Surprise! I'm still around! I've been working WAY too much and had like zero downtime, but I'm updating this story at long last lol. Hopefully more updates to come this week….

Chapter Nineteen

Not surprisingly, Emma was up at the crack of dawn the following morning, asking for candy for breakfast and wanting to play with her new toys.

"Puh-leez Gina! Just one Kit Kat please?" Emma whined, practically to the point of begging, as Regina placed her pancakes in front of her.

"No candy before noon, how many times to I have to repeat myself?" Regina sighed. It didn't feel like all that much time had passed since she'd been having this same conversation with Henry, but he at least figure out to stop asking by the fifth 'no'. Emma, on the other hand, was relentless.

"As many times as it takes for you to see it's a stupid rule!" Emma snapped, pouting and crossing her little arms in defiance, glaring at the pancakes in front of her.

"Emma!" Regina gasped. "That is entirely inappropriate. Don't test my patience, young lady, or you will find yourself without candy for the rest of the day."

"That's not fair! That's my candy and you're not the boss of it!" Emma cried.

Regina raised an eyebrow, wondering just how far Emma was willing to push, because she was certainly not going to give in, especially not after Mal's comment about Emma having her wrapped around her little finger.

"Eat your pancakes, and we'll talk about candy after lunch, but only if you behave for the rest of the morning," Regina said, calmly, as she sipped at her coffee.

"You eat your pancakes," Emma said, pushing the plate away.

"If you're not going to eat breakfast, you are going to be a very hungry little girl come lunchtime, Emma."

Emma seemed to hesitate for a moment, unsure if she should eat, or get up and leave the table. In the end, she opted to pull her plate back and eat the food in front of her. Regina couldn't help but wonder if Emma had actually gone hungry on occasion in the foster system, enough times to know that was not what she wanted. She decided not to ask, however, as she didn't want to bring up unhappy memories this morning.

After a few silent bites, Emma began chattering away, filling Regina in on every costume and Halloween decoration she'd seen while out Trick or Treating. Her defiant attitude seemed to dissipate in a moment, and Regina was relieved. It didn't come as a surprise to her that Emma could be sassy from time to time, given that she had the freedom to say whatever she wanted here without fear of repercussion, which Regina could only assume was not something she was used to in her real childhood, but she still preferred her sweet little girl to the saucy one who spoke up from time to time.

After breakfast, Emma headed off to the living room to open some of her toys. Philip and Aurora had given Emma a bride and groom Barbie and Ken doll, and by the time Regina had finished cleaning up breakfast dishes and come to join her, she had the two exchanging vows on the coffee table.

"Do you Ken take Barbie to be your best friend forever and never ever leave her alone and make her sad? I do."

"Those are very sweet vows," Regina commented, as she sat down on the sofa behind where Emma was kneeling in front of the table.

"Everybody should have someone to never leave them," Emma commented, as she turned to face Regina with a solemn look on her face.

"You're right. And you know you have that now, right Emma? Not just someone, but lots of people who will never leave you?"

Emma nodded, and put the dolls down to come and join Regina on the couch. She observed Regina thoughtfully, and Regina could see the wheels turning in her head, and she knew Emma was trying to work something out that was confusing her.

"What is it, Emma?" Regina asked, finally.

"How come you don't have a husband?"

"Oh," Regina said, caught completely off-guard by the question. "Well, I did once, but I don't anymore," she explained.

"Henry's daddy?" Emma asked.

"No. I was never married to Henry's father," Regina said, shaking her head at the very idea that she would have ever even slept with Baelfire, let alone marry him.

"Who was it then?" Emma pressed. "Cause I never see any pictures of him at your house."

"That's because there aren't any. It was a long time ago, and he passed away," Regina said, hoping that would be the end of it.

"Who was he? What was he like? Did you love him?" Emma asked, looking at Regina excitedly. "Were you sad when he died?"

Regina sighed. Snow was right. She wasn't going to be able to keep the truth of her Enchanted Forest identity from Emma forever, and the more she persisted on asking questions about Regina's past, the sooner it was likely to come out, she knew.

"He was… actually, Emma, I was once married to your grandfather. I was your mother's stepmother," Regina said, tentatively.

Emma grinned. "Really? So you're really my real family? Not just my friend?"

Regina smiled. "I guess I am," she agreed, but her smile faded as she watched Emma's face twist into a confused frown. "What, Emma?"

"If my Mommy is really Snow White, and you were her stepmother, then… that makes you the Evil Queen," Emma said, looking at Regina almost panicked.

"That was a long time ago, Emma. I made some bad choices, but I don't do those things anymore," Regina said, trying to keep her voice even, though she was regretting saying anything at all. She could already tell there was no way that Emma was going to take this well, at all.

Emma shook her head, looking like she might cry. "I saw the movie!" Emma cried. "You gave my Mommy a poison apple!"

"Emma, you know the Disney movies aren't the whole story, remember?" Regina said, attempting damage control, despite the fact that the movie got that point bang on.

"You hate her!" Emma declared, as the tears started to stream down her face. "How can you love me if you hate my Mommy?"

"Emma, I don't hate your Mommy. We're friends, you know that," Regina said, fighting back her own tears as she tried to force herself to remain calm. This was exactly what she'd thought might happen. Liking villains was one thing; liking the person who tried to kill your mother was something else, entirely.

And it was too late. Emma's bottom lip quivered as she told Regina, "I wanna go home!" Before Regina could get another word in, Emma disappeared before her eyes in a poof of white smoke.

Regina breathed a heavy sigh and grabbed her phone, quickly dialling Snow. "Is Emma there?" Regina asked, the second Snow answered.

"Yes, she just showed up. Regina, she's bawling. What happened?"

Regina sighed again. "You were wrong. She knows who I am - who I was - now, and this is her reaction."

"Oh, Regina, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's my own fault. Don't worry about me. Just comfort your daughter."

It took nearly an hour for Snow and David to get Emma calmed down enough to get the entire story out of her.

"Emma," Snow said, gently, running her fingers through her daughter's hair as they sat on the sofa in the small sitting room in the loft. "I know that was a lot of information to take in at one time, and that you didn't expect any of it, but honey, you've got to understand, Regina's just Regina now. She's not the Evil Queen, and she hasn't been in a very long time. She's not going to hurt you, or me, or anyone else for that matter."

"But she already did hurt you," Emma pointed out, still pouting. "She tried to put you to sleep forever!"

"She did, but Daddy saved me, just like in the movie. And Regina and I set aside our differences, and we're friends now, you know that."

Emma shook her head. "I don't wanna go back there anymore."

Snow sighed. There was a time in recent history, that those words from her daughter's mouth would have actually made her happy, but she'd meant what she'd said the night before: Emma needed both herself and Regina. She couldn't let her daughter fear a woman she loved so much.

"Emma, baby, listen to me: Regina did bad things, but she only did them because she was sad. People hurt her, and so she hurt other people. She thought it would make everything right, but it didn't. She learned her lesson, and she changed. Trust me, baby, if I can forgive her, anyone can."

Emma continued to shake her head. "Uh-uh. She's a liar."

"How is she a liar?"

Emma shrugged. "She shoulda said who she was. She didn't tell the truth, and that's lying. I'm not gonna go there anymore. You have go to get Kitty Softpaws and the babies and bring them here," Emma said, nodding her head decisively.

"Don't you think you're going to miss Regina?" Snow asked.

Emma shook her head again. "Nope. I been in lots of houses and I don't miss any of them. Gina's house is just another house."

"That's not true, and I don't think you believe that."

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore," Emma said, as she reached up to pull her necklace off and hand it to Snow. "Gina can have that back, I don't want it anymore. You have to get my necklace back from her. And my toys."

"Emma, that sounds very bossy of you," Snow commented, trying not to sound overly scolding her daughter's emotionally fragile state.

"I never get to have nice things. She can't keep them!" Emma cried.

"I'm not saying that she can. I'm saying that I didn't hear a single please."

"Please get all my stuff from Gina's. And my kitties," Emma attempted again.

"How about this," Snow offered. "You sleep on it tonight, and if you're still sure you won't miss Regina, then we'll talk again tomorrow about getting your stuff."

Emma sighed, and noded, reluctantly. She supposed she did have toys at the loft she'd hardly even played with yet, she could wait one day for the rest of her toys to get here.

"Mom? What's going on? Where's Emma?" Henry asked, looking from Emma's scattered toys to Regina's tear stained cheeks.

Regina shook her head and shrugged. "She went home."

"She went home? Mom, what happened?"

"What always happens, Henry? She found out who I really am, and now she doesn't want to be anywhere near me. I can't say I blame her."

"Mom," Henry said, as he sat down beside her on the couch. "She might have found out who you were, but that's not who you are."

"Really? Because semantics didn't make all that much of a difference to you, when you figured it out, did they?" Regina replied, more defensively than she meant to.

"Yeah, but, I was just a kid then," Henry started, and the realization dawned on him. "And… Emma's just a kid now. I get it."

Regina sniffed back more tears and nodded. "It's my own fault. I shouldn't have said anything. I should have waited until she was older."

"Well, she was going to find out eventually, anyway. It's better that she heard it from you than from some kid at school," Henry reasoned.

Regina let out a small, mirthless laugh. "That's exactly what your grandmother told me last night."

"She'll come around, Mom. She loves you too much to stay mad forever. She just needs time to process, or whatever. Everything will be fine," Henry insisted.

Regina smiled. "The heart of the truest believer."

"I never stopped believing that she would come back to me, and she did. She'll come back to you, too. Just give it time."

Snow decided not to broach the subject of Regina with Emma for the rest of the day, opting instead to let Emma bring it up when the time was right, for her.

That time came around the same time Snow was tucking Emma into bed.

"How did Gina get hurt?" Emma asked, quietly, a serious look on her face. "You said someone hurted her. What happened?"

Snow sighed as she stoked Emma's hair. "She lost someone she loved very much. She was going to marry him, but he got taken away from her and that broke her heart," Snow explained.

"Oh," Emma said, looking down.

"Emma, I'm not going to make you go to her house or spend time with her if you don't want to, but I want you to be very sure that this is what you want before I tell her, because it's going to break her heart all over again. She loves you very much, and I know you love her, too."

"I'm sleepy now," Emma said, as she rolled over onto her side.

"Okay, good night baby. We'll talk more in the morning," Snow promised, as she kissed Emma on the forehead.

Emma waited until Snow was back down stairs to sit back up in her bed. She waved her hand to conjure her necklace back to her, and held it in her palm, staring at it intently, and remembering the day Regina got it for her.

Emma grinned, remembering the picture frame she'd let her pick out that day, and how she hadn't even got mad when Emma drew all over the walls. She didn't yell or spank. Maybe she really wasn't evil anymore, afterall?

One thing Emma knew for sure, she didn't want to be the cause of another broken heart for Regina. She was going to have to make this all better.

Regina sat in her living room that evening, with a glass of wine and a book she was really only pretending to read, even though no one else was actually watching her. She'd picked up Emma's toys and put them in her room. She'd cleaned up the rest of the decorations from Emma's party, and fed Emma's cat, realizing just how much of her life was Emma now.

Or had been, until today.

She couldn't help the lump forming in her throat at the thought that it might be all over now. She was sure Henry was right, and Emma would come around eventually, but how long would that take? A few weeks? A month? Would Emma be seven by then? Or eight? Older even? How much of their bond would be lost if that much time went by.

Regina put the book down and sighed, looking up at the ceiling as she fought back more tears. Maybe Maleficent was right. Maybe she did feel more deeply than most people. All she knew was what she was feeling right now hurt like hell.

Regina gasped as she felt a distinct aura of magic in the air, and turned to see Emma sitting on the couch, the white smoke quickly dissipating around her.

"Emma!" Regina said, smiling and breathing a sigh of relief. "What are you doing here?"

"I always come to tell you good night," Emma said, quietly.

"Yes, you do," Regina nodded, holding her arms out and hoping Emma wouldn't shy away.

To her immediate relief, Emma got up from her spot and climbed into Regina's arms, squeezing her tight around the neck as Regina hugged her back just as tightly.

"I'm sorry Gina," Emma whispered. "I don't want to make you sad. I don't want to break your heart."

Regina couldn't stop the tears from falling again as she continued to hold onto Emma tightly. "I'm sorry too, Little One. For everything. But you don't make me sad. You just made me so, so happy."

"Mommy said that you loved someone and he got taken away. Everyone needs someone who will never leave. I'm never gonna leave you, Gina."

"I will never leave you either, Little One. I love you too much."

"And besides," Emma said, leaning back to look at Regina with a little cheeky grin. "There's no room at Mommy and Daddy's for four cats, and Kitty Softpaws said she doesn't want to leave here."

"Oh, she did, did she?" Regina asked, raising an eyebrow as she reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks with one hand.

"Uh huh! So I guess we both have to stay, cause you need us both."

"I will never admit to needing that cat, Emma. But you're right, I need you. You fill a hole in my heart that I didn't even know was there, and I need you to stay there forever, got it?"

Emma nodded. "Got it! I gotta go back home now, but you're gonna pick me up for dance tomorrow, right?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, baby girl."

Regina watched with a sad smile as Emma poofed herself back to the loft, and couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of loss the moment she was gone. Emma really did fill a hole in her heart, like a missing piece of a puzzle she didn't even know was lost. She was sure this was something she'd have to sort out in a few years when Emma was back to herself again, but for now, she could just be content that her little girl loved her again.

Evil Queen and all.

TBC