A/N: Finally got this done! So sorry for the ridiculously long wait. As I said on Tumblr, this note is supposed to have a bit of explanation for my absence here. I'll try to keep it short. 1. I was going on a weekend trip for a family reunion. There was so much to do in a short amount of days and by the end of every day I was dead tired. 2. I spent the next week (and weekend) taking care of a last minute video project for a friend who asked/volunteered me to help out with it for a church camp she was involved in. That took up a lot more time and energy than I expected going into it so I was busy and tired and had no time to write. 3. I just didn't have the motivation to get anything done after that. As much as I wanted to do something, I just couldn't find it in me to sit down and write out anything, especially when I knew this was the only story I should really be working on. That right there always makes me less motivated, to limit myself to just one story or chapter and turn it into work instead of the fun that fanfic is supposed to be.
And those are my excuses, which you either accept or don't. Doesn't matter what you think of them, I just wanted to let you know that it's been a little back and forth and not all rainbows and unicorn stickers for me. ;) Now onto the story. It's been far too long since you've been able to read something new for this.
"Yes. There are several conversations we still need to have. All in due time, if you'll listen," Regina said as she started to back away from Emma, but continued to hold the other woman's hands.
"Hey," Emma said as she squeezed Regina's hands and tugged her back toward herself. "I will."
Regina wanted to smile to show her appreciation, but all she could do was hold back tears of joy for hearing words that meant more than she could describe.
"That's a promise," Regina said. "You better be able to keep it because if you can't...?"
Emma leaned in and rested her forehead against Regina's. The action immediately quieted the brunette.
"This...really hurts, Regina. But I'm not...I'm not running away. It would be so easy and I still really want to, but I just...can't."
"You're not...you're not running?"
Regina was shocked and it showed, especially given their earlier conversation about Emma needing to be elsewhere.
Emma faintly smiled and pulled her forehead away from Regina's just far enough to look down into Regina's lowered eyes.
"Apparently, I found somewhere worth staying," Emma said.
Regina looked up and locked eyes with Emma. There was a moment. Everything was silent and tense and charged with several different emotions.
Emma leaned in again.
Regina's breath hitched.
Green eyes searched brown and brown eyes searched green. Emma looked for permission and Regina looked for proof that the moment was real. They both found what they were looking for when they closed their eyes and the rest of the space between them.
Regina's hands moved to Emma's hips and held her in place as if she was afraid the blonde would do what she promised she wouldn't and run.
Emma curled her fingers in Regina's hair to intensify the pressure of their lips against each other as her other hand slid down the woman's front. She bunched up Regina's shirt in her fist as she gripped tightly to the brunette's clothes and pulled her as close as physically possible.
The kiss was heated and frantic, almost desperate. They moved together like the curse hadn't broken and Emma hadn't resisted those familiar, plump lips she now couldn't seem to tear herself away from even as oxygen started to become an issue.
Regina somewhat clumsily fell forward into Emma when the woman pulled her by the shirt, but she quickly compensated for the unexpected move by pushing even further into Emma until she forced the blonde to stumble backward into the nearest pillar.
Emma opened her eyes and broke the kiss with a slight upward tilt of her chin.
Regina slowly opened her eyes to stare into an intense green gaze directed solely on her. She waited for Emma to say or do something that would permit her to go forward with whatever it was they were doing and a second later, she got the confirmation she needed.
Emma leaned in again with a slow, careful pace. She took her time before her eyes slipped closed and her lips were almost touching Regina's.
Regina followed Emma's lead and closed her eyes before she leaned into the remaining space between them for a much slower but still very hot kiss. She sighed into Emma's mouth and pressed her lower body into the blonde's.
Emma wrapped her arms around Regina and her hands started to wander down her back. When she reached Regina's lower back, she slid her hands to the woman's hips and kept her close but held on with a loose grip that gave the brunette plenty of freedom to move or back away.
The familiarity alone was intoxicating and everything else easily fell away. Nothing outside of that moment, the curves of the other's body, the scent of each woman's shampoo, and the languid kisses existed.
Except for the watchful eyes that observed the intimate scene from just far enough away to remain out of sight, but still see every last detail of their encounter aside from the words exchanged before the blonde's back hit the pillar.
Regina swiped her thumb over Emma's jaw line before she lowered her hand to her neck and then her bicep. She gently gripped the Savior's arm before she just rested her hand there.
For years, Regina's heart – as dark as she knew it to be – had always felt cold and heavy in her chest. There was an emptiness she'd been warned about at least twice before casting the curse, but nothing could compare to the ache of what felt like a steel organ. As she kissed Emma, though, her chest felt significantly lighter. The weight of her misdeeds and decades of longing and loathing just vanished as she slipped her tongue into Emma's mouth and re-explored a part of the blonde she knew well and truly had yet to forget.
Emma moaned as their tongues danced together and met again and again throughout their kisses. Her body instinctively arched toward the brunette and Regina supplied her with a thigh between the legs. Immediately, she panted between kisses and felt her back gently hit the pillar as the two of them melted into each other.
Regina lowered her mouth to Emma's neck and trailed kisses from below her ear down toward her collarbone. She brought the hand on Emma's bicep down with her as she slid it down the blonde's taut torso to the waistline of her jeans. She slipped her fingers inside the jeans until her knuckles brushed against the waistband.
Then Emma grabbed Regina's wrist and stopped any further movement.
Regina quickly opened her eyes, which instantly locked on Emma's.
"Not here," Emma answered Regina's unasked question. "Not yet."
Emma removed Regina's hand from her jeans and guided it back to Regina's side before she let go.
"I can't…" Emma trailed off as she failed to string together the rest of the sentence. "There's still a lot of stuff we need to talk about before this…before we… If we want to talk about where to go from here, I need to know a few things first."
Regina nodded.
"Maybe tonight? I can bring us dinner, you can supply the alcohol, and we'll…work some of this out," Emma suggested.
Regina smiled then nodded.
"Yes," she accepted. "We can start as early as six if you'd like."
"Okay," Emma said then ran her thumb over Regina's cheekbone.
Their eyes locked again and Regina froze. She let Emma come to her as she leaned in and pressed their lips together for a final kiss before they started the day separately. When they parted from the kiss, Regina rolled her lips together as if to apply the previous feel of Emma's lips on her own like it was lipstick.
Emma snickered at the sight.
"What," Regina asked with a slight smile, though her nerves threatened to make her timid and embarrassed before she could get an answer out of the blonde.
"I'm just glad to know you missed kissing me as much as I missed kissing you," Emma said with a smile.
Regina cleared her throat and smiled back before she said, "You should probably go."
Emma nodded and looked down at the ground for a few seconds.
"Tonight. Just us. At six," Emma repeated the details as if in search for confirmation.
"See you then."
Emma straightened out her clothes and coughed into her hand before she flashed Regina a quick smile and took a step toward the pathway, but as soon as she took that step she furrowed her brow and frowned. She immediately took a step back and pecked Regina on the lips.
"Okay," Emma said when she pulled away from the chaste kiss. "See you tonight."
When Emma stepped toward the pathway that time, she made it all the way to her car.
Regina watched her go and smiled like a schoolgirl with a crush after Emma turned at the end of the pathway to look at her once more before getting in the Bug and leaving. She allowed herself to feel lighter and happier than she'd felt in a while and her eyes and her smile easily gave that away, all without the knowledge that whoever was spying on her had yet to stop staring and saw every last emotion pass across her softened features.
Though things were still complicated between them, the bliss Emma felt after kissing Regina quickly left her when she returned to the apartment she shared with not only Mary Margaret, but David and Henry too. She felt suffocated the instant she stepped foot inside and suddenly, Mary Margaret—or rather Snow—and David stared right at her from their places in the kitchen.
"Where's Henry," Emma asked as she tried to avoid any other line of questioning from her friends turned parents.
"He's upstairs," Snow answered, more like a slightly disappointed and upset Mary Margaret than the fairy tale character the pixie-haired woman apparently was. "He fell back asleep a little while ago. He was too worried earlier to get any rest before this morning. Where have you been?"
"I stayed over to make sure whoever broke Regina's window didn't come back," Emma calmly answered, her voice stern like a warning to Snow that the woman needed to tread carefully with her questions or comments regarding Henry's other mother.
"Did anything happen between you two while you were there," Snow pressed with sharp eyes.
Emma let out a frustrated sigh and rolled her angry, green eyes.
"It's none of your business what I did or didn't do while I was there. It's my life, Henry's my son, and I'll deal with this situation however I want to."
David stepped in front of Snow and placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her calm as he addressed Emma.
"And how do you want to deal with it," he carefully asked, his voice void of any judgment or preconceived notions as to how she should handle things.
"Regina and I are gonna talk tonight. I have some questions and she's willing to answer them. How she answers is gonna determine how we move forward."
"'We'," Snow asked as she moved forward and caused David's hand to slide off her shoulder.
"Yeah, we. Regina and I."
"You can't possibly think you have a future with her."
"Mary Margaret," David warned with a bit of concern in his voice as he looked between her and Emma.
"I may have confided in you before the curse broke about what was going on between her and me, but that was a mistake. There's more to it than the five minute conversation we had."
"She hurt you, Emma," Snow insisted.
"Like you haven't," she bitterly muttered. "I might not have known what I was getting into when she and I first got together, but things changed and any pain she caused along the way, aside from the time she got jealous about Ruby, weren't harmful. I liked it."
Snow gasped.
"We've already had a similar conversation and I'm tired of having to defend myself, my actions, and my relationship with Regina. The best word I can use to describe it is complicated, but that's what relationships are. If they were simple, they wouldn't have passion and they'd be boring and it wouldn't be worth fighting for.
"I understand Regina's done some bad things in the past and I'm not trying to overlook that. I just want answers. Her side of the story. I've read the details in Henry's book and it doesn't make sense so I'm going to have her fill in the blanks."
"How will you be able to trust anything she says, Emma," Snow tried to keep composure. "She didn't tell you the truth about the curse when she could have if she really cared about you."
Emma scrunched up her face at the strange wording.
"What are you saying," Emma asked.
"She doesn't care about you, Emma. She can't."
Emma scoffed.
"Why can't she? Because I'm broken? Because I don't know about the Enchanted Forest so I can't understand anything about her or the rules where you come from? Because I'm your daughter and she's your enemy and that's supposed to make her mine too?"
"Yes, because she's my enemy. Our enemy. She cursed this entire town, Emma. Not just me. She's had it out for all three of us since you were born and before that she just had it out for me."
Emma shook her head.
"Here's the thing…I'm not your daughter. You didn't raise me. You abandoned me."
"We saved you. From her," Snow corrected with a hopeful look in her eyes as she quickly tried to approach the blonde. "She's the reason we weren't together."
"No, she's the reason you had to chose whether we were together or not. She didn't make you give me up. And I get that it was a tough decision, but maybe she had a really good reason for casting the curse. That's what I'm gonna find out tonight and you can't keep me from getting answers just like you can't keep me from her."
"I'm glad to finally have you back," David started before Snow could say anything more. "And I hope that one day you'll believe us when we say we gave you up to give you your best chance…because I really want us to be a family, for you to accept us as your family. But the most important thing I want you to know right now is that I don't plan on keeping you from Regina."
"What?!"
Snow seemed shocked and outraged while Emma's eyes widened and she blinked a few times while she seemingly digested what she'd just heard.
"I don't like what Regina's done in the past and I'm not sure I like the sound of what she's done with you, whether she had your consent or not, but even as your father it's not really my place to dictate your life at this point. You're an adult and you can make your own decisions. You've made that clear. Just be careful when you're with her. That's all I ask."
Emma took a deep breath and slowly released it in a sigh then nodded.
"Yeah. Careful. Got it."
Emma went upstairs and left the couple to argue in the kitchen about their "lack of a united front" and watched Henry from the top of the stairs while he slept. After a few moments, she walked across the room and laid beside him on the bed where he wasn't curled up with the walkie-talkie they'd communicated with the previous night. She closed her eyes and relaxed into the mattress while Snow and David tried and failed to not raise their voices downstairs.
As much as it felt like a normal family, not that Emma had much experience with a normal anything, she didn't feel right. She didn't feel at home. Fairy tales were real, she'd slept with and developed feelings for the Evil Queen who also turned out to be her son's adoptive mother, and she was supposed to be the hero of the story.
She didn't feel like a hero. Not even close. She'd spent so much time in foster care wanting to be one thing or another for family after family just so they'd keep her, but in Storybrooke at twenty-eight years old and finally united with her parents she didn't want to be anything. At least, she didn't want to be the Savior. She wanted to be Emma. And Emma made mistakes. A lot of mistakes. She wasn't perfect, but she was the woman who had Henry and Regina and just a glimmer of hope that maybe she'd get something right in her life without having to be anything else but herself.
About an hour before she left the apartment to meet Regina, Emma explained her plan to Henry. She told him about needing answers and how cooperative Regina had been so far. She ignored whatever Snow wanted to say and made sure that she and Henry had plenty of time to talk things out before she did anything he might not agree with. He had no complaints at that point so Emma decided to tell him the biggest news that came with her wanting to talk to Regina, the main reason she even wanted to sit down and hash everything out with the woman in the first place.
"She's probably not going to tell me a lot of things that I'll be happy to hear or things that I'll easily forgive, but I'm hoping that she'll tell me the truth. And if she does…then the plan is to try and fix things between her and me. Would that be okay with you? If we tried to fix things?"
"You mean," Henry started, his nose scrunched up as he tried to understand, "fix things so you'll get back together?"
Emma gulped and followed it with a nod.
Henry stayed quiet for a moment. He looked from Emma down to his lap and seemed to give either his answer or the information about his mothers' some consideration.
"I think…if that's what you both decide then…I'll be okay."
"Are you sure," Emma asked. "Because we don't want to do anything that would upset you."
"Well…she lied to me. I love her. She's still my mom, but…she lied. I was in therapy a lot longer than we thought I'd be because she didn't want to tell me the truth about the curse."
"And I lied to you about how I was getting close to her. We both lied, Henry. We thought it was the right thing to do."
"But she did it to protect herself."
"I'm sure she had more reasons than that for doing it. It sucks, I know, but that's what tonight's about. If she and I want to try to make things work, I'll make sure you get your answers too. Okay?"
Henry stared at her for a long, silent moment before he nodded.
"Good. I'm gonna go over there right now and figure this out."
"When will you be back?"
"I don't know. I'll try to make it back before it gets too late."
"Okay," he softly said. "Emma?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you…will you give her a hug for me?"
Emma smiled at him.
"Of course. I'll see you later."
She hugged him goodbye and he squeezed a little like he needed the additional pressure and warmth from her. She gave it to him and left the apartment without giving David or Snow anything more than a quick "bye" on her way out.
She was almost halfway to Regina's when her tires seemed to hit something and for a moment, she lost control of the wheel. Before she knew it, she screeched to a halt before she could smash her passenger side door against a telephone poll. She gripped her steering wheel tightly for a moment as she panted and tried to regain control of her breathing. When she slowly started to calm down from her almost-accident, she let go of the wheel and puffed out a sigh as she slumped back against her seat.
She closed her eyes for a moment and attempted to calm herself. It took her about a minute before she opened her eyes and considered finishing the drive to Regina's, but her door abruptly opened just as she went to shift gears and drive off and a woman in strange clothes grinned down at her.
"Hello, dear," she purred through bright red lips and a wicked expression that left Emma with no doubt that the brown haired woman, whose hair was swept back in a tight bun, was trouble.
Silverware clanked and scraped against plates in the apartment as Snow, Charming, and Henry ate dinner in silence. A few chewing sounds and shared looks of worry and growing anger and disdain were the only things expressed at the table. And Henry, of course, was the one caught in the middle.
"Maybe Emma's right to be upset," Henry spoke up. "I know my mom's done a lot of bad stuff and I'm not saying we should just…forgive her. I'm still mad that she lied to me, but I saw them. Before I knew they were…together."
Snow shook her head and opened her mouth to interject, but Henry continued.
"It was the usual at first. Before Emma started coming over for dinner, they still seemed against each other. But then we all started eating together and Emma would see my mom when she picked me up and dropped me off. They were…different. It actually…kind of felt…normal."
Snow and Charming both furrowed their brows. They looked at each other for a moment before Snow turned back to Henry and set down her utensils to give the boy her full attention.
"You… They… How?"
Henry shrugged. "I guess something happened."
Charming looked from Henry to Snow and when his eyes locked on Snow's face, his expression appeared to change to realization followed by understanding. He took a deep breath and ran a hand over his cheek and mouth as he seemed to attempt to take it all in.
"I don't really get it, but it works for them, I guess. Maybe for all of us," Henry added.
"Well…" Snow started as she blinked several times and thought about it as she spoke. "I…suppose she was more focused on Emma for the last couple of months instead of trying to get at me. Of course, she knew who Emma was and how it would affect me when the curse broke."
"But she didn't want the curse to break," Henry argued.
"He's right," Charming agreed. "Why would she want to break the curse she cast, especially if it meant hurting Henry when he found out he was right about her being the Evil Queen?"
"To finally rub her—whatever it is she has with Emma—in our faces."
Charming shook his head.
"And risk Henry and Emma knowing who she really was and that she cursed all of us? Cursed their family," Charming asked. "I know you can't possibly think that's true. I understand Regina's had it out for you for a long time, but maybe…there's something more to what's going on between Emma and Regina then we might be ready to believe."
"That much I seemed to get from Emma's yelling and defensiveness, but I'm not sure whatever Emma's feelings for Regina are returned."
"Maybe not, but we don't have to keep pushing her. At least, not right now. We still haven't really had a conversation with her yet…about anything. Have you noticed she's the only one not at this table?"
"I did notice that, yes," she tensely said through almost gritted teeth.
"Did it occur to you that maybe running to Regina isn't just about her and Regina? Maybe because we had that argument with her she ran off just to avoid us? To spite us?"
"Then we'll go to Regina's and make her understand–"
"Understand what, Snow? Regina doesn't actually seem to be hurting her. Aside from Emma finding out about her being the Evil Queen and–" Charming cut a look to Henry before he approached the subject more carefully, "the other thing Emma told us about, Emma's fine. She isn't in danger with Regina.
"We don't have to cut Regina any slack, but we should cut Emma some. She's our daughter."
"I know. That's what makes all of this harder," Snow sadly said.
Henry took another bite of his food and finished chewing as he watched his grandparents discuss his mothers. His plate was mostly clear except for scraps of food and once he swallowed his last bite, he finally rejoined the conversation after he took the time to really think about what Snow had just said.
"Actually, even if they were just friends…wouldn't that make everything easier?"
The attention was on Henry again.
"The Savior and the Evil Queen working together," Henry asked in a way that helped make his point.
Charming slowly started to smile and Snow seemed to genuinely consider the concept.
"Maybe I should see Regina when Emma comes back," Henry added after a moment. "And I think…if they still want to be friends or, um, more…then they should do it."
Charming nodded with a proud smile directed solely on Henry.
"Well, maybe that would help keep Regina from doing anything we know she's always been capable of doing," Charming suggested and kept his focus mostly on Henry with an occasional glance or two at Snow as though he'd silently be able to convince her he was right.
Snow took a deep breath and nodded after several seconds of internal deliberation.
"Whatever might fix things between us and Emma is worth trying," she said.
Henry smiled then stood and took his plate to the sink.
Charming rubbed and squeezed Snow's shoulder reassuringly as he smiled at her, seemingly ready for their family to finally be on the same page.
Regina knew Emma wasn't the most reliable person in the small town she'd created, but at six thirty-two her body tensed and her stomach dropped low in her gut. The blonde had smiled when she left the house that morning and she had agreed to come over at six for their in-depth conversation about whatever Emma herself wanted to know. She wouldn't just say she'd be there and then stand Regina up. If she didn't want to talk, she would have rejected Regina as soon as the topic came up that morning. Something was off.
When a faint scent of an eerily familiar and panic-inducing magic filtered through her dining room, Regina knew with every ounce of her being that Emma was in trouble.
"This home is nice, despite how strange a place this area is," a voice that gave her nightmares came from around the corner in the foyer.
Slowly, the woman who'd caused her more pain than any curse she'd cast or any secret spilled sauntered into the room and smirked upon seeing the brunette wide-eyed and stiff at the head of the table.
"Don't just sit there, dear. Where are your manners?"
Regina gulped and subtly tried to clear her throat before she verbally addressed her visitor, her entire body ice cold from the myriad of emotions that shot through her starting with shock then panic, worry, and fear.
"Hello, Mother."
Cora's smirk spread across her face like hearing the title fall from her daughter's lips satisfied her.
"You've done quite well for yourself here. But I do have a few notes."
"Of course you do," Regina muttered as she tried not to seem so intimidated by her mother. Being weak in front of Cora wouldn't help her, but she could hardly help how the enticing woman made her feel, especially when she thought she'd buried the woman years ago.
Cora narrowed her gaze on Regina and pursed her lips, seemingly unimpressed.
Regina swallowed slowly and thickly, her throat dry as she tried to keep her composure in front of her mother. She quietly cleared her throat and wrung her hands in front of herself as though she was still a teen under her mother's scrutiny.
Cora showed patience, though not much, when she sucked in a deep breath and sighed heavily through her nose while she all but bore holes into her daughter with her heated gaze. She clasped her hands in front of herself and gripped her left hand in her right as she seemingly tried to keep her composure.
Regina gulped and lost the strength and defiance in her eyes as well as in the rest of her features. Her shoulders slumped and she immediately regretted it.
Cora tsked with a scowl on her face before she barked, "Straighten up!"
Regina sprung into proper posture and suddenly, over three decades hadn't passed at all. She was the same young woman and the same scared little girl controlled by her mother's aggressive teachings.
"It's a good thing I decided to protect a section of the land in the Enchanted Forest and found a way here once the curse broke," Cora continued. "You are completely lost without my help."
"I have been fine here, Mother," Regina calmly insisted.
"On the contrary, dear," Cora shook her head. "Not defending yourself against that mob of people you should be leading instead of fighting, failing to kill Snow White after so many years of seeking revenge, sleeping around with a woman?"
Regina's eyes widened and she went rigid.
"Oh, yes. Don't think that just because I have only been in town for less than a week that I haven't already noticed your poor behavior. You're slipping, dear."
"What…do you propose I do about it?"
"Fix it," Cora sternly replied. "And we can start with that harlot you've been seeing."
"She's not a harlot," Regina quietly corrected.
Cora slowly sauntered through the room with focused eyes as she inspected everything in the room. She ran a finger along the mantle used to hold a small clock and two artistic pictures of horses. She frowned and contorted her expression into one of disgust and disappointment as she kept her attention on whatever she collected on her finger.
"If you feel that way, you are delusional. She's far beneath you, dear," Cora said as she rubbed her dirty finger against her thumb and recomposed herself as she looked from her finger back to her daughter.
"It seems I should have tried to get here sooner," Cora continued as she approached Regina. "Apparently, you've lost control of your people and have forgotten your place versus theirs."
Regina swallowed, though her throat had suddenly dried out with every step Cora took toward her, and she attempted to stay strong with a regal expression and posture.
"They were never truly my people, Mother," Regina softly responded with a tense jaw and rigid back.
"Nonsense," Cora waved off her daughter's statement with a hint of anger on her face. "You should have made them your people as soon as your coronation took place after the wedding. You seem to have failed in that regard and you've had years to correct all of your awful mistakes."
Regina took a deep breath and clenched her fists at her sides.
Cora looked her over and scrutinized Regina's appearance when she noticed her clenched fists.
"What is this about," Cora asked as she gestured to Regina's hands.
Regina unclenched her fists and looked away as she released a heavy sigh through her nose. Definitely not ladylike.
"Dear, you are anything but a queen with this kind of attitude. To think my daughter, fully grown, still needs lessons in behavior is just shameful."
Regina clasped her hands in front of herself again as she was taught to do many, many years ago. She subtly cleared her throat and tried to rid herself of the feeling that her mouth and throat were a desert, possibly even worse than the ones she'd read about that existed closer to the West Coast and far from the sheltered town of Storybrooke.
"Now, who is this woman you've been bedding," Cora asked.
Regina flinched, but didn't blink in response to the question.
"She's no one," Regina said, her eyes still wide from the trepidation and distress her mother always seemed to bring out of her.
"If she's no one then why have you even bothered with her?"
"It's been a long few decades of boredom and I…needed something to pass the time."
"I think she's a distraction," Cora replied.
"There are no distractions in my life."
"Really? Then," Cora paused as she flicked her wrist and, beneath blue smoke, a picture frame appeared. "Who's this?"
Regina's eyes popped open wide and her jaw dropped as her eyes were drawn to a picture of her and Henry in Cora's hand. Her worry soon morphed into fierce protectiveness and a bit of rage. Her eyes sharpened and she growled when she spoke.
"You will leave him out of this, Mother."
"I will not. Not until you explain to me how you've managed to fail yet again. Dear girl, I gave you everything, every opportunity, and you've squandered them all."
"My son has nothing to do with what you find wrong with my life and I will not let you anywhere near him."
"You want to keep me from my grandson? I should get the chance to know him," Cora somewhat sincerely said, though she didn't seem too phased by Regina's particular insistence.
Regina shook her head and seethed.
Cora smirked.
"Don't worry, my dear. I have no use for him," she added with an unsettling gleam in her eyes.
Her dark eyes shimmered with something wicked and terrifying that instantly sent a chill down Regina's spine.
"What have you done," Regina fearfully asked.
Cora sighed. "You'll see. This had to be done."
In an instant, dark blue smoke swirled around them and the two of them disappeared.
The cloud dissipated and Cora and Regina appeared in front of her father's grave in the Mills mausoleum.
Regina furrowed her brow and questioningly looked at the tomb then turned her attention back to her mother.
"What are we doing here," Regina asked.
"You'll see," Cora repeated as she placed her hands on the tomb and magically pushed it aside to reveal the crypt beneath Henry Sr.'s final resting place.
Cora headed down the narrow stairway into the crypt and Regina cautiously followed her.
When they reached a mirror hung on a wall at the end of one hallway, Cora waved a hand from right to left in front of it and the reflective glass wavered like rippling water. It revealed a hidden room Regina didn't know her mother knew existed and Cora stepped through the mirror with ease.
Regina walked in after her and noticed how confidently the other woman walked, the effortless way she seemed to glide across the concrete on both sides of the mirror, and somehow seemed proud of herself in a way that made Regina even tenser than the mere presence of her apparently not-dead mother. What she saw in the rarely used but furnished room beneath her father's grave, however, sent a bone-chilling shiver throughout her entire body as her blood ran cold.
Cora looked over her shoulder and grinned when she saw Regina's eyes widen and her lips part in alarm and uneasiness.
In front of her, on the other side of the room, Emma sat on a couch with her hands and feet magically bound. The blonde didn't look afraid, but her steely gaze showed she definitely didn't like her vulnerable position. Her tense jaw and shallow breathing made that clear.
"What was it you were saying about this woman, dear?"
Regina gulped and kept her eyes locked on Emma, though she knew she might have had to address her mother sooner or later. Later usually incurred punishment because Cora Mills did not like to be kept waiting.
"Oh, now's not the time to be shy," Cora continued.
Cora took Regina by the arm and pulled her along with her until they stood close enough to Emma that Regina could smell the faint scent of her house, her sheets, left on the woman from the previous night.
Regina took a deep breath as she and Cora stopped in front of Emma and she gulped again, her throat dry and body stiff as stone.
"This one is a nuisance," Cora said as she motioned to a helpless Emma. "I don't know why you keep company with her."
"Like you're good company," Emma mumbled as she glared at the elder Mills.
"And insolent," Cora half-hissed, half-growled before she squeezed her hand into a fist.
Emma gasped and emitted a strangled sound as an additional magic binding was wrapped and tightened around the blonde just below her chest.
Regina grimaced and clenched her fists to the point of digging her nails into her palms. She gasped herself at the sight of Emma in a position she'd been in many times throughout her youth.
Emma looked from Cora to Regina with widened eyes. She didn't look as frightened as Regina might have thought she would, or even should, be. But Regina figured that might have had something to do with how aggressive things had been between herself and Emma. There was a lot Emma seemed to be able to handle from what Regina had seen and that was one of the things she admired about the blonde: resiliency.
Regina opened her mouth as if to say something, but Cora loosened her grip on the binding and Emma coughed and took a few ragged and semi-deep breaths. Cora turned to her daughter with a glare.
"She's the reason you've lost control, isn't she," Cora asked.
Regina panicked and looked rapidly between Emma and Cora before she shook her head.
"No," Regina argued.
"No?"
"Cora raised an eyebrow, surprised and upset by Regina's bit of defiance. At least, that's how Cora had perceived it.
"I believe I'm correct in this matter. I saw you two together this morning. Who is she and why is it you waste your time and concern on her? Other than the fact that she's obviously no more than a peasant, she's also a woman."
"Is there something wrong with that," Emma asked through gritted teeth as she started to somewhat regulate her breathing.
Both Cora and Regina looked at Emma, Regina with a fearful and warning stare and Cora with a scoff and admonishment unreleased and trapped in her throat. Regina was silent, but Cora reordered her thoughts before she spoke.
"You're twice as useless to my daughter. That is what's wrong with that," Cora replied.
Emma's face went from an aggressive glare to a look of pure confusion and disbelief.
"Mother," Regina quickly chided.
"Seriously," Emma asked with utter surprise. "You're her mother?"
Cora haughtily lifted her chin as she acknowledged her captive.
"Yes, dear. Her mother. Honestly, Regina, why do you always pick such dull people to share yourself with? At least the stable boy understood what he was told the first time."
Regina lost all color and her expression fell into one of gloom and horror.
"Must I do everything for you," Cora asked as she took a looming step toward Emma.
"Mother, what are you doing," Regina quickly asked as she took a step toward Cora with a hesitantly outstretched arm that never made contact with her mother even with the uncertainty of what might become of Emma hanging in the air.
"Maybe this time you'll learn love is weakness," Cora sniffed before she squeezed the binding below Emma's chest again and made it hard to breathe then tried to lunge her hand toward the struggling woman.
Regina's eyes bulged almost completely out of her head when she realized where her mother's hand was headed to and suddenly, the brunette yelled out and pulled Cora away from the blonde.
"You ungrateful girl," Cora spat before she slapped Regina hard enough to leave a pink handprint on her left cheek.
Emma watched Regina recoil and slowly start to take a few steps back, away from her mother. With Regina's distraction, Cora's magical binding had loosened and when she recognized the particular kind of fear in Regina's eyes, she started to shift and fidget and wiggle to free herself from Cora's magical hold.
Cora growled as she backed Regina against a wall then flicked her wrist and held her against that wall with leather straps magically formed out of a group of nearby clothing from days spent as the Evil Queen. To secure the straps against the wall and keep Regina in place against the cement, Cora used magic to fuse the two things together and watched with a wicked sense of pride as her daughter struggled to move away from the wall even when she arched her back and bucked.
"Mother, please," Regina immediately begged.
"Please, what," Cora snapped and tightened the leather around Regina's arms and waist.
Regina cringed under the pressure of Cora's magic and tried to breathe through the restraint. She couldn't hide the panic in her breathing or in her expression.
Emma fought harder against her binding, but it wouldn't budge. She heard Regina whimper and turned her attention back to the other two in time to see Cora magically pull her still-bound daughter toward her. Emma lost it as she slid to the edge of the couch and wanted nothing more than to get to Regina, especially after hearing and seeing the tell-tale signs of a woman previously, just as she was currently, abused.
That's when it happened.
One minute she was tied up with magical restraints and the next, those restraints were gone. She gaped at her freed wrists, ankles, and lungs, but as soon as she heard a gasp and a rasped out whisper of "please don't" from a familiar voice, Emma snapped out of her questioning, curious, thoughts.
Cora grabbed Regina's face, her fingers pressed into her jaw and partially into her cheeks.
"How dare you question me," Cora lectured. "I know what's best for you. I always have. Why must you always fight me?"
Regina's eyes caught sight of movement over her mother's shoulder, but couldn't be sure what she'd seen as the edges of her vision blackened.
"Maybe I should have you do the honors this time," Cora told Regina. "Apparently you didn't learn when I took that boy's heart. Maybe you'll get it through your head if you get rid of what's holding you back from being the Queen, and the woman, you can and most certainly should be."
Regina shook her head as her eyes widened even further, which didn't seem possible but apparently it was.
"No," she quietly pleaded with Cora. "No, please."
"What could you possibly see in that foul woman?"
Regina swallowed thickly and took a moment before she spoke with a slightly wavering voice.
"She isn't a peasant you believe her to be and I won't kill her."
"With your heart, I'll make you, dear."
Cora pushed her daughter back a few steps and removed the leather straps before she darted a hand out toward Regina's chest. Her hand made a sickening plunge into a warm body, but it wasn't Regina's.
"No," Regina yelled and grabbed Emma's arm from behind. She tightly gripped her hand around the concealed muscle of a strong bicep.
All three women wore shocked expressions with Cora's hand buried in Emma's chest.
Cora looked between her frightened daughter and the confused blonde and, after a short moment, accepted the successful moment before her.
"You foolish girl," Cora said to Emma as her lips started to curl into a smirk.
She yanked her hand away, clutched around Emma's heart, but when she tried to pull it and her hand completely out of the woman's chest it seemed to get stuck.
Cora furrowed her brows and tried to pull again.
Emma almost fell forward and into Cora's arms, but her heart still remained in her chest.
"What? That's not possible," Cora hissed.
Regina stared between Emma and Cora at the blonde's unrelenting heart with awe as she stepped up beside Emma to get a better look at what was happening. She loosened her grip on Emma's bicep and slid it down the length of the blonde's arm while she remained in a trance.
Cora looked from her hand to her daughter and clarity seemed to dawn on her.
"You," she breathed out as she locked onto Regina's gaze.
Cora looked back to Emma in an instant and narrowed her eyes with suspicion before she asked, "Who are you?"
"The Savior," Regina answered for her as she furrowed her brows in confusion and looked Emma over from head to toe.
Cora's jaw dropped a second before a white light emanated from Emma's chest and blasted her across the room.
Regina puffed out a huge breath of relief as soon as Cora was out of their space, her hand finally removed from Emma's chest.
"What was that," Emma, shaking a little, asked Regina as she stared at Cora while the older woman slowly started to pick herself up off the ground.
Regina placed her hand over Emma's chest and felt her heart beat beneath her touch. She relaxed her body a little just as she'd breathed out her relief earlier. She leaned in and pressed her forehead to Emma's temple.
"Something we need to discuss. Later," Regina breathed against Emma's cheek and loose, tangled blonde curls.
When Cora found her footing, she brushed of her dress and examined the scene in front of her. Her daughter's hand was over the blonde woman's heart, but Regina seemed to have no intention of dipping inside to steal the organ for control she clearly lacked without Cora's help. And on top of that, Emma confirmed something very significant that Cora had more than suspected when she had failed to take the wretched woman's heart.
Emma gently grabbed Regina's wrist and didn't pull the brunette's hand away from her chest. She slowly closed her eyes for just a moment as the two of them collected themselves.
"You are weak," Cora spoke up. "You two are both fools to think love means anything."
Cora took a step toward them and Emma immediately maneuvered Regina behind herself.
"No. Love isn't weakness. It's strength," Emma said. "Whatever your beliefs, I won't let you hurt her anymore."
Cora tilted her head to the side and snickered.
"Regardless of your little parlor trick," Cora started, "I doubt you can stop me."
In a split second, Cora threw out her arms toward Emma and Regina and all Emma could do was push Regina down to the ground and out of the way before she herself was flung into the wall Regina had been pinned against not long ago.
Regina looked over her shoulder as she tried to gain back her bearings and she looked every bit like the young girl in love she had been the night Daniel was taken from her.
"Emma," Regina breathed out barely above a whisper as she took in the woman's crumpled form.
She wasn't dead, wasn't even unconscious, but it was all too familiar for Regina. To see someone she cared for taken down by her mother, it was painful enough the first time and she wouldn't let it happen again, especially when she and Emma had Henry to think about it.
Cora darkly chuckled and raised her hands again in preparation for another attack. Then, before Regina even thought up a plan, she was on her feet and catapulting into action with wild determination.
Note: I know. Another cliffhanger. Feel free to tell me how horrible I am in a review, or you could tell me what you honestly thought of this long overdue chapter. Or, you know, you could probably do both. I'll try my hardest to keep up with this as much as I can, but between my terrible sleep schedule and varying moods and the stress I feel from still being unemployed, I can't promise things will be any faster. But I'm trying. Anyway, I hope you liked and enjoyed this. More to come eventually.