Chapter Seventeen

"How was your day?" Snow asked, once Regina and Emma returned to the loft. Emma had still insisted on bringing a pie with her. She swore she could eat half of it herself – at least – so it didn't matter if no one else wanted any.

"Um, it was good," Emma said, as she set the pie down on the counter. "We didn't go riding, but we had a picnic and we baked a pie, after Regina made me sit in her boring office all morning."

"Emma has no concept that adults have to work for a living," Regina teased. She noted that Emma didn't bring up the situation with Robin, and she could tell it was still bothering her. She wished Emma would return to herself sooner rather than later, so they could figure out what the hell they were going to do.

"I got to use your GameBoy," Emma said to Henry as he walked up, jabbing him playfully in the ribs.

"What? Mom!" Henry whined, shooting Regina a hurt look as he jabbed Emma back. Regina couldn't help but notice they acted more like siblings than mother and son, but she supposed that wasn't all that strange, since that was the type of relationship they had when Emma was her normal self, as well.

"Emma also has no concept of when to keep her mouth shut, apparently," Regina sighed, shaking her head.

"You helped bake?" Snow asked, admiring the pie that Emma had set on the counter. "There's still some work left to do on dinner if you'd like to help me," she offered.

Emma bit her lip and headed to the other side of the counter to help her mother.

"Regina, will you be joining us?" Snow asked, as she handed Emma a knife and some veggies to start cutting.

"Emma invited me, if that's alright," Regina smiled. Snow nodded, and Regina motioned for Henry to follow her into the other room, where she could spend some time with him, while Emma spent some time with her mother.

"You're trusting me with a knife again?" Emma asked, the memory of the nearly-chopping-off-her-finger incident still fresh in her mind.

"Yes, just pay more attention this time, and you'll be fine," Snow insisted. "What else did you do today?"

Emma shrugged. "Not much. We saw Tink. Regina didn't kill her, like everyone thought she would."

Snow let out a little laugh. "Well, they are friends."

"She said she never would have killed me, either, when I was a baby."

Snow's smile faded to a more serious look. "She's right, I don't believe she would have."

"Yeah, but, Dad said she was going to, and that's why you guys sent me away." Emma turned her eyes up to her mother, who now had a big grin spreading across her face. "Why are you smiling?"

"You just called your father 'dad'," Snow pointed out.

"No, I didn't!" Emma insisted. "I said David."

Snow shook her head and let out another small laugh. "Okay. But as for why we sent you away… Emma, thinking Regina would kill you was part of it. And knowing that you were the Savior and we had to get you to safety was another big part of it. But you should know, we never planned for you to go alone."

"What do you mean," Emma asked, as she stopped what she was doing.

"You were born too early. We believed the wardrobe could only take one, and I was going to go through, and give birth to you here, but you came too early and the wardrobe wasn't finished. Once you were born, our only chance was to put you through it."

"You believed it could only take one?" Emma asked, confused as to what Snow meant.

"Well, that's what we were told. As it turned out, it could take two, and Jepetto sent his son Pinocchio though. But you might know him best as August. We didn't know that until much later."

"The boy who found me," Emma nodded. "But still, you sent a helpless infant into a whole other realm? Didn't you think I might have died?"

Snow sighed. "Emma, we come from a land of fairy tales. Your father and I, we were heroes, and you were a hero, and where we're from, the heroes always win. I never doubted for a second that you would survive, and find us, and save us. And you did."

Emma nodded, slowly, trying to digest this information. "I might not be able to forgive you," she said, finally. "I mean, I know I have as an adult, and you might just have to accept that's the best you'll get, because all this stuff you're telling me, it just seems so unreal. My life, until now, that's real to me."

Snow nodded. "I know, honey, and I'm sorry. I would give anything to change what happened, but I can't. And I understand."

"I might not be able to forgive you, but I also don't want to regret not reaching out to you, either. Granny says I'm not doing myself any favours so… maybe we can just have some family time, tonight?"

Emma looked at Snow, who looked like she was about to cry as she wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter. At once, Emma tensed up, but soon let her guard down as she let her mother hold on to her. In spite of everything, and in spite of all the hard feelings she'd harboured against her parents all these years, deep down she remembered the little girl who cried herself to sleep, wanting her mother so badly. She was doing this for her.

Dinner that night was mostly idle chit-chat, and with Emma actually smiling and participating, it was the best dinner they'd had yet.

When they were done, Regina offered to help Snow with dishes, as Emma joined her father in the living room with the boys, and took to playing with Neal on the floor while Henry booted up his video game.

Regina shook her head at Henry as she followed Snow into the kitchen. "You spoil him," she said, " no wonder he likes it here so much."

"I hardly spoil him," Snow said, as she started up the water in the sink and handed Regina a towel so she could dry. "And if I do, it's only because I didn't get the chance to spoil my daughter. That, and it's what grandparents are supposed to do, or so I've heard."

Regina smirked. "You know, I don't think I will ever truly get used to my former step-daughter being my son's grandmother," she commented, as she took the first dish from Snow to dry.

Snow laughed. "Who would have ever thought we'd get from where we were, to where we are now?"

"Snow," Regina said, turning to her with a serious look on her face. "I want to say thank you, for everything you did, when I was under that spell. You were far kinder to me than I deserved. To say you were far kinder to me than I was to you at that age, would be the understatement of the millennium."

Snow smiled. "You at sixteen were just as I always remembered you: the woman who saved my life. No matter what, that's always how I will see you… sometimes mixed with other emotions, but, fundamentally. I always knew you were a good person, Regina, and I was lucky enough to get to see that with my own eyes back then."

"You were lucky?" Regina scoffed. "I would hardly consider you lucky for having met me at all. Your life would have never even been in danger if it weren't for my mother's interference."

"Maybe not, but look at where we are now. I'd say it all worked out, wouldn't you?"

Regina looked across the room, watching Emma play with Neal. From behind, she looked just like the adult Emma. And Regina had to admit, it really was all working out.

Or at least she hoped it would.

Emma hopped up in the couch beside Henry as David got up to take Neal into the other room to change him.

"I met your mom's boyfriend today," she said, softly so only Henry would hear.

"Oh yeah? How was that?"

"I punched him."

"What?" Henry gasped, turning to stare at Emma with wide eyes.

Emma laughed. "Kidding! I wanted to, though. What a douche."

"Emma," Henry said, rolling his eyes. Then he stopped, when a realization came over him. "Hey, so… what's gonna happen now? Between you and my mom, I mean?"

Emma shrugged. "I dunno. Regina said we have to wait until I'm back to myself to talk about it."

Henry nodded. "At least she's willing to talk," he acknowledged. "Normally she keeps everything bottled up. Make her talk, Emma, when you're back to normal. Don't let her chicken out."

"Henry! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in support of this relationship!" Emma laughed as she watched Henry's cheeks get red.

"What relationship?" David asked, as he came back into the room.

"Ron and Hermoine," Emma said, suddenly. "Henry seems to think they'll end up together, when everyone knows Hermoine is hot for Harry Potter."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Ron and Hermoine do end up together!"

"What!" Emma cried. "Dude! I haven't read them all yet. They don't exist in my… timeline? Or whatever."

Henry laughed. "Sorry."

David's eyes shifted back and forth between Henry and Emma, suspiciously. "Emma, you do remember I'm a cop, right? I may not have your lie detecting superpower, but I can tell when I'm being played. What's up?"

Emma shot Henry a look. What she wanted was for him to jump to her rescue, but instead he shut off the game and headed to the kitchen to help with dishes, allowing David to slip into his vacated spot.

"Emma?"

Emma sighed. "If I tell you, will you be cool about it?"

"Yeah, totally cool. Cool dad, right here," David insisted, causing Emma to roll her eyes and sigh dramatically.

"Ok, number one, stop it. And number two… I kissed Regina," Emma confessed.

"Today?"

"No! Not today. She's not like a pedophile. When we were both sixteen… we were kind of… I guess dating? Henry caught us and I swore him to secrecy. And now I'm just kind of wondering what's gonna happen."

David let out a heavy sigh. "Have you talked to Regina about it? I mean, since she returned to normal?"

"Not really," Emma said. "She wants to wait until I'm normal again, too."

"Probably wise."

"Yeah, I guess. But, um, just out of curiosity…. Would you be cool with it? I mean, like, I don't know what's gonna happen or anything, but I just kind of want to know what you would think."

David smiled. "Honey, as long as you're happy, I'm happy. Regina might not be my first choice for you, but I've learned not to try to push you into anything you don't want to do. You're a smart girl and I know for a fact you grow up into a smart woman. You'll make the right choice."

"Thanks Dad," Emma smiled.

At some point well past midnight, long after she had left the Charming loft, and left Henry and Emma to their family time there, Regina awoke to the sound of shattering glass coming from downstairs. It only took a second for her to speculate on whom the culprit might be, and when she headed down the stairs and toward the backdoor, the sight of Emma magically repairing the same window again confirmed it.

"Ahem," Regina cleared her throat, causing Emma to jump and spin around to face her. "I'm starting to get the feeling that I should have just given you a key."

"I fixed it," Emma shrugged, "like you said: necessary life skill."

Regina could tell Emma was trying to make a joke, but the shakiness in her voice betrayed what she was really feeling. Regina took a step closer and the look on the girl's face said it all. "Emma, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing, I just… I just woke up and you weren't there and I got upset."

"So you snuck out again?"

"Yeah, but, at least I came here, right? I didn't go running wild around Storybrooke or some shit, so…" Emma stopped when she saw Regina's eyebrow raised in disapproval, and she wondered if she'd made a mistake. "Please don't send me home."

Regina sighed. "Come on," she said, holding her hand out for Emma to take. When she did, she led her up the stairs into her bedroom. She stopped once they were inside and picked up her phone.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, panicked as she thought Regina would call her parents to come and pick her up.

"I'm texting your mother to let her know you'll be staying the night here, so they don't wake up and panic in the morning," Regina explained, and Emma let out a sigh of relief.

When Regina was done, she set the phone back down and pulled back the covers on the other side of the bed, so Emma could get in. She noted that Emma was still in her plaid pajama pants and a tank top, and clearly had had no intention of going home tonight anyway. She slid in next to Emma and pulled the covers over both of them.

"How was the rest of the night with your parents?" Regina asked, as she had wondered since she got home how family time had gone.

"Okay," Emma admitted, "a little intense, I guess. I called them Mom and Dad. There were some tears. It was weird, but it was okay."

"And yet you still felt the need to sneak out?" Regina asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well, I mean, I stayed home last night," Emma replied, with a cheeky grin, "isn't that enough?"

"Well, it's hard to sneak out when you're sleeping," Regina pointed out.

"I woke up though. I woke up and you were still sixteen and for like a second I actually thought about waking you up and seeing if you wanted to go out, but then I remembered that if we got caught my mom would separate us again and… well, I know it wasn't very fun for you when she did that the first time, and I didn't want to risk it so I just kissed your forehead and went back to sleep," Emma explained.

"You kissed me when I was sleeping?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, I mean, sorry if that's weird, but I just figured it was okay, you know, because of everything."

"No, it's not that, it's just…" Regina's voice trailed off as she reached over to cup Emma's face in her hands, and leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"What was that for?" Emma asked, actually blushing from the surprise.

"A test," Regina said, simply. "We'll know if it worked in the morning. Now, let's go to sleep."

Emma smiled and shook her head, and Regina didn't object when she snuggled in close. Instead, she wrapped and arm around Emma and kissed her once more on the forehead for good measure. Emma smiled, though her eyes were still closed, and Regina stroked her hair softly, until the girl fell asleep.

"Sweet dreams, Emma," she whispered, before closing her own eyes and laying her head back on her pillow, in hopes that her Emma would be back in the morning.