Author's Note:Trigger Warning - Regina experiences some unwanted physical contact.
They stared at her. Actually, it was more like glared. The Charmings were in a mood and definitely not a good one. Regina understood that. Emma was their daughter. Their daughter they couldn't raise because they gave her up in fear of Regina's curse. And now Emma was the Dark One, lost to them again for an indefinite amount of time and they knew Regina was the only one to have contact with the blonde since her noble but very idiotic sacrifice. Honestly, Regina would have been fine if the darkness had swallowed her whole. It wouldn't have been the first time and everyone including Emma knew it.
But that was why Emma had done it, why she had taken on the darkness in her place. Because she knew Regina had already fought the darkness. She knew Regina had struggled with it and then gave in to it and then fought it again for Henry.
"You've fought too hard to have your happiness destroyed," echoed in her mind for the millionth time since that night.
Regina was grateful that she had someone on her side again, had Emma of all people on her side, but because of the younger woman's actions Regina had to suffer the consequences. And the consequences were Emma's pissed off and over-protective parents.
"Have you heard from her," Snow asked, her voice snippy and tense. She reminded Regina of days in the castle when petulance was at the top of the girl's list of things to do for the day whether it had been a conscious decision or not on Snow's part.
"If I had, why would I tell you," Regina replied with a question of her own, her tone as defiant as her expression.
"Because we deserve to know," Charming stepped in with his near booming voice. His blue eyes were sharp with determination and frustration. Most people would think not to mess with him in that state, but all Regina could think was how much he looked like Emma in that moment.
She took a quick breath in and raised her shoulders, her body rigid from the discomfort caused by the situation. She only wished she brought Henry with her to divert the Charmings' attention from her every so often. But she loved Henry and she knew the conversation she was going to have with Snow and Charming wasn't for him to overhear. Because she was sure even if he sat with them that things would still escalate and get ugly. She might have had mixed feelings about the couple that stood across from her in the rundown apartment's kitchen, but she didn't want Henry to be stuck in the middle. She didn't want him to think badly of either his grandparents or her if things did end up poorly unfolding, which was exactly what happened.
Regina sighed and picked at the peeling wood at the edge of the countertop before she said, "It doesn't matter if I've seen her or not. Clearly she hasn't visited you and that's all that should concern you. If she wants to see you, if she wants to talk to you, she would."
David lifted both of his hands to his face and ran them down from his forehead to his chin. He sighed as he quickly smacked his hands onto the counter and stared down at her where she sat in one of two stools. "We just want to know she's alright," he explained. "And if she's coming to you, we want to know what we did to make her want to stay away."
"She forgave us before she became the Dark One," Snow said, her eyes softer and a little sad and panicked. "Or at least we thought she had. You have to understand what it's like not to be able to see her or convince her that we love her no matter what."
Regina nodded and said, "Of course I understand. It's not as if Henry has always believed me or accepted my love."
Snow looked down at the floor for a moment and then sheepishly nodded her head in agreement. She looked up again and met Regina's gaze and said, "We just want her back. If you know anything, if you've seen her and know where she is or how to get in touch with her, we just want to know. We need to know what to do, what we can do."
Regina shook her head and confessed, "I don't have any helpful information. I don't know where she is. I don't know when she'll come back here. I don't know why she hasn't come to you. I can only speculate. I just know that whatever she forgave you for happened before absorbing all that darkness.
"I've lived through it and I even felt the intensity of the darkness that surrounded Emma before it claimed her and made her the Dark One. It's heavy and dangerous and it doesn't care about forgiveness. It picks at all your insecurities and amplifies them so all you see and all you feel is hurt and anger. All you want is power and sometimes you'll want revenge. That's all I know."
It wasn't a complete lie. There was truth in some of what she said, but she probably could have given them a little more information. She could have told them she had seen Emma. She could have told them Emma's next move would probably be to see Henry. She could have told them what had transpired overnight, but there was no point. None of that information would have helped them. And she did believe that Emma would have gone to see her parents if she truly wanted to hash things out with them, or at least let them know what had become of her and what it meant for her to be the new Dark One.
She'd zoned out for a moment and when her vision refocused, she looked up to see Charming's eyes on her. His brow was furrowed and he looked confused about something. While that wasn't different from most of his life, it was an odd thing to see from him when seconds ago he'd been so sure of all the points both he and Snow had made.
"What," she asked and furrowed her own brow, except she wasn't confused. She was slightly angry because his attention never left her. So clearly he thought there was something wrong or troubling about her.
"Why are you wearing a scarf? It's not that cold outside," he said.
She gulped and her eyes widened. She nervously brought a hand to the scarf and readjusted it around her neck, careful not to pull it too far up or down to reveal what she was desperately trying to hide. But her efforts were futile. Charming kept staring at her and his eyes went from the scarf to her eyes and back again while Snow slipped around the counter and moved closer to her.
Regina shifted away from Snow and looked back and forth between the two of them, but as she focused on Snow and swatted the other woman's hand away from her scarf she completely missed Charming's movement in her peripheral. She was too late to stop Charming as he tugged her scarf down and immediately startled her. She was trapped between their bodies and there had been no warning before Charming touched her.
She shot off the stool and stumbled backward as she physically lashed out at Charming. She slapped at his hands, arms, and chest. It was too much. Her space had been invaded and she didn't like to be touched or even approached without warning. But even with her jittery, spastic reaction it still hadn't been enough to keep her secret. Charming had seen. She saw it in his eyes and slack-jaw expression.
"You have a hickey," he stated and thus proved to her that he really had seen the mark. The mark his daughter left the previous night in her bed.
"Regina?"
She turned and saw Snow stare at her in shock. There was also a hint of disapproval in her eyes. The short haired woman crossed her arms over her chest and expectantly raised an eyebrow like a mother about to scold their child for breaking curfew.
"Here we are worried sick about Emma and you're off getting your kicks with Robin instead of doing everything you can to help get Emma back," Snow chided as predicted.
"It's not a hickey," she refuted, which was a weak argument despite its truth. A hickey meant kisses or at least a little more than what Emma had done, which was only to bite and not soothe.
Snow surged forward and yanked off the scarf. The red and purple bite mark showed in stark contrast to her olive skin, the impression of Emma's teeth dark and large on her otherwise unblemished and unmarred neck. Snow gasped and shook her head. "I can't believe you. Of all the things—Emma sacrificed herself for you!"
"You think I don't know that," Regina yelled back, and in a moment of self-preservation she was ready to break both of their hearts—or at least Snow's split in half heart—and tell them everything.
"How are you still able to find the time let alone get in the mood to…be with Robin," Snow asked.
"I—" Regina stopped herself. She choked on the words that would have been easy, so easy, to say. She looked at both of them and decided it wasn't worth it and it really wouldn't make her feel better to have all the factual information of her run-in with Emma out there. She deflated and chose instead to say, "It just happened. It wasn't planned and I needed a break anyway."
Charming huffed and looked down as he then shook his head. Both of them looked like disapproving parents in that moment. Regina should have cared, should have screamed at them that there wasn't a damn thing she wasn't doing to figure out how they could save Emma, but she couldn't do that. She knew if she were in their place-if it had been Henry-she wouldn't have wanted to know all the sordid details of what he'd done as the Dark One. The only thing that would matter would be to bring him back from the darkness, just as it was all that mattered to bring Emma back from it now.
"I hope you understand," Regina carefully started to admit, "I am doing my best to get her back. I'm trying my hardest to find the answer and not because you demand it, but because Henry wants it, too. And...Emma had my back even when I pushed her away. So now I have hers."
Snow's anger faded and she looked more understanding, a little too understanding for Regina's comfort actually. She looked like she knew more than she was letting on, like there was something she knew that no one else did including Regina herself.
Charming just looked surprised, but not unhappy to hear what Regina said. He seemed content to know Regina was invested for more than the sake of just doing the right thing, because situations such as theirs weren't fixed by just any do-gooders. They were fixed by people with heart, people that had something to lose by not going to the end of the world—or worlds in their case—and back for those in trouble.
"I'm in this," Regina added. "I'm not giving up. Because I did everything to try to protect her from this. I could have lost Robin because of it when Rumple forced me to make a choice. I fought to keep her away from this before it happened and now I'm going to fight to bring her back from this now that it has."
She clenched her fists at her sides as she felt the weight of her confession. Her chest burned from the emotion that laced her words, the truth and commitment behind her declaration so heavy in a way she hadn't felt since—
"I loved him. I loved him!"
Regina gasped at the connection between that memory and determination to save Emma from the darkness and, if it got to that point before they figured it out, herself. When she looked at Snow again, she noticed the slight curl of her lips. The woman was smiling ever so subtly and Regina didn't know why Snow would be happy just then, but she knew she wanted to slap the expression away.
"I should go," Regina finally said. "I can't very well do any research here. If you need me, you know my number."
She fled the Charming's apartment with a wildly beating heart and shallow breaths. She had to use the railing to keep her balance as she hurried down the stairs and out of the building. Her hands shook as they came to rest on the steering wheel of her Mercedes and she had to take a moment to collect herself before she could actually start the car. When she finally arrived home, she dropped her purse and keys on the end table in the foyer and puffed out a harsh breath before she ran her hands through her hair. She clutched at the tips of brunette waves at her shoulders for a moment before slowly releasing her grip and leaning onto the end table, a palm pressed against the top of the table to steady her.
"Why didn't you tell them it was me," she heard a familiar voice slice through the still air of her quiet, empty house.
Her reaction was less dramatic than it had been when Charming had crept into her personal space, but she still jumped at the sound of Emma's voice. She hadn't expected anyone else to be at the house and she certainly hadn't expected Emma to know about her conversation with Snow and Charming, especially when she'd only just had it with them moments before the other woman had popped into the mansion unannounced.
Regina turned and faced Emma who stood in the foyer with her, but leaned back against the frame of the entryway to the sitting room. Regina swallowed and sucked in a deep breath through her nose before she spoke. "Do you know of any reason I should have?"
"At least they'd know you weren't slacking off," Emma said. "They think you got all slutty with Robin when all they're concerned about, and all they think you should be concerned about, is me."
"They can be upset with me all they want for what they believe happened. It doesn't matter that it's your teeth that marked me, it just matters that we save you," Regina said and took a step toward the younger woman, but still kept her distance.
"Well, I don't think it's fair to me that Robin is getting credit for my work," Emma argued and pushed off of the entryway frame. "I marked you and I think people should know. Not everybody, but my parents and definitely Robin. I think since you didn't tell my parents that maybe you should tell him first. I also want to be there when you do."
"I'm not going to tell him," she insisted.
"Why not," Emma asked with a grin and stalked forward like a hunter approaching its prey.
"You only want him to know you did this so you can stake your claim over me. It's the possessive nature that's been brought out by the darkness inside of you, the darkness of all the previous Dark Ones."
Emma hummed, her grin still present, and moved into Regina's space. The brunette felt the other woman's breath on her nose and cheeks.
"Yes, all of their darkest sins and tainted thoughts. I have to live with that, but the longer it takes you to bring back your precious Savior the easier it gets for me to enjoy the sick things they did. You know, the first few Dark Ones had control of themselves when they did what they did. They wanted to do all the twisted things I can see so clearly in my head. But there are so many others who didn't have control of the dagger. They had to do what other fucked up people wanted them to do because they either didn't want to get their hands dirty or couldn't do it themselves."
Emma reached up and ran a few fingers through a section of Regina's hair. She smirked as she twirled a strand around her index finger and then the smirk instantly vanished and was replaced with a firm, less than friendly expression. Emma's fingers released Regina's hair and her hand thumped onto Regina's shoulder. The younger woman's thumb lightly pressed into the hollow of Regina's throat and in one swift move, Emma forced Regina against the nearest wall.
Regina closed her eyes and grunted when she felt the wall behind her. Her shoulders took the brunt of the pain. She opened her eyes and looked straight into green eyes that were so focused and much more menacing than they had been in some time. She looked more like the woman Regina had fought tooth and nail to keep away from Henry the first year she'd been in Storybrooke and less like the friend she'd come to know in recent months.
"There are so many things in my head now. Creative things, things I'm sure even the Evil Queen never did, lines you never crossed. All of them are inspiring, really, and I could do many of them to you," Emma threatened. She was close enough to Regina that their noses almost touched.
Emma had her pinned to the wall. Regina knew she was a poof away from safety and space, but Emma could just as easily poof back into it and do whatever it was she was eluding to while the woman had her trapped in her own home. There was no rush or reason to escape Emma's clutches. She was better off challenging the other woman instead of running. So she did.
"Do your worst," Regina growled. "If that's really what you want. If it's not, you should really stop wasting both of our time." She wrapped a hand around Emma's wrist and yanked it away from her throat. She almost threw it down to Emma's side and moved away from the wall, but Emma's reflexes were even quicker than before and the younger woman shoved her back again.
"Remember that you asked for this," Emma hissed before she crashed their lips together and roughly pulled Regina's bottom lip between her teeth.
Emma raised Regina's arms above her head and slammed her wrists into the wall. Her body covered Regina's from chest to feet and just as Regina opened her mouth and gasped, Emma bit down on her lip.
Regina clenched her fists where they were held above her by both of Emma's hands and a strangled cry fell from her mouth. Her breath puffed against Emma's face and it only spurred the woman on. She squirmed against the wall and turned her head to the side, which effectively broke the aggressive, not-quite kiss. Emma didn't hesitate, however, and her lips brushed her hair and neck just below her ear before she spoke huskily into it.
"I won't take what you won't give, but just know that I could," Emma said. "And know that for every misdeed any of the former Dark Ones have ever done, your face easily replaces their victim's faces in my mind."
Emma let go of her wrists and threw herself off of Regina. She stood a few steps away from the brunette and stared for a long moment as Regina lowered her arms and smoothed out her clothes while she tried to regulate her shallow breathing.
Regina looked up and locked eyes with Emma and several seconds passed before Emma finally disappeared in a swirl of gray smoke. When the other woman was gone, Regina slid down to the floor and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Her descent to the floor was graceful but the swipe of her hand over her lips was not. She rested her head in her hand, the same one that had made a somewhat sloppy attempt to rid herself of the evidence of Emma's actions, and just sat in silence on the floor. After several minutes, Regina finally picked herself up and went to her room where she took a shower, changed clothes, and waited for Henry's return from school.