Love, she would be able to sense where his injuries were and fix them quicker.
With a flick of her wrist, Mal lifted Charming's body and followed Regina into the study leaving Emma to rock her brother gently to stop his cries. It didn't take long as the loud noises had stopped and he gently fell back to sleep.
"What happened?" Henry asked. He no longer looked as guilty now that Neal had stopped crying. "Why is Grandpa unconscious?"
"I don't know," Emma replied honestly. "Can you take Neal to Belle and Zee and then join us in the study?"
Henry nodded and opened his arms so that he could take hold of his uncle as gently as he could, allowing Emma to follow her girlfriend and parents into the study.
Once she arrived, she stood back to watch the scene. Regina was sitting by Charming's head, holding her hands either side of his head with a dim blue light surrounding it. Emma realised she was keeping him knocked out while Maleficent worked to stop him from feeling any further pain. Her mother was waving her arms in an array of motions with different coloured lights flashing around the room. The cut was healed and the burn had vanished from his arm from whatever ministrations Maleficent had performed when Charming was at the front door. Whatever Mal was healing now, it was internal and even more complicated; not to mention dangerous.
It seemed to take an age, when really it was only ten minutes, before Mal finally stopped and Regina pulled her arms away from Charming's head, cutting the connection.
Slowly, Charming blinked as he regained consciousness. "Neal?"
"He's with Belle," Emma revealed. "He's okay."
Charming nodded and motioned to sit up but Mal dropped to his side and held onto his side. "Stay still," she murmured before pressing a kiss to his temple. "You had several broken ribs and internal bleeding."
Emma's eyes widened in shock as she dropped to the floor beside her mother. "Dad, what happened?"
"Snow and Lily," he whispered. He tried to continue but his eyes shut and his breathing evened.
Panicked, Emma went to shake him but Mal shook her head. "He needs to recover. I had to use some pretty intense spells to heal him quickly and stop the bleeding. He'll be awake again in an hour and can tell us what happened then. Come on, let's go eat the cheesy bread now we know he's safe."
Emma smiled softly at her mother as she'd understood the reason Emma hadn't been eating much.
"Hen, go bring Mal and your mother's pizza in here," Regina suggested. "They can stay here until your grandfather wakes up."
Henry nodded and walked out of the room.
"I'll be next door if you need me," Regina said to the blondes. She knew the two needed to spend some time together to get to know each other and now would be a good idea to start that as they both had Charming in common. However, she knew she shouldn't be there at that moment as a buffer as they would rely too much on her to keep conversation going. They needed these first few moments together. Regina pointed out where she would be so they knew they could find her if needed and swiftly left the room.
Emma bit her lip nervously but nodded as she watched her girlfriend walk out of the room. Henry returned with a meat feast pizza that the two could share. He hovered awkwardly, not knowing what to say before throwing his mother a reassuring smile and rushed from the room.
The two blondes were then alone in the study with Charming sleeping in front of them. The room was silent apart from Charming's quiet snores. So many thoughts were running through Emma's mind. What had Lily done to their father? It was obvious that she was behind the injuries as Snow, as delusional as she was, would never have harmed him, unless something had changed in the last few hours. Emma's gut told her that these injuries were the work of her half-sister, knowing Lily to be capable to great violence.
She also wanted to break the silence between them and get to know her mother. There were so many questions she wanted to ask and so many things she wanted to tell her, but she couldn't form anything with the current state of her mind.
It was Maleficent who finally broke the silence and Emma was rather grateful for it.
"So now we know the truth," she murmured. She looked away from Charming and smiled tentatively at the blonde beside her. "Although after meeting you with Urse the other day, it didn't surprise me."
Emma chuckled quietly. "Yeah, Gina and I said the same. We're quite alike."
Mal bit her lip nervously. "You and Regina. Are you together?"
So, they were starting with that conversation. Emma knew it would have to happen eventually so perhaps it was better getting it over and done with and then they could all move on.
"We are," Emma confirmed. "It's only a recent development but I'm happy. I know there's a past between the two of you."
Mal nodded. "Regina was my only friend at a time when I had nothing. She was the spark I needed to get myself together. It was because of her that I tried to win Stephan's love and his rejection inevitably led me to your father. I can't thank her enough for that."
"I wouldn't phrase it like that, if I were you," Emma said, her voice slightly dark.
Maleficent was clearly completely oblivious to the fact that she had broken Regina's heart. Her deep green eyes were full of confusion which proved Emma's thought process to be correct.
"You absolutely crushed her," Emma continued. "It's not my place to say this, but I will do so because I know Regina won't willingly bring this up herself. Regina was in love with you and you threw her aside for a man who never felt that way about you. It is painful for her to admit this to anyone, even to me, so she definitely will not say anything to you. But I love her, so I am telling you now."
The older dragon opened her mouth and shut it several times as she tried to come up with something to say. Emma tried not to chuckle as it was her typical reaction when she was faced with a situation as confusing and delicate as this.
"I…I didn't know," Mal whispered. She looked to the ground, her eyes flicking from side to side, thinking over the past she'd shared with the former Evil Queen. "I mean, I know she told me she loved me, but she was young and scared and desperate. I thought she didn't mean it and I was so pathetically in love with Stephan that I cast her aside."
"She's alright now," Emma said. "She was fragile at the time and I wouldn't be surprised if that was part of the reason that she cast the curse too."
"It would explain why she trapped me in the dragon form," Mal murmured, a hint of amusement in her voice, her green eyes sparkling. "I don't blame her for it."
"You need to apologise for it," Emma advised, slightly forcefully. "So that you can both move forward because you're going to be in each other's lives permanently now because of me. I can't have an elephant in the room forever. It was bad enough when you were here the other day."
Maleficent nodded. "When things settle down, I'll talk to her and smooth it out. I promise."
"That's all I ask," Emma said.
Silence came over the two again now that Emma had said her piece on the Maleficent/Regina situation. Maleficent seemed to still be thinking about it before her brow furrowed as she thought of something else. "Out of curiosity, why did you kill me? What was wrong with your son that required it?"
Emma coughed as she inhaled at the question. "Oh, I didn't go down to the caves with the intention of slaying a dragon, or anyone really. I went to find the counter curse for Henry. He was dying." She hesitated before realising that Mal would find out the past between Emma and Regina eventually. "So, Gina and I didn't always see eye to eye. In fact, we hated each other. She hated me so much she made me a poisoned apple turnover to try to get rid of me. Henry tried to warn me but I didn't listen so to prove it, he ate it and as there was no magic here at the time, it was fatal so I did what Gold, Rumpelstiltskin to you, told me to do which was to kill you. I didn't think twice, my son was in danger. Sorry."
"Don't be," Mal said with a small chuckle. "Actually, it was a relief not to be staring at the same cave walls for so long with only myself for company. You freed my thoughts of your father and you. I knew there was more than met the eye when I saw you. I guess now we know why."
"I guess," Emma agreed. She looked forward and saw that her father was still sleeping. She picked up a slice of pizza which was getting colder as it remained untouched since Henry had brought it in. Maleficent copied her movements.
"So how did Henry come to be?" Mal asked and Emma almost choked on her bite. So, it seemed that Mal was much like her, wanting all the awkward questions out of the way first. At least it got them all over and done with quickly.
"Umm, I was seventeen when I met his dad and things got out of hand and I ended up pregnant and in prison," Emma said rushed, wanting to get it all out. "But I don't regret any of it. Henry got adopted by Regina who's given him a great life and he came to get me when he was ten to break the curse and it all unravelled from there. The Apprentice said I had to break the curse, but I'd have been useless without my son. Oh, and his dad is the son of Rumpelstiltskin, but he died a couple of months ago. Long story. We weren't together at the time."
Mal just stared at her daughter as she spoke. "Your life sounds eventful. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you."
Emma smiled softly. "I'm sorry you weren't too, but there's time now."
She could hardly believe that she was saying the words. She had never wanted a mother when Snow had offered it. Clearly, she did when the right mother was in front of her.
They were silent for a few moments as they both ate their food while watching Charming sleep. He twitched a few times but he showed no sign of waking any time soon so Emma decided it was her turn to ask the more awkward questions.
"Are you really not that bothered that Neal exists?" She asked, biting her lip nervously as she didn't want to intrude. She didn't quite manage to supress the wince at her brother's name, but luckily her company did not notice.
Maleficent sighed. "I meant what I said, David thought I was dead so he had the right to move on with his life. There's just part of me that's bitter about it. Your father's happiness is one of the most important things to me, so, if Snow made him happy, I'd have bowed out peacefully, but she didn't and the fact he went back to her after everything that happened is frustrating. Yet, Neal is an innocent in all of this, I could never be angry towards a child."
Emma nodded. She completely understood what Maleficent felt. She would have been frustrated if the same had happened to her but Mal was also right that Neal wasn't to blame. He didn't ask to be born; he was just the result of Snow's request.
"Snow wanted another child she could raise from the start," Emma revealed. She shivered remembering the sting she felt when Snow had admitted in the cave when they were going to save the original Neal. "I was never enough for her. I guess we know why."
She glanced up to Mal and smiled nervously but it grew when she saw Mal return her smile.
"You're my daughter," Mal said. It was the first time Emma had heard those words and she felt the warmth grow inside her. Despite the slight possessiveness in the phrase, she didn't feel disgusted as she had when Snow had said the same. "By the sounds of it, there were doubts before you knew of the prophecy."
Emma shrugged and took another bite of pizza. "There's just always been something not quite right about calling Snow 'mom'. I thought it was because she was just annoying, I never even questioned the idea that she genuinely wasn't my mother. Dad never mentioned you." Mal shivered at the sting of the phrase. "Sorry," Emma added quickly, "but he didn't so I never knew it was a possibility. Now I know, it feels right."
"Good," Mal replied, not quite sure of what else to say.
The two were silent for a few moments as they both munched on the pizza that was in front of them. There were still a couple of slices left that she wanted to eat but she didn't want to seem like a pig in front of her mother. Then again, if Maleficent knew Charming well enough, she would know that he was a fan of food, so she picked up another slice. She saw Maleficent chuckle meaning that she'd seen the resemblance between the two.
"So, I can turn into a dragon," Emma murmured after she finished another slice.
"You can," Mal confirmed, choosing not to comment on Emma's eating habits, knowing that Emma's passive mention of becoming a dragon was much more pressing that she was pretending. "I take it that was the first time it ever happened?"
Emma nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Why has it never happened before? I've been that angry before since magic was brought to town. I mean, there was a huge kerfuffle a few months ago when my almost adoptive mom came to town, but I never turned into a dragon. My magic just became uncontrollable until Henry was able to get through to me to help me calm down."
"I believe it was both mine and Snow's fault that the dragon emerged," Mal revealed. "Because I have never been near you when you've been that angry before, you'd never have felt the dragon aura surrounding you. The first transformation is also due to anger and then you can work on it so that you can transform without it. So whatever Snow said trigger the anger and my presence triggered the transformation. You make a magnificent dragon, I must admit."
"Thanks," Emma murmured, almost shyly. It wasn't everyday she was complimented for something out of her control. "So, will I turn into a dragon whenever I'm angry now?" She bit her lip nervously. "I mean, it's cool and all that, but it may cause some issues if I suddenly grow wings and breathe fire whenever I'm interrogating a suspect."
Maleficent chuckled. "No, it'll only happen when you're severely angry until you learn to control it, but I will help you if you want me to, that is?" She didn't want to presume that Emma would want her help, she had been told of the younger blonde's fierce independent streak by Ursula. When Emma nodded almost frantically, Mal breathed out a sigh of relief. "It's like magic in a way; it takes time and patience. From what I've seen your magic is beautifully contained and handled. It's impressive. You have so much power and you've got that under control so I have no doubt that your dragon power will be the same."
Emma nodded and let out a breath of relief. She had panicked at the possibility that the dragon wouldn't be tamed but just like she had with her magic under Regina's instruction, she would be able to control the new beast inside her.
"Once this whole prophecy thing is over with, I say we get started with dragon training," Emma said.
Mal chuckled. It was a melodic sound that Emma liked. It made her happy to hear it and she wanted to be the cause of it more.
"I agree," Mal said. "It'll be nice to stretch my wings and I've always wanted to show my daughter how to fly."
Emma smiled at the prospect. She only frowned when Mal bit her lip, almost nervously. "What's wrong?"
"What did Snow say to anger you so much?" Maleficent asked which threw Emma for a loop momentarily. She hadn't expected Mal to ask that. "If you don't mind me asking."
"She claimed me," Emma replied with a bite in her voice. "Which annoyed me but most of all, she called me stupid when I'm not. It's something I've been called so many times in my life when I'm anything but. I mean, I went to Harvard and graduated at the top of my class and she knows that." She shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if she said it to make sure she pissed me off which is weird because she was trying to prove that I'm her daughter. I'm so glad that I'm not. I'd take being the daughter of the Queen of Darkness over that anyway." She nudged Mal softly to show she was joking.
At that, Maleficent couldn't help the smile. "It was Snow who dubbed me that, you know. Somehow when she gives someone a name, it sticks and everyone takes it on." She sighed. "I assure you, despite being a dragon and having some, slightly bad reactions to King Stephan and his family, I'm not as dark as she made out."
"You don't seem it to me either," Emma commented.
Mal turned to her daughter and smiled softly. "That means a lot."
Mother and daughter lapsed into a comfortable silence, keeping an eye on David's slumbering form. The smile they had shared had cemented the start of a beautiful relationship, even if neither truly knew that yet. Sneaking a peek from the doorway, Regina smiled; for now, all was well.