Emma Swan's night wasn't going exactly the way she planned. It was her twenty eighth birthday, and the last thing that she had expected to be doing was standing next to her kitchen counter drinking a Jack and coke. Well, there wasn't exactly much coke in the glass. She had just gotten home from her third date with a brunette from work. By now, Emma expected to be rolling around in bed. Instead, she was given a quick kiss at the door with a promise to call the next day. She wasn't sure where she went wrong. As she was about to down her glass, her doorbell rang. She smiled to herself. Her date must have just been playing hard to get and decided to come back for a little rendezvous.
Emma put on her sexy grin as she opened the door. At first, she didn't see anyone standing there. Looking down she noticed the boy. She looked at the clock next to the door noting that it was way too late for him to be selling cookies or whatever else it was that kids sold.
"You lost kid?" She asked. There was something so familiar about this little boy, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
The little boy didn't answer. Instead, he walked right past Emma into the living room. She followed behind him being sure to lock the door thinking this was a rouse for some adult to come in and rob her blind.
"Hey kid." She said coming in behind him.
"My name is Henry." He finally said. Henry, she thought. There was something familiar about that name too.
"What can I do for you, Henry?" She asked.
"You're my birth mother." Emma's ears stopped working after the words left his mouth. She knew he was still talking because his mouth was still moving, but she couldn't hear a single word he said. She let her eyes roam over his face. He looked familiar because his face was shaped just like Neal's. He looked familiar because he had the same cocked smile that her ex had possessed.
"Slow down." She finally forced herself to say as she continued to stare at him. He was about the right age, but there had been a closed adoption. She had been in prison when she gave birth to him. She had held him for two seconds. She took the time to let the image of the small baby she still held in her head collide with the image of the boy standing in front of her.
The little boy looked frustrated. "I need you to come with me to Maine. You're the savior, and you have to break the Evil Queen's curse."
"Ok." Emma said. "I think someone has had a little too much caffeine on his way here. What is your phone number? Your parents are probably worried sick. Where did you come from?"
"Maine." The boy said letting out an exacerbated sigh. "I just told you that. I need you to come with me. You have to break the curse."
"What curse?" Emma decided if she humored him she might be able to get a phone number out of him faster.
"My Mom is the Evil Queen from the Enchanted Forest. Yes, the one you read about when you were a kid. Your mother is Snow White, and your dad is Prince Charming. I live in a town full of storybook characters that have no idea who they really are because of the curse that sent them here. It's been twenty eight years. You're the savior."
Emma was dumbfounded. This little guy obviously had a vivid imagination. She wondered if the stress of meeting his birth mother for the first time had caused the kid to concoct such a crazy story. "Alright." Emma finally said shaking her head. "I'll go to Maine with you." She knew that driving the kid home was probably the quickest way to get him there, and she certainly didn't want to be charged with kidnapping because he was in Boston with her.
Emma and Henry got into her bug, and she drove. The little boy next to her told the story of a book that his school teacher had given him. This book was full of fairytales about her parents who he claimed happened to be Snow White and Prince Charming. His mother, the Evil Queen, had cursed them all to live in Maine. He spoke with such passion that she wished she could believe him.
"You're wrong kid." She said. "I grew up in foster care. I had a family until I was three, but they gave me away when they had kids of their own. I don't have a family. I certainly am not a princess."
"You have to believe." The little boy said looking into her eyes. "You will break the curse. You have to save everyone."
Emma drove well into the early hours of the morning with the little boy continuing to tell her all of his stories about which character he thought each person in the town was. He kept telling her that she would be the one to bring back the happy endings. Emma laughed out loud at this. She certainly couldn't bring anyone a happy ending. She didn't even have her own.
When she pulled up in front of a huge, white mansion she smiled for a second. She had given up this little boy so that he would be raised in the way that she never could. She felt relief wash over her when she realized that he at least possessed all the material things that he would need.
They walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell. Every single light in the house was on. The door flung open. A brunette wrapped her arms around Henry and squeezed him tight. She rubbed his arm and his face to make sure he was all in one piece. She told him that she was worried sick, and she couldn't believe he would run away. Three women and another man came to the doorway as the woman continued to kneel in front of Henry.
As if on cue, the woman noticed the blonde standing next to her. She looked up. Brown eyes locked with green ones. Emma took in a sharp intake of breath the second that realization struck her. It was in that moment that she felt the buzz on her skin that she hadn't felt since that night three years ago.
"Regina." She breathed out. The boy looked from his mother to Emma confusion etched across his face.
Regina's heart was pounding as she looked at the woman before her. To say she couldn't believe her eyes would have been an understatement. "Emma," she said, and Emma's heart lurched at the slight pain that she heard in the way her name was uttered. Before Emma could say anything else, a palm came into contact with her face. Regina slapped her so hard that her head snapped to the side.
"Regina, what the hell are you doing?" This voice came from the man standing in the room. He was obviously a police officer. Emma was at a loss as to what to say. She felt the sting on her cheek. She felt the constriction in her chest.
"I deserved that." She said looking at the man who was now standing next to her. Silence passed through the room as everyone contemplated Emma's statement. "He just showed up at my house." She finally said.
"Emma's my birth Mom." Henry said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She is here to break the curse."
Regina rolled her eyes. This was almost too much for Emma to take in as she looked at the woman standing before her. She hadn't aged a minute. She wore a tight dress, and Emma almost smirked at the way it hugged her curves. She had thought of that night often. She could still feel the softness of Regina's lips against her skin. She also still felt the sting of the slap she had just received.
"Henry, please go to your room." She said. Henry did as he was told with his book behind him.
"I am just going to go." Emma said as she turned to leave. The sooner she got out of this situation the better.
"Go ahead, run." Regina said. "That is what you are good at." Emma felt like she had been slapped again as she let the words sting deep down inside.
"It's late." The voice of one of the women watching the scene finally spoke up. "My Granny runs a bed and breakfast. Just stay there for the night, and you can be on your way in the morning.
"I'm staying." Emma said locking eyes with Regina. "It's obvious that Henry needs some stuff sorted out. I won't run from him again."
"Oh please." Regina said. "You ran when you gave birth to him. You ran from me. You will run now. As soon as the going gets tough, you'll be out of here." The three women watching looked at each other still very unsure of what was happening around them.
"You don't know me." Emma finally said. She had lost the tone that she hoped to use as her voice faltered when she again looked into dark brown eyes. For just a moment she saw the hurt there before it was replaced with a brick wall.
She took a few steps backwards letting herself stand on the front porch. Regina turned to walk upstairs and one of the women followed her. Two of the other women stepped outside with Emma.
"I'm Ruby." The one wearing the short shorts and tight t-shirt said. "This is Mary Margaret." She said pointing to the woman standing next to her. "My granny's is right down the street."
They walked in silence. Emma contemplated the journey that had gotten her to this point. When they arrived at the diner, it was almost five AM. "Coffee?" Ruby asked.
"Please." Emma said before following the two women into the diner.
"How did Henry get to you?" Mary Margaret finally asked.
"I have no idea." Emma said. "He just showed up on my doorstep talking about some curse and Snow White and the Evil Queen."
"He has been doing that since I gave him that book. I guess he thinks that you are the savior." Mary Margaret said.
"It appears so. I guess I should stay for a couple of days. I don't want to abandon the kid if he is having a mental breakdown."
Mary Margaret finished her coffee and left to go home. Ruby stood over the stove making Emma pancakes. She wasn't sure why, but she felt sorry for the blonde who had been sucked into the small town.
"What was that back there?" Ruby finally asked.
"I met Regina a long time ago." Emma said avoiding the suspicious gaze she picked up from Ruby. It was obviously more than a meeting. "Who was that other woman with Regina?" Emma tried to sound conversational instead of curious.
"That's Belle. She's Regina's girlfriend." Emma choked on her coffee slightly as the words registered in her ears. "Yeah, it makes absolutely no sense. Regina is more like her mother the way she protects her from everyone. They've only been seeing each other a few months. I didn't think Regina was capable of anything intimate."
"Oh she is." Emma let slip before giving Ruby a look to let her know that was the end of that conversation.
Emma ate her breakfast before taking a room key from Ruby. She laid down on the bed letting her thoughts wash over her. She ran a finger across her bloody lip. She still felt the sensation of the night that Regina's had been there.
Across town, Regina stood in her study with the door closed. Deep in a drawer in her desk in there she pulled out a black box. In the box was a white tank top that she hadn't pulled out in six months. She let herself breathe it in as the scent of Emma overwhelmed her. She couldn't believe the woman had been standing in her living room. She laid down letting herself remember the feel of the weight of Emma pressed against her. She let a single tear fall as she held the garment to her chest. She had felt magic in Emma because Emma was the product of true love. Emma was the savior. Regina knew she was there to break the curse. As much as it hurt her to do so, Regina had to make sure that Emma would leave and never come back.