Chapter two
The silence in the Mercedes was almost painfully deafening.
On any other day, Regina would have attempted to search her mind for some topic that wouldn't end in discussing the curse or her evilness. Of course, Henry had grown rather adept at turning anything into those discussion points.
She was absolutely not in the mood to talk about the curse now that it was her biggest barrier to finding out the truth.
In the Enchanted Forest, she could just openly suggest that this could be the result of their night together, in her cursed town she would have to be absolutely sure first.
Throughout the entire drive, Henry kept shooting her looks that ran the gambit between concern and suspicion but she very much doubted that he would venture to ask what was on her mind.
That would involve admitting that he actually cared about how the Evil Queen felt.
Frankly, she was grateful that he was too reluctant to even open his mouth.
She truly hated lying to him but she couldn't exactly tell him that she was seriously considering a world in which she had gotten Emma Swan pregnant.
Eventually, Henry was freed from the oppressive awkwardness of the car ride when she pulled to a stop and he leapt from the Mercedes, running towards the diner door.
She had to imagine that he was excited to be surrounded by fairytale heroes.
Running her hand over her face tiredly, Regina sighed before also leaving the vehicle.
She reached the door just as Henry pushed it in and the bell rang out across the diner.
Most of the patrons barely reacted, but Regina only took note of one particular table.
She hadn't laid eyes on the town's sheriff since she barged into her office and she didn't look any better.
Her skin was significantly paler than usual, she was obviously sleep-deprived and not very hungry based on the sandwich that she was poking at.
She did perk up momentarily as Henry waved at her but she swiftly became sullen upon turning her gaze to Regina. If her slight cringe was anything to go by, Regina had to assume that she was embarrassed by their last interaction.
Mary Margaret also turned around and narrowed her eyes at Regina in a way that made her sure that she was aware of her night with her friend.
Picturing her face if she was aware that said friend was actually her daughter almost cheered Regina up.
Instead, she was dwelling too much on the resemblance that the school teacher bore to the woman sitting opposite her and then to the boy who stood just ahead of her.
Over ten years, how hadn't she seen it?
Had her unending love for her son blinded her to the similarities to the girl that she hated so consumingly?
It did nothing to affect that love but it was certainly disarming enough that she needed to get answers right now!
Asking Henry to explain his unsettlingly accurate theories was one option but there was one untapped well that she had to go to first before doing something so monumental.
Taking a step towards Henry, she passed her hand over his shoulder as if to remind herself that he was her son and then said, "Why don't you have dinner with Emma? I have some important business that must have slipped my mind."
Henry swivelled around, his expression matching Snow White's more eerily than ever.
"Okay, what's going on? Are you sick or something?" he asked.
"No, I am not," Regina replied, working overtime to keep her composure, "If you would prefer to go home instead…"
"No!" Henry said loudly enough to garner glances from a few customers before he scurried away, probably thinking that she was liable to change her mind.
Of course, he couldn't know that there was nothing that could keep her from her quest for knowledge now.
He practically skipped to his birth mother's table to be greeted cordially by Mary Margaret while Emma held her gaze until she slipped out of the diner.
S
Regina suspected that Mr Gold had been hiding something from her for as long as she had known him and that the twisted little imp knew more than he was letting on.
Every 'please' was far too smug, especially as of late. It was as if he knew that she would have no choice but to do as he wanted, that there was nothing in Storybrooke that he couldn't have.
On this particular occasion, she almost prayed that Rumplestiltskin had once again deceived her in the production of the curse.
As much as there would be too many implications and suspicions to run through if it turned out to be true, she needed someone to talk to.
Storybrooke's resident therapist may be bound by privilege but she couldn't stand the thought of him also thinking of her as crazy.
Imagining Dr Hopper aiming one of his compassionate-Henry looks towards her carried her into Gold's Pawnshop, the bell ringing out violently as her heels clipped into the establishment.
Gold's mild surprise was almost satisfying but that didn't last long upon remembering that they would be discussing a very sensitive topic.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Madam Mayor?" he asked chirpily, prepared to trade barbs.
Regina did not feel in a particularly quippy mood, so she raked her hand through her hair and placed her palms against the case containing relics of the Dark One's horrors.
Given more time, she may have danced around the issue a bit more, and left some room for interpretation but she was determined not to leave this shop with some patently cryptic message.
"What is your name?" she asked.
Mr Gold tilted his head, his interest deepening with the edge of something more sinister.
"Whatever do you mean, Regina? We've known each other for so long…"
"How long exactly?"
The man clicked his tongue, no doubt already running through every eventuality of his conversation.
"What is it that you are suggesting?" he asked.
"I think you know."
"I'm afraid that I am quite lost, madam mayor, and I have better things to do so pl…"
Reaching the end of her tether, Regina cut off his attempt at 'politeness'.
"Do not say 'please', Rumplestiltskin," Regina snapped.
Mr Gold stood stunned momentarily, but this quickly became a smirk as he continued to organise his piles of ill-gotten rent.
"Honestly, I did think I would go a while longer before hearing that name again, Your Majesty," he said, likely expecting some annoyance as he gave her eye contact but he found only a strange determination. With the way that she was feeling, she knew that her expression probably better approximated the naive girl who believed that Daniel was not a lost cause, it was enough to disarm her former mentor.
"What is it exactly that I can do for you?"
"I want to know who Emma Swan is," Regina replied.
"I believe that you met her before I did," Rumple mused.
Regina clenched her jaw and asked, "Is she Snow's daughter?"
Gold released an impressed huff of laughter and replied, "And I thought that revelation would take at least a few more weeks. What is it that you require this information for? I'm not sure that her murder would have quite the result you crave."
The very thought of such a fate befalling a pregnant Emma twisted a pit in Regina's stomach and she gripped the edge of the case.
Even without certainty, why was it that she already cared?
Swallowing hard, she asked, "Is True Love possible in this world?"
"It's quite cynical to even ask such a question," Rumple replied and Regina's pit morphed into irritation.
"Answer the question, imp," she hissed.
"Concerned with the stability of your precious curse? Snow White does not seem to love her prince quite as much here so I'm sure that you…"
"I am not here about the stability of the curse, I need to know if an act of True Love is possible without magic?" she asked, hopeful though she wasn't sure that she knew which side she wanted the answer to fall on.
Gold tilted his head, thoughtfully this time, and he replied, "I'm afraid that I will need you to be far more specific with this query, Your Majesty."
"Emma is…pregnant," Regina squirmed and Gold raised an eyebrow until she added, "She claims that there is only one person that she has been with and…in this world, it would not be biologically viable."
"I suppose that congratulations are in order then?" Gold asked, somehow unfazed.
"You have yet to answer my question," Regina growled, "Is it possible?"
"Ordinarily, I would say 'no', but a second-generation product of True Love can come about under the most adverse conditions. I suppose then, the real question is why is it that you believe our dear sheriff over much more plausible reasons?" he asked.
"Emma Swan is many things, but she doesn't strike me as a liar," Regina sighed while trying to work through her options in this situation.
"Is that a tinge of love that I hear in your voice?" Gold chuckled and Regina pushed defensively from the counter.
Could she really have feelings for Emma? Her inescapable belief in the woman had to mean something. The fact that she needed Emma to know her child's parentage even with everything that she would inevitably have to give up had to mean something.
There was only one doubt left in her mind, however.
"If our…night involved True Love, why is it that the curse is unbroken?" Regina demanded.
"Your curse is too strong," Rumple shrugged.
"Am I to believe that it is a coincidence that I would adopt Snow White and Prince Charmings' grandson and he would bring their daughter to my town?" Regina retorted.
"Would you believe that it is serendipity?" Gold suggested, his smirk renewed.
"Not when it comes to Rumplestiltskin," Regina spat, "I can only assume that you wish for the curse to break and frankly, I don't care why. Tell me how to weaken it!"
"I think that you are forgetting that this is not how our arrangement works."
"Can you tell me that you wish to remain cursed?"
Gold ran his tongue over his lips, weighing up her possible motivations, until he said, "Please tell me why it is that you suddenly want to break your curse."
"Because there is no way that Emma will believe the child to be mine in this world. With the curse broken, there is at least a chance that she will be willing to discuss it," Regina admitted.
"That is quite the risk to take on a woman you've known for less than two months," Gold said, "Do you think it will be easy to have your discussion about your happily ever after once your appreciative subjects have woken from their stupor?"
Regina pinched the bridge of her nose, tempted to go away to process this, but she didn't want to change her mind, "I will deal with that when it comes to it. Now tell me, how do I break the curse?"
"True Love's Kiss obviously, once the saviour believes," Rumple replied, "That is how it happened in every future I saw, though I must admit, I have never seen her share this kiss with the Evil Queen."
Ignoring his doubt, and how strange it was to believe in something so completely, Regina asked, "And how is it that she was convinced in these futures?"
"In any number of ways, but there is always a common thread."
"What's that?" Regina asked, gripping the counter.
"Our young Henry Mills, perhaps it is time that you regain your son's trust, Your Majesty?"
S
Emma Swan found herself exhausted a couple days after crying in her friend's arms and she was trying not to think about anything beyond a few hours in the future.
Mary Margaret, unfortunately, was not able to respect this unspoken edict, she really wanted to know what her plan was.
Emma evaded her as much as she could but her concern must be written all over her face since Mary Margaret seemed incapable of leaving the topic alone.
Top of her list was telling Henry once Emma revealed that she couldn't see herself not going through with the pregnancy.
It wasn't the potential baby's fault that she had no idea who the father was.
She could turn her attention towards investigating the apparent miracle once she had reached the point of no return.
Seeing Regina at the diner caused a strange niggling at the back of her head as the mayor retreated and Henry ran over excitedly.
It took some reflection given her panic on that day, but she was sure that Regina was lying about something, that she was aware of some possibility that no one else was.
It almost made her want to ask Henry if any of the book's stories involved anything like this. In those moments of weakness, she could almost think that if the story involved the Evil Queen then everything would make sense.
This would force her to focus on something else, but Mary Margaret gave her little choice but to face it as she claimed that she forgot to grade some papers and vacated her seat, which Henry took eagerly.
His features slipped into a Regina-worthy frown as he found the side salad next to her sandwich, not that she had the appetite for that either. Not when the morning sickness was beginning to rear its nauseous head.
The similarities to Regina had Emma consider how much of the boy came from nurture. How much would he naturally be like his half-sibling?
This thought had her remember that as much as she was wallowing in self-pity lately, she was no longer at a point in her life where this would only affect herself.
"Are you okay, Emma?" he asked, readily eating the fries that his teacher hadn't touched.
The sheriff cleared her throat, realising that the salad was probably the biggest red flag that she could have possibly put on display.
How could she be so stupid?!
"Of course I am," she reassured.
"Why is everyone acting so weird?" Henry mused.
"I'm not…" Emma started to object but readjusted and asked, "Who else is acting weird?"
"Mom," Henry replied, his mouth full of potato as he eyed the burger, "She forgot to make dinner and she said she has business that she needs to do right now that 'slipped her mind'. She told me to have dinner with you, it's weird."
His final words were muffled by the burger and Emma's eyes widened.
Was any of that evidence of anything?
What would cause Mayor Mills to neglect her motherly duties? Could it have anything to do with her predicament?
Henry apparently was not overly concerned with his adoptive mother as he once again eyed the saviour and Emma decided that Mary Margaret was right.
Henry deserted to know before it began spreading around town.
Based on Whale's scans, she wouldn't have too long until it was physically obvious. Besides, her thing was not being a liar with the exception of the existence of Neal Cassidy.
She could justify not telling him about the man who betrayed her but she couldn't when it came to his mysterious sibling.
Fiddling with the lettuce leaf that she would be begrudgingly eating for the foreseeable future, Emma replied, "Well…I don't know what is going on with your mom, but there is something with me…things are probably going to change, but I want you to know that I will do everything to make sure it won't be too different…"
Henry swallowed the burger and asked with an eagerness that made Emma sure that he believed this to be related to Operation Cobra, "What is it, Emma?"
Emma bit her tongue, staring at her son and imagining another sat opposite with that goofy grin.
Two actual humans relied on her to be present and responsible. At least Henry could walk, talk and feed himself and had a mother already.
What chance did her second child stand?
"I'm…pregnant," Emma admitted, suddenly realising that her choice of person to tell first was odd.
Traditionally, it would be held for the other person involved in the creation process, but she hadn't done that either time now.
Could she ever expect to have something resembling a 'normal' family?
Henry was silent for a long time until he asked, "Are you…keeping it?"
She knew instinctively that he meant adoption, that the other option could enter his young psyche just yet, so she smiled weakly and replied, "I…think so…I know it's a lot but it's different now than it was with…"
"That's awesome!" the boy exploded, taking Emma's breath away.
She always underestimated just how much this curse theory warped his worldview. Was it a benefit that it allowed him to put a positive spin on being given up by his ill-equipped mother?
There was no hint of jealousy that she figured she would need to discuss with Archie someday.
In fact, his smile was infectious, there was nothing quite like a child's excitement to remind her that no situation could be all bad.
If her second child believed in her half as much as her first did, perhaps everything would be okay?
His grin did drop momentarily, however, as he asked, "Do you think that mom will let me see my little brother?"
Disregarding the question that she couldn't answer, Emma repeated, "Brother?"
"Just a hunch," Henry replied.
Emma hummed and at last placed a cucumber piece into her mouth now that she could feel bile receding.
She had the opposite hunch.
