Regina walked into the police station – Snow keeping up at her side. They hadn't spoken on the way back from the stables, but Snow had unbuckled her own seat belt and gotten out of the car on her own.
Charming saw them first and stood up from his desk.
"Don't worry," Regina said. "Back safe and sound."
"We weren't worried," he replied.
Regina gave him a raised eyebrow to indicate that she was skeptical about that. There was no way he couldn't have been worried. Hell, she was surprised he hadn't staked out the stables just to ensure his wife's safety.
"How did it go?" Emma asked coming out of her office. She was looking at Regina but it was Snow who spoke up.
"I learned how to ride a horse without it being side saddle," she said proudly.
"Very nice," Emma replied.
"Regina is a really good teacher," Snow said as she looked up at her. "Do you think we can go again, maybe tomorrow?"
"Probably not tomorrow," Regina said. "I do have work to get done, but yes, we can find time to go out again."
Snow was practically beaming at this answer and it gave Emma some hope that maybe, just maybe they could all get through this.
"Speaking of work, I really do need to get back," Regina said. "I trust you two can see the princess home."
"Of course," Charming said, giving her a bow. "Your majesty."
"Good," Regina said, although Charming being so accommodating gave her a little pause. "I shall see you all later then."
"I will walk you out," Emma said, quickly.
Regina didn't acknowledge it, nor did she say anything to Snow before she began to walk out. Snow didn't seem to notice as Charming had approached to and started asking her about her riding lesson. Emma caught up to Regina but didn't say anything until they were out of the building.
"Are you ok?" Emma asked.
"I'm fine."
That didn't instill much confidence in Emma that she was actually telling the truth, so Emma reached out and stopped Regina by placing her hand on her forearm.
"I know this isn't easy for you," she said. "It's ok if you aren't fine. In fact, you have every right to be anything but fine."
"Do I?" Regina asked. "Because maybe I don't. You seem to forget who I am and the things I have done."
She tried to shake Emma off and continue on to her car, but Emma stopped her once more.
"Don't do that," Emma said. "Yes, you have done things, bad things, but that's not who you are now. This, what's happening right now, it's not some sort of karma thing to get back at you. This is my fault, not yours."
"Yet, I'm the one who has to fix it."
"I know it's not fair," Emma said. "I know it's not easy and you have every right to hate me for putting you through this. I will look you in the eye every day and say I'm sorry if I have to."
"Every day? Does this mean I must be subjected to your company every day?" Regina said. She didn't say it in a hostile tone. In fact, Emma caught the faint start of a smile as she said it.
"I sort of thought you had caught on to the whole, I want to spend time with you thing," Emma said.
"Well, next time, come up with a better way to show it," Regina said. "Now if you will excuse me, I really do need to get back to the office."
"Ok," Emma said. "Just know that I'm here if you need someone to talk to about all the stuff that's probably going on in your head because of this."
Regina didn't say anything, not that Emma expected her to and she let Regina walk to her car. Emma stayed out there until Regina pulled away and then she went back into the station where Snow was telling Charming about how she had opened the car door all by herself and got in and buckled her seat belt.
Somehow her mom even made that mundane act sound like it was the most exciting thing ever. Her mom never seemed to lose that optimism no matter what age she was.
"Why did Regina say she had to go to work?" Snow asked suddenly. "She's queen."
"Well yes, but as queen she has a lot of responsibility," Charming said.
"I'm going to be queen someday," Snow said. "And I want to be a good queen like my mom was, like Regina is."
"I'm sure you will be an amazing queen," Charming said.
"Maybe Regina will let me go to work with her tomorrow so I can start to learn."
Charming looked at Emma as if to ask how he should respond to that. Emma was already thinking that Regina would definitely not want Snow with her at the office. Right now, the office was Regina's only refuge away from the young Snow.
"When you were back home, at the castle I mean," Emma started. "Were you around Re … the queen a lot?"
Snow sort of shrugged. "I would be if I wasn't in lessons. I had a lot of tutors. Father said I had to complete my courses of study. After my mother died, there always seemed to be more and more tutors and more lessons. It seemed like I barely saw father, but he explained to me that it was important that I keep up with my studies because one day I would be queen. When Regina came I thought maybe I wouldn't have to spend as much time with tutors and spend more time with father and her, but Regina agreed that my studies had to come first."
Probably so she didn't have to be around you, Emma thought. The more she thought about what things must have been like for Regina back then, the angrier she got over the whole situation. She thought about how even her own life would have different if Snow never told Cora about Daniel.
If that had never happened, would she too have been shuffled off to spend time with tutors rather than her own parents. What kinds of studies would she even have to do, she wondered. That's when she got an idea.
"You know the queen is usually so busy at work that she would probably feel bad if you went there and were unable to actually interact with her," Emma began. "But like you said, your father and her both wanted you to get a good education, so maybe we should see about continuing that education here. What were you studying before you came here?"
"History, politics, mathematics, literature and economics."
"Wow, that's a well-rounded education."
"I'm going to be queen, so I have to learn about a lot of different subjects," Snow said. "My mom and Regina both had tutors growing up they said."
Emma looked at her father, "Perhaps it's time for her to continue her studies."
…
It took a couple of days to track down people from the Enchanted Forest who could tutor Snow. Even though they figured it would pose more questions – and it did – they set it up so she would be taught at the school and during school hours.
Every morning Emma would drop her and Henry off at school and then go to work. Either she or her dad would pick them up and go back to the mansion along with Neal so Snow could spend time with him. They knew it wasn't the same as Neal knowing his mother was there with him, but they hoped it would keep their familial bond in tact.
Each night, Snow would excitedly tell Regina all that she learned in school that day, although she also had many questions such as why all the other kids were learning together and she was by herself with tutors. Regina told her that was due to her being the princess. She seemed to accept the answer although she also wondered why kids like Henry who weren't royalty were being schooled. Emma thought that Regina was about to lecture her about not being a snob but she stopped herself and then calmly explained to Snow that a person's parentage should have nothing to do with whether they were allowed to be a learned individual or not.
Emma was pretty sure that Regina could have told Snow that the sky was green and Snow would believe her. Every word Regina said Snow would listen to and absorb like a sponge. It made Emma wonder how much of the woman Snow became was shaped by her interactions with Regina - not just the bad ones.
Could some of the goodness that Snow always seemed to exude have come from Regina being her stepmother?
Usually Emma got the chance to speak with Regina alone for a short time every night after Snow had gone to bed. They kept to safe topics for the most part because even if Emma tried to steer the conversation in other directions, Regina redirected it. Still, Emma felt like the time they were spending together was productive – at least in terms of the possibility of her actually asking Regina out on a date. Although Regina knew that is what had started all of this, it wasn't as if Emma had actually asked yet and she got the feeling that Regina would expect her to ask, not just casually mention it.
The routine lasted for a couple of weeks before Regina was the one who took the conversation from the safe topics.
"This isn't working," Regina said immediately after Snow had gone to sleep.
Emma wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that, so she didn't say anything.
"Your mom is going to stay a child if we keep this up," Regina continued. "We have to do something."
"I don't know what more we can do," Emma said. "I mean you two seem to be getting along fine."
Regina crossed her arms to let her know what she thought about that.
"Ok, well you aren't looking to kill her every second," Emma said.
"You wanted the two of us to get over the past," Regina said. "I can't say I'm over it, and I still don't understand why the magic would make her a child when it means she doesn't even know why she and are enemies."
"But you aren't enemies, not anymore," Emma said.
Regina didn't respond, in fact she moved away from Emma, and took a seat on the couch.
"You don't still consider her an enemy, do you?" Emma asked.
Regina remained silent.
"You can't possibly …" Emma said.
"I know you want this to be simple as me saying she isn't my enemy, but it's not that simple, at least not for me," Regina said. "That girl up there is not your mom. She is, but she isn't. Your mom is someone who I think at least acknowledges that what I did to her, I did because I wanted … I wanted her to feel hurt worse than what I did in that moment that Daniel died. I don't know, maybe she doesn't, and maybe that it why she and I have never really talked about it even in this cease fire we have somehow developed. That Snow up there though, she doesn't see me as the enemy and maybe that is the problem."
Emma took a seat next to her. "I don't want her – any version of her – to look at you like the enemy."
"I know," Regina said, giving a small smile. "But how do we fulfill your ill-thought out wish?"
"Never going to let me live this one down, are you?"
"Not a chance in hell," Regina said.
"Yeah, thought not. What do you suggest we do about all of this then?"
"I have no idea, but this isn't working," Regina said. "She has to know we are – were – enemies I think for whatever is going to happen to happen."
Emma considered this, not entirely sure that Regina was right. Since this whole thing began she felt powerless to do anything, which was made all the more frustrating since she was the one who made this stupid wish to begin with. Then a thought occurred to her.
"Can I ask you something without you getting mad?" Emma asked.
"The way you phrased that suggests I will," Regina sighed. "But I will try."
"Will you go out on a date with me?"
"Emma, I hardly think this is the time …"
"No, hear me out. This all started because I wanted to be able to ask you out and I didn't think I could do that before with the whole history between you and mom," Emma said. "Maybe it's not really about you and her getting along – yet at least – maybe this is about me feeling comfortable enough to ask you out. And I do feel comfortable in doing that, right here, right now. I know there are complications, I know that you and I probably have a whole storybook of reasons not to go out on a date, but I don't care about any of that. So, Regina Mills, will you do me the honor of going out on a date with me?"
"You know this is completely crazy, right?"
"We live in a town full of fairy tale characters, we have been to places like Neverland and have tangled with one of the wicked witches from Oz, my mom is Snow White and currently trapped in the form of a child, frankly, going out on a date is probably the most sane thing we have done in a while."
"Well, when you make such a compelling argument, how could I say no?"
Emma smiled, "That's a yes?"
Regina paused, considering it, before saying, "Yes, I will go out on a date with you."
