The next morning, the mansion was full of people, and the atmosphere was tense. Before everybody else had arrived, Emma and Regina had sat the children down and explained to them that Snow had escaped and that they would be having house guests for a while. Willow and Henry took it very well, and were excited to have their family all together under one roof, but Emma noticed that when no one was looking at her, Willow seemed a little withdrawn. They had a council meeting to get to, but Emma knew she would have to talk to the little girl later, to make sure nothing was troubling her.
Breakfast was a communal affair now. The table in the dining room had been changed to allow room for all the guests, with a long bench running either side. It took a combined effort from Regina, Kathryn and Belle to provide food for everyone. Emma stayed away from the kitchen, knowing she would only be in the way, but she made sure that she cleared up afterwards, roping in Mal and David to help.
If she thought she wouldn't be fireballed, she would have insisted that Regina sit down and let the others cook for the family, but after so long of being in a relationship she knew it was not worth trying to convince her to sit down. However, once Regina had decided everyone had enough food and drinks, she sat down, and Emma discreetly rubbed her lower back. Knowing that was what would be aching on her wife after she was on her feet for so long, she carefully relieved all the knots that had formed, while Regina ate her breakfast, before turning to her own food.
Regina kissed her cheek, when Emma stopped her massage, "thank you, darling," she murmured gratefully.
After breakfast, Emma, Regina and Mal disappeared into the study, to discuss security arrangements.
"What do you two suggest?" Emma asked, "I don't know enough about protection spells to be any help."
"We don't need your knowledge, but your magic will certainly be useful, Emma. You're extraordinarily powerful," admitted Mal.
"Normally I would suggest blood magic, but Snow and Emma share blood, so that wouldn't keep Snow out," Regina started, "I can't even use my own blood magic now that Emma and I have combined our magic, it wouldn't work."
"Well, I have a suggestion, and I know you probably won't like it, but please hear me out," Mal asked them.
"We trust you, Mal, you know that. What are you suggesting?" Emma looked at her curiously. She knew the dragon would never put their family at risk.
"First of all, I suggest that you and Regina use your combined magic to set up a standard protection spell. One that will keep all those who have a wish to harm or foul a member of the house, out of here. Secondly, and this is the part you won't necessarily like, I would like to temporarily combine magic with Willow, and place a blood magic spell for protection around the property too. We can give everybody that needs access an amulet with a drop of blood in it to allow them access."
"Mal, no! Are you out of your mind? You want to make my daughter bleed? She's just a child!" Regina flared up, glaring at the dragon.
"Wait, Regina! You know Mal would never harm Willow. Hear her out," Emma requested, patiently.
Regina had been prone to outbursts lately, due to the hormones running rampant in her system, and sometimes needed Emma's cool head to bring her back down to a rational level.
Nodding, Regina gestured for Mal to continue.
"I have an ointment, that would numb her finger so she wouldn't feel a thing, and we don't need much, literally one drop per person that would need entry to the house, that I will mix with a drop of my own blood. We can then perform the spell together. You know how talented she is, how powerful. This will be easy for her and won't even drain her a little bit," Mal promised.
"On one condition," Regina begrudgingly agreed, "we ask her if she would like to help. I am not my mother and I won't force a child to do my bidding, just for my own gain."
"That's fine, baby, of course we will ask her. Let me go and get her so we can talk to her now," Emma suggested, leaving the room in search of the young dragon.
Returning with Willow, the three of them explained what was needed, and of course, Willow agreed. The girl was excited to be a part of something so grown up and was sporting a proud look on her face, because she was being trusted to help. 20 minutes later and the house was fully protected and everyone that needed an amulet, had one around their necks. Everybody seemed to breathe a combined sigh of relief, feeling safe at last.
Emma tried to get Regina to take a nap, after using her magic, knowing that she would be tired, but the stubborn Queen insisted she was ok, and explained Mal had given her a top up tonic to help her. Feeling happier, Emma relaxed a little, but vowed to herself to keep a close eye on her wife. She wasn't meant to be using her magic at all while pregnant, and Emma really was feeling very protective of her. Unsure whether this was a side effect of their soulmate bond, or whether Regina just brought out a side of Emma she hadn't known she had, Emma decided it didn't matter.
She had long ago situated herself in the role of protector for this family. The health and well-being of each and every one of them, would always be more important than her own. None more so than her wife and kids though.
Tomorrow they would all have to deal with the next challenge; the council. It had been agreed that Mal, Regina, and Emma would attend, along with Kathryn who was a member of the council anyway. David and Belle would stay home and keep an eye on Willow and Henry.
For now though, they could all relax. The protection spells had been placed around the perimeter boundary for the property, so the garden was safe for them all to use. That evening, the Swan-Mills family, David, Kathryn and Neal, along with Mal and Belle spent a pleasant evening around a bonfire that had been lit in the middle of the garden. Tales were woven from their experiences of the Enchanted Forest, and the atmosphere was light. No matter what was coming, they would face it as a family. Just as Regina and Emma have known from the beginning, they were all stronger together.
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"Mom?" Willow whispered, stood by the door, in the dark.
Emma rolled over, trying to find the source of the noise that woke her, and spotted a hesitant Willow in the entrance to the bedroom.
"What is it sweetie?" Emma whispered back, as she pulled back the covers to let Willow in.
"Did I make all this bad stuff happen?" Willow asked quietly, in a shaky voice.
"No, honey, of course you didn't. Why do you think that?"
"I keep dreaming that we all live together in a big castle, in the Enchanted Forest. When I woke up the first time, I made a wish that it was true, and now we're all living together here in this house. I didn't mean to make it happen," confided Willow.
"You didn't make this happen, Willow. Dreaming something doesn't make it come true, and unless the Blue Fairy appeared and told you your wish was granted, then wishing something doesn't make it true either," Emma explained. "I always wanted a nice big family when I was young too, so I'm not surprised you dreamed of us all being together. Do you miss the Enchanted Forest? Do you think maybe that's why you dreamed about it?"
"I don't miss it at all. I don't want to go back there," Willow shook her head, "I dream about it every night though."
"Sometimes a dream is just a dream, sweetie, don't worry too much about it. You're not to blame for what Snow has done," Emma reassured the girl.
"Ok," Willow agreed, a little skeptically, but she snuggled further down under the covers, "can I sleep here with you, please?"
"Of course you can, honey, sweet dreams," Emma whispered, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead as the young girl's eyes slowly closed.
"Night Mom," a sleepy voice replied.
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The next morning, they were all much more subdued compared to the wonderfully relaxed evening they had all spent together the night before. Regina had given Henry a pendant like Willow's. They had combined the blood magic spell with the pendant that they had given Willow to summon her Moms if needed.
"Henry, you know how this works?" Emma checked with him, pointing to the pendant in his hand.
"I think so?" he replied, "I'll need to be wearing it to come in and out of the house?"
"Yes, but also, you can summon us if you need us," Emma prompted him.
"Just hold it, and say 'Moms', yeah?"
"Yeah, kid. If you need us we will be there in a flash. If you ever feel even slightly like something is wrong, don't think twice about using it, ok?" Emma said seriously, "even if it turned out to be a false alarm, it's better to be safe than sorry. We love you, kid, we will never be angry if you've made a mistake. We will only ever be relieved that you're ok."
Feeling overwhelmed by the sincerity of Emma's words, Henry nodded, and slipped the pendant over his head, grimacing slightly.
"What's wrong?" Emma asked, picking up on his expression.
"It's, well, it's not really me?" Henry admitted, not wanting to sound ungrateful.
Emma gestured with her hand, and transformed the pendant for him. Rather than the crystal pendant that had been hanging from the cord, there was now a silver tribal design that looked like it belonged on the neck of a surfer.
Henry's eyes glowed with happiness, "thank you! I love it!"
Ruffling his hair, like she had done when he was younger, "you're welcome, kid," Emma told him.
"Mom!" he complained, laughing as he tried to put his unruly hair back down into something resembling a style.
"How's this?" Emma laughed, using her magic to give him a mohawk.
"I love it, but Mom will hate it," Henry grinned, looking in the mirror.
Gesturing again, Emma turned his hair purple, "it's her favourite colour, how could she possibly hate it?"
"You're taking the blame, if she doesn't like it," Henry declared, walking back into the living room where everyone was waiting.
Emma smirked to herself, counting down in her head, '3… 2… 1…"
"Emma Swan-Mills! What did you do to our poor son?!" came the tell-tale voice of a disgruntled Queen.
Laughing to herself, she went to join the family in the living room, knowing that her son would be brunette again by the time she reached the doorway.
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The town hall was surprisingly empty compared to when the trial had taken place. The rows of chairs had been cleared and stacked to one side, and now in their place, was a round table, with the perfect number of places, no doubt courtesy of Mal, who was doing everything that she could, along with Emma, to prevent Regina from using her magic and making herself more tired. Once everyone was seated, Archie stood up.
"Let's call this meeting to order. We are here to discuss the escape of Snow White from her cell, and to determine what risk she may pose along with measures that we can put into place to prevent any harm befalling anyone in the Swan-Mills family."
Blue spoke up, making sure to keep a mask on her face to hide her true feelings, "none of us are safe, not just the Swan-Mills family. I have angered Snow by working against her during the trial and I'm worried she will come after myself, or my fellow fairies." Blue let her voice end on a shaky note, noticing the looks of sympathy directed her way from other members of the council.
Careful not to let it show, she inwardly grinned. It really was too easy to fool these peasants, and they would be eating out of her hand before long.
