•Prompt: one half of your OTP has a nightmare•
Emma had just walked out of the ensuite bathroom and had expected to find her wife, Regina, sat at her nightstand brushing her hair. It was their usual routine. "Gina?" She called. She checked the walk-in closet only to find it empty."Babe?" She called out again into the corridor. Her ears pricked as she heard soft voices from Henry's room.
I hope the dragon doesnt kill everyone. I think he's just lonely and misunderstood!" Henry's voice filled with concern. He always was partial to fictional characters and their back stories.
Emma slowly pushed the bedroom door open and was greeted with a sight that melted her heart. Henry was snuggled in bed with his favourite toy, Mr Rabbit, with Regina sat next to him with a book in her hand.
"No, sweetie. I'm sure the prince will come and save everyone." Regina was just about to continue when a creak from the door interrupted her. Leaning on the door was her wife, but before Regina could make a quip about her disturbing story time Henry chimed in.
"Mom! Have you come to listen to the story to?" Henry reached his hand out, an obvious answer to his question and with it Emma smiled and sat on the end of his bed.
"So, what are we reading tonight?" The blonde asked. She leant forward slightly to read the cover of the book her wife held.
"The prince and the dragon" Regina tilted the book towards her wife so she could see the illustrations on the front.
"Clever." Emma quipped when she saw the colourful image of the dragon and the prince on the cover. Emma rested her hand on Henry's leg as Regina dived back into the story.
Regina had been reading for about twenty minutes when Emma gently spoke, "Babe?" Regina looked up from the page and over at her wife. To her surprise Henry had fallen asleep. Mr Rabbits head slightly flopped against his chest.
The queen giggled, "I guess our little prince was tired. I mean it usually takes us three stories and a warm glass of milk to get him off." She spoke softly as she rose from her son's bed to put his book back on his ever growing bookcase.
It was no mystery to the two women that their son loved to read. "We really should get him a new bookcase soon" Regina continued as she placed the book in its place.
Whilst her wife was busying herself tidying Emma had walked round to tuck Henry in, placing a soft kiss on his forehead. She fluffed his pillow slightly and squished the covers in tight, as she knew her son liked.
"I'm going to take a shower, dear." Regina said as she slowly walked out the room.
"Wait! I need your help" Emma called, trying to keep her voice low and soft as to not wake their son.
Regina poked her head back round the door. "With what?" A glint formed in her eyes.
Emma gestured to their son snuggled into her side. Just as she had pulled away Henry as reached out and grabbed her arm, nestling into the side of it. Emma was trapped. At the sight Regina let out a small giggle. "It's cute." The mayor teased.
"Regina, I only have the use of one arm at the moment. Help me move our son" Emma pleaded struggling to keep her voice fair and even.
"You're the saviour. Surely you can handle a simple task like this." She softly called as she walked out their son's room, laughing to herself.
"Our son has no second mother!" Emma yelled, her voice raising slightly. She'd definitely get her wife back for this.
•••
The mayor pushed her arms through her deep purple bathrobe and tied it in a neat bow round her waist. She ruffled her freshly dried hair and walked into their bedroom. A few damp spots, from towel drying, had left near curls in her brown locks.
To her surprise Emma was laying on the bed, a evil smirk across her face even tho her head was buried inside a book. "You got free I see" The older woman teased.
"Yes. No thanks to you." She muttered. "Our son can be very clingy. Especially in his sleep. He seems to get a death grip which is relentless."
"I know someone else who's like that." The brunette smirked as the blonde looked at her over the rim of her book.
Regina then sat down in front of her mirror to set about the task of brushing her hair. After the third stroke she suddenly felt a pillow hit her squarely on the back of her head. Messing her hair up. "And what was that for may I ask?" She glared at her wife through the reflection in the mirror.
"Revenge." Emma simply stated before disappearing behind the pages of her book.
•••
The town of Storybrooke stood motionless. The clock tower didn't tick and even the wind was still. Emma stood underneath the clock and looked around. The town had an eerie glow about it. "Henry?" The blonde called. "Regina? Mom? Dad!" Her questioning calls soon turned into calls of despair. 'Where is everyone?' She thought.
'Granny's!' She realised. It was the main meeting point of the town. Of course they'd be there. Running, Emma made it to Granny's and saw numerous shadows in the window. Gripping the handle she made her way inside.
"Hello?" She called into the darkness. Only a single candle on the counter top gave the blonde any source of light. "What the hell is going on?" Emma muttered to herself.
Emma walked to the candle but as she went to pick it up she heard the faint bell of Granny's door. It opened with a creak before shutting suddenly.
Without hesitation the saviour ran towards the door, flinging it open. A tall dark figure stood in the archway of Granny's. "Regina?" Emma recognised the short hairstyle and dark pantsuit in an instant. "What's going on? I've been looking for you everywhere. Where's Henry and my parents? Are they okay?" Her voice heightened with worry with every pressing question.
Regina turned to face Emma, but her eyes were glassy. Void of emotion. "Regina?" Emma cupped her cheek. Her wife not answering didn't quench any of the anxiety building within her.
"I hope you're happy." The words came from Regina's mouth, but they didn't sound like her at all. They were cold and harsh.
"What are you talking about? What's going on?" The blonde held Regina's wrist, but pulled away instantly. Her wife was frozen. Emma felt like she was going mad. Nothing was right. She just kept getting more questions and no answers.
Suddenly a hollow laughter filled the air as a black mist swirled around the mayor and saviour. Emma opened her eyes to see the mist clearing, but now beside Regina stood both her parents and Henry.
Emma would have been glad if it wasn't for the same glassy, vague look in their eyes that matched the ones ghosting her wife's.
"Emma you caused this." Her mother said in the same toneless voice as Regina.
"Yes, Emma. You!" Her dad added.
"You shouldn't have come to Storybrooke. We were happier without you." Henry's voice spoke clear and slow.
If Emma was the type of girl to cry she would have broke down there and then, but she wasn't.
"Leave us, Miss Swan. We don't want or need you. Leave! Go!" Regina's voice yelled.
Choruses of "Leave us!" and "Go!" were expelled from the party of four. Their voices crossed over and mixed together. She couldn't determine one from the other.
The Saviour couldn't take it. She clasped her hands over her ears and shut her eyes tight. Trying to drown out the voices. It didn't work. The voices chimed in louder and more sinister than ever.
The voices stopped, suddenly. Emma opened her eyes and realised she was no longer outside Granny's. Was she still in Storybrooke? Yes. She was on the outskirts, near the town line.
In the distance Emma saw torches set ablaze. The lights crept closer and she could soon make out familiar faces. Faces of people she regarded as family and as friends coming towards her. Their faces twisted in anger and pain. "There she is." Archie yelled.
"Push her over the town line. Come on!" Leroy bellowed. Leading the crowd was Regina with Henry by her side.
The crowd was now a few paces from Emma. "We're doing it for your own good. We don't need a saviour. We didn't ask for you. Leave us." The voices of people she regarded as loved ones swirled together.
The pounding of footsteps came closer and closer and Emma was soon face to face with her mother. "We never loved you." Snows face was set in stone. The familiar light that usually beamed in her eyes was dead. Gone.
"Why do you think we pushed you through the wardrobe, Emma? We didn't want you." Her father's voice was low and gruff.
"No.." It was all Emma could manage to croak out. It felt like someone has stolen her voice. Her air supply growing weaker with every breathe.
There was a dark red mist enveloping the crowd. It did nothing to stop the voices. They kept growing louder. They spun around her head as the mist thickened. Emma waved her hands out in front of her trying to clear a path. It didn't work. It grew darker and foggier. She couldn't see. She couldn't breathe. She could only hear the voices. The voices of the people she thought loved her.
With virtually no strength left in her Emma did something she hadn't done in years. She cried. Her hands covered her eyes as she screwed them shut. The tears fell quick and hot down her face.
•••
"Emma? Emma!" Regina shook her wife. She had been hit in the side when her wife was thrashing about and she realised she was having a nightmare.
"Emma, please wake up." Her wife pleaded.
The fevered blonde snapped her eyes open. Pain, horror and fear shot across her eyes.
Her green eyes finally adjusted and settled on the sight of her panicked partner. "Regina..." Emma began. Tears were threatening to fall down her face.
Without even saying anything the brunette pulled her into a hug. Emma felt calm at once. She felt Regina's secure arm around her waist whilst the other cradled the back of her head.
"It's okay, sweetheart. You're safe." She kissed the top of her head. "You was only having a nightmare"
"It felt so real..." Emma trailed off as her mind flashed with the images of the nightmare. Emma moved from her wife's embrace and looked her in the eyes. Brown matching green. "Regina, can I ask you something?" The blondes voice still felt weak and hoarse. It even crackled slightly as she spoke.
"You can ask me anything, but first let me get you a glass of water." Regina left her wife on their bed, but not before planting a sweet kiss on her cheek, then she disappeared downstairs. The brunette checked in on their son as she passed to make sure his other mother's feverish screams hasn't disturbed him.
Henry was fast asleep, so Regina ventured down to the kitchen. She soon appeared back in the doorway with a smile and a glass of cool water. "Drink this, dear. It will help."
Emma took a deep, refreshing gulp of her water and felt a little better. After all it was just a nightmare. It could never hurt her. Could it? The words felt so strong. So real. The saviour felt like the harsh words of her nightmare had been imprinted on her brain.
Finishing the glass Emma set it down on her nightstand and looked back into her wife's big brown eyes and in that moment everything was answered. Emma could see the love, devotion and slight worry the brunette carried for her. "Regina, do you hate that I came to Storybrooke?" The question had burrowed it's way to the forefront of her mind, especially after the nightmare.
Regina cupped her wife's cheek and held her gaze. "Emma, I love you. When you first met me I was the "Evil Queen" I was so driven on my revenge for Snow White and Prince Charming until you came along. You opened my heart up to true love again, now how can I hate you for that, dear?" Regina held her wife's hands in hers, slowly stroking them with the pad of her thumb. "Emma, if you don't want to tell me about your nightmare then that's okay. Just know that it can't hurt you. This is what is real. Us. You, Henry and me. We both love you unconditionally, okay?" The brunette spoke her words with such sincerity that Emma knew she meant them. It killed any fire of doubt raging in her heart within an instant.
"I love you so much" Emma spoke as she leant her forehead again her wife's.
"And I love you, Miss Swan" The brunette teased. She was glad her wife was feeling a little better now. She knew first-hand how awful nightmares could be. She placed a soft, gentle kiss on her wife's lips.
•••
Emma hadn't told Regina that night about her nightmare and that was okay. She would, eventually. For now everything was better and with that in mind the blonde fell asleep wrapped in the brunettes warm embrace and dreamt of her family. Together.
A/N: Hey, guys! I wanted to add a cute little moment with the Swan-Mills family before the nitty gritty of the nightmare. Hope you all enjoyed it.