Hey guys, I am back with a new chapter of this story. I know it has been a long time since I've updated but you know life can get very bumpy and busy and that has drained all my attention away from writing. I hope you guys enjoy this story, sorry for any mistakes, it has been awhile since I've written anything in English.
Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Good Friends – Part II
"But why couldn't you just send me a text? Or a call to just let me know you were fine? I tried to call you, lot of times and text you but then Snow told me you changed numbers," Regina continued with her bitter tone and she sounded sad as well. This was first the questions that the brunette wanted to know the most because Daniel being her son wasn't believable yet, she wanted answer to other things to see if it made sense to her.
"I just couldn't, Regina, it would be way too hard, I had to move on…" Emma whispered still looking at the water, this conversation felt like somebody was squeezing her heart and lungs.
"Move on from what?! I needed you and you weren't there, I thought we were good friends!" Regina said louder, voice cracking and tears already falling over her cheeks. This shocked both women. Emma was looking at her with wide eyes, she couldn't believe Regina was crying right in front of her and she couldn't believe what she just heard, and Regina also looked at green eyes with wide eyes because she was also shocked her own sudden outburst. She even quickly put her hand over her mouth after that as they just continued to stare at each other.
Now Emma realized the whole conversation she had prepared in her head during the thirty-minute car ride and the whole night with no sleep, didn't prepare her one bit for this.
…
"Regina…" Emma started but unsure how to continue, she was still in shock that the all mighty mayor was crying in front of her and demanding a truthful answer for a question from the bottom of her heart. Emma had never realized that this too would hurt the brunette, she always thought that Regina didn't care much about her, as long as she had the forest guy, her job and Henry around. She thought that Regina only put up with her because of the whole co-parenting thing.
Regina sniffed and wiped her tears with the hem of her jacket. "I really needed you in these past seven years, Emma and I never even got a single text," she mumbled as she turned her back on the blonde woman and stared at the water.
Emma chewed nervously on her lower lip and stretched out her arm to touch the other woman's hand but then she stopped herself from doing that. "Regina, I…I never thought that you would be so affected by this. I honestly thought that I was doing the best thing by just moving away and starting a new life with Daniel. You need to understand that none of it was also easy for me…"
Regina snorted at those words, "yea, right. How was any of this hard for you? Sure, having a child is hard, but you still had your parents support and Henry's. I was all alone in Storybrooke, Henry distanced himself from me and then when he turned eighteen, he would rarely be at home. I was only spending time with Robin and it was even a happy marriage, those seven years felt like hell, slowly burning. Snow sometimes would come to visit to check on how I was doing, or I'd go talk to her to see if she'd tell me anything about you but she always got so defensive about it," she carried on, explaining on how she felt and what she went through these past seven years, "but all I needed was my friend," she now turned to face Emma again, "I took so long to leave Robin because I didn't want to be alone again, you left then Henry left and I felt like I had nobody else. If you were there, things could've been so much different," she sniffed again.
Emma was speechless, she was just swallowing Regina's words, trying to understand the best she could the other woman's side but there were things the brunette woman just refused to listen, and Emma was getting a bit irritated. "Look, I am sorry that I left but you need to understand I had to, I just had to. I was pregnant by you! How was I supposed to stay in Storybrooke and face that new reality with everyone we knew, while you were still with Robin and mad at me about the whole Evil Queen situation? You'd never believe me, just like you don't believe me now!" Emma raised her voice more than she intended to, but she didn't like that the brunette was playing the victim card like she had more reasons for it than she did.
Regina opened her mouth to protest, but then no words came because Emma was right. She probably wouldn't have believed in her and she'd be upset and angry at the other woman and of course things would be a lot harder around Storybrooke if Daniel is indeed her son. "So, he is really my son?"
Emma sighed out as she put her hands on the back of her neck, getting frustrated. "Yes, Regina, for the fifth time, he is your son. That's what I've been telling you since yesterday. I told you, you don't have to believe it if you don't want it, I am doing just fine on my own with Daniel, I have been for the past seven years. You can go back to Storybrooke and pretend none of this as ever happened, I am sure that would be a lot easier for you."
"I don't want easy," Regina quickly blurted out those words. "It's just…how did it happened?"
Emma rose her eyebrows at that, "what you mean how did it happen? I am pretty sure you know how children are made."
"I don't mean it like that!" Regina gave Emma a look that it felt like they were back in Storybrooke and she was scolding the blonde woman like she was a child, but now they were in Boston and she still had her eyes red from crying. "How come it happened? How come you two…fell in love?" She had a hard time saying those words, because that was still something out of this world for her.
"Hmn…" Emma started thinking as she shoved her hands inside the pocket of her jacket, kicking at the ground. This was now getting her a bit embarrassed and nervous. "I don't know…it just happened. I mean, I will be honest with you and please don't make a big deal of it, okay?"
"Okay…"
"I-…I already had feelings for you before that whole situation happened. I think I did for a long time but I always managed to bury it down and pretend they weren't real, that it was just some sister thing or something," Emma mumbled loud enough, "but then your past-self came into the picture and we started to interact a lot more and those feelings only became stronger and then she began to trust me and treat me kindly and then things just happened. I believe we fell in love, or else Daniel wouldn't have happened, right? And she was heartbroken about leaving, so…" she couldn't believe she was actually letting this all out, she had never thought she'd get this far in the conversation, she hoped that Regina would just get mad and leave, not demand questions and stick around. Things would be a lot easier for her if she could just leave.
Now Regina got very quiet, she was taking in everything she just heard, it felt very surreal. She had no idea that Emma had feelings for her, she felt like they were just close friends, sure back in Storybrooke they had gotten pretty close and it was extremely fun to hang out with the blonde woman and they even started to have their own inside jokes, hell sometimes Emma would even drop by her mansion for a drink and a little chitchat, that never lasted too long because then Robin would show up and Emma would always come up with some excuse to leave right after.
"Regina?" Emma called out for her, getting nervous with the silence.
If Regina connected the dots properly what Emma told her makes perfect sense, the clues were always there but she had never noticed them because who would've thought Emma Swan would develop feelings for her? First, she thought the other woman was straight, Regina knew that herself wasn't, she tried many things in her past. Then they both started having their own boyfriends, both seemed happy about it but maybe it was just that temporary happiness to hide and make them forget about what they both really wanted.
"Regina?" Emma called again, this time not standing anymore the silence, so she grabbed her elbow.
That touch startled out the brunette and made her snap out of it. "Yes?"
Emma rose her eyebrows and stared into brown eyes. "Huh, remember when I told you to not make a big deal of it? Can you please not make a big deal of it?"
"S-Sure," Regina was a bit confused but only because she was still trying to connect the dots in her head and process the information.
"Okay, good…thanks," Emma now stepped away from her, not touching her anymore and silence invaded them. Things were getting extremely awkward again, perhaps Emma preferred that she'd make a big deal out of it, because that way they could keep talking and not leave things just like that. For god's sake Emma had just confessed her feelings for her and the outcome of that turned out to be weird but calm.
Before the silence could last even more, Emma's phone began to ring. "Yes? This is she," suddenly now she was nervous about something else, because Daniel's school was calling her. "Wh-What? What do you mean he is missing? How can he be missing?"
Regina's eyes quickly darted over Emma, also getting worried about this.
"How come a seven-year-old can go missing in that school? You guys don't keep track of that?!" Emma snapped as she began to already walk back at her car and Regina went right after, struggling a lot to keep up with the blonde woman but she was trying. "I will be there as soon as possible, keep searching for him!" She said angrily and quickly hang up the phone. She got into the car first then the brunette, but she still waited for her patiently, or she tried to be patient.
"Daniel's missing?" Regina asked as she soon as she got into the car.
"Apparently on the second class he wasn't there and when they went to search for him, he was nowhere to be seen," Emma said irritated as she turned on the car and drove off.
Elementary School
As soon as Emma got there, she rushed into the school and began to search around for her son before bump into one of the teachers. "Where is my son?"
"We haven't found him yet, Miss Swan but we assure you he can only be in here because all school's exits are supervised and nobody from our security has seen him leave," the teacher tried to explain the situation calmly.
"This is unbelievable," Emma said frustrated as she continued walking, opening every door she could, even classrooms and calling out for her son. She was panicking at this moment, she couldn't believe her son was gone, again. It hurt her heart too much to be truth.
"Do you have any security cameras?" Regina asked the teacher, being the one calmer about this situation and she wanted to keep Emma grounded, even though she was also panicking right now.
"Yes, we do, we are going through them right now to see where he might be," the teacher answered.
"Can you take us there? We'd like to seem them as well," Regina was answering for Emma, but she knew the blonde woman also approved because she had stopped her panicked pacing and stared at them.
"Sure, follow me," the teacher said as she walked towards the security room, having Emma and Regina following her. When they got there, there was several screens and a guy going through them. Emma quickly got by his side, with her hands on the table and began to look at the screens. "This is the mother of the child we are looking for and this is…" the teacher was going to introduce Regina, but she didn't know how.
"I am his other mother," Regina said with no effort at all as she also approached the screens to help find Daniel. Emma was a bit surprised by Regina's initiative, but she wasn't going to go there now.
"Look, there!" Emma pointed at the screen that showed the boy's bathroom and she saw Daniel going in. She didn't even ask where it was, she just darted out of the room and began to run to find it.
"Where is this bathroom?" Regina asked the teacher.
"It's right around the corner, next to the gym," the teacher answered.
Regina nodded at that and left the room. "Emma! I know where it is," she called out for the blonde and they both went to the specific bathroom that they saw Daniel going into.
"Daniel!" Emma called out for her son as soon as she opened the bathroom door, then she began to open the several bathroom stall's doors, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Fuck! Where the hell is he?"
"Calm down, Emma, we will find him," Regina said as she looked around the bathroom.
"Regina, please don't tell me to calm down, that's the last thing I need," Emma sighed out frustrated, "this is the second time he goes missing in less than 24h, I am starting to feel like a very shitty parent."
"Emma, none of this is your fault, don't beat yourself," Regina approached the other woman and grabbed her hand. "I promise you, we will find him, I will help you," she showed her a genuine smile and on that moment Emma managed to calm down for a bit because it was comforting to have somebody else with her at this time of crisis. "What is that?" Something else caught Emma's eyes, it was a paper on the ground.
Both women approached the paper and Emma was the first one to pick it up. "Huh, Regina…why is there a picture of the enchanted forest here?"
"What?" Regina inspected better the paper, "Emma this is a page of the storybook."
Both women went very quiet and still for a moment before they looked at each other with wide eyes. "You don't think…" Emma started, "he is in enchanted forest?" Regina continued, "but how could that even be possible?" Emma asked. "Wait, there's something written on the back of it," Regina quickly turned the paper and began to read out loud. "Magic can do anything, even turn your biggest wish come true."
"Fuck…" Emma whispered as she rubbed her face with both of her hands, "I think I know where he got this, we need to calm my mom and Henry, let's go." Emma grabbed Regina's hand and walked out of school but not before demanding the teachers to keep searching for her son, in hopes that maybe he was still around her.
As soon as both women were in the car, Emma quickly called her mother.
"Yes, honey?"
"Mom, did you by any chance gave Daniel the storybook about the enchanted forest?"
"What? No, I do remember bringing it multiple times to read it for him as bedtime stories, but I never gave it to him. It's still in the attic."
"Can you quickly go check it and see if there's any page missing?"
"Sure, but why the question?"
"Please mom, just do it!" Emma was getting agitated and Regina put a hand on her arm to help her calm down.
"Okay okay, wait….okay here it is, let me go through it and see…hmn…ah yes, there's a page missing, I think it's one that just shows how the enchanted forest looks like. You know what's funny about this, is that Daniel got so curious and found it so beautiful that he wanted to visit so I wrote it on the back of it that his dreams could come true with magic and he got very excited about it." Snow said with a chuckle, remembering when it happened.
"Fucking great, thanks for that mom."
"Hey! what do you mean? What's wrong?"
"Well Daniel's missing for the second time now and we found that missing page on the last place he was seen. Regina and I believe that he probably found a way to get into the enchanted forest."
"Wait wait…he is missing?! You and Regina? Regina is there?"
"Mom, that's details. I am driving to Storybrooke right now to see how this was possible. I need to find Daniel."
"Okay, sure! Come! In the meantime, I will go visit Gold and see if he has anything to say that can be helpful at all to find Daniel."
"Thanks mom, I will be there soon, see you later," Emma hang up the phone and dropped it over her lap as she leaned back on her seat and let out a long-frustrated sigh.
"So, we are going to Storybrooke?" Regina asked.
"Yea, maybe there's some clue in the book or anything, I don't even know. I just want to find Daniel," Emma said as her voice cracked a bit and her eyes were getting watery.
"We will find him, Emma. I will check my vault to see if there's anything I can do to help track him," Regina said with a smile and soothing voice, still trying to keep the other woman calm but of course this situation was hard.
"Thanks, Regina," Emma looked at her and smiled and they both stared a little at each other just with a small smile on their faces for a few seconds till the blonde woman snapped out of it and sniffed, wiping her nose at the sleeve of her jacket. "Let's go," she said as she turned on the car and drove off to Storybrooke.
There it is, I hope you guys enjoyed. Sorry if it was a bit weird or complicated to understand, still trying to get my ideas in place like a good writer and sorry for any mistake, English is not my first language and it has been awhile since I've written anything in English.
