White Shell Mermaid - Don't worry, Regina will get her chance. Not with Isabelle, but in the 3rd fic they will finally be able to experience pregnancy and childbirth, without any problems! I agree that this would be a nice thing for them to experience together without all the drama! The 3rd fic is being planned at then moment as there are not many chapters of this one left!

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Ruby, Dot and Lily had been left taking care of the kids, while the rest of the family were at the council meeting that had been called that morning. Emma had laughingly said that looking after them would give the three of them good practice for when they had their own, as she left the room.

Izzy had been fed just before they all left, and was fast asleep, quiet and content in her cot, and Neal was napping after a disturbed night because he had had a nightmare about Snow.

Willow and Henry however, were on fine form, talking a million miles a minute and asking question after question. Henry was fascinated with Oz and wanted to know if it was really like the place that was described by the book and various movies that had been released in their old realm.

Dot and Ruby were more than happy to oblige his interest and told him many tales of the Emerald City, which was more of a jade colour, and the infamous Yellow Brick Road, which they all agreed was more of a gold colour than yellow, but the book couldn't be expected to get everything right.

Willow had placed herself firmly on Lily's lap and hadn't moved once, since her Moms had left. They had immediately bonded, in a way that only dragons can, inhaling and recognising each other's scent as family.

Lily looked confused, when Willow had leaned in and smelled her, "what are you doing?"

"Smelling you," Willow answered, as if it was the silliest question in the world.

"I can see that," Lily was amused, "but why?"

"Now that I have transformed into a dragon, I can smell things more clearly. My inner dragon knows you are my family," Willow said happily, pleased to be able to spend time with her cousin, "isn't it the same for you?"

"I've only transformed into a dragon once," Lily admitted, "but since then my senses have been heightened even in human form."

"Smell me!" Willow demanded, moving her head to one side, and presenting Lily with her neck.

Lily did what she was asked, and as she took a deep sniff, her eyes flashed neon green, and she felt what Willow meant. This girl was her family, and suddenly she felt even more protective of the child.

"You feel it, don't you?" Willow asked her smugly, feeling far superior to the older woman who apparently knew nothing about dragons.

"Yeah, I guess I can," Lily smiled hesitantly, "I don't know much about this dragon stuff, or magic. I wasn't in Storybrooke for long before I left."

"I can teach you," Willow offered, "Aunty Mal taught me lots, and we go flying together all the time. You should come with us next time!"

"That sounds like a lot of fun, maybe I will."

"You should also have magic lessons with me and Mom, but she and Aunty Mal fight all the time," Willow rolled her green eyes, in a perfect imitation of Regina.

"They fight? I thought they were friends?"

"They love each other," Willow said simply, "but they tease each other a lot and play pranks on each other alllll the time. If Henwy and me did that we would be in soooo much trouble," the young girl declared dramatically.

Lily had seen how close Emma and Mal were, but it was still strange to see either of them with such a light playfulness to their personalities. Emma had been carefree at times as a teenager, when spending time with Lily, but underneath that she was also guarded. There was a very serious side of her that had been born from a need to survive, and protect herself.

As for Mal, well, Lily had to confess that, from what she had seen, the serious but sometimes dry-humoured older woman had intimidated her at times. It was strange to see her messing around with Emma as though they were in high school.

"Maybe we should prank them back, huh?" Lily suggested with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Ooh, I know just the thing!" Willow replied, before whispering in her ear what she wanted to do, so that Henry and the others couldn't hear them.

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The council was gathered, all with the exception of Granny. They had already had a 'meeting' of sorts, but nothing of importance had been discussed. They had deliberately timed the meeting so that Granny would have to leave and start the lunches in the kitchen, and then the real meeting could begin. They couldn't take the risk that Granny would be able to feed anything back to Blue or Snow.

"Ok, so where are we with everything now? Do we have a plan in place?" Archie asked, bringing the meeting to order.

"The sleeping potions are ready, so we have come up with a plan that will hopefully allow us to get close enough to Blue to administer it," Regina explained to the council, "the priority is to deal with Blue first, because she has magic, and then Snow should not be a problem."

"How are you going to manage to get close enough?" asked Kathryn.

"Ruby will go to the lake with Emma and Regina, but they will be cloaked by magic to look like Lily and Dot. When Blue turns up, we're assuming she will be disguised as Granny. She will see the three of them, and hopefully she will be distracted enough for me to materialise behind her, and jab her with a needle that has the sleeping curse on it," Mal said confidently.

"What if it's not Blue disguised as Granny? What if it's actually Granny who has been forced to turn up? You'll be injecting Granny with a sleeping curse and we don't know who her true love is to wake her up," David was worried about the older woman, they had been friends a long time now.

"Well, that's why Mal will be the one materialising behind Granny or Blue, because her dragon senses afford her a greater sense of smell than us mere mortals," Emma patiently explained, "even if Blue disguises herself as Granny, she won't be able to change her scent, which Mal will immediately be able to identify. It's practically foolproof."

"What about Snow?" Archie questioned.

"Well, we're assuming that she will either be close by, in which case once Blue is dealt with we should be able to reach her easily. Or, she will still be at the palace, and with Blue out of the way it should be easy for us to gain entry and find her," Regina shrugged, "without Blue and her magic, Snow is pretty harmless and should be easy to take care of."

"Careful of that bow of hers though," David warned, "she's a good shot."

"We will all be protected by charms and enchantments against physical and magical assault, don't worry. In fact the only person in history to get through these defenses is your daughter," Mal laughed, "as she will no doubt tell you rather gleefully, Emma, and to quote her, 'put me on my ass'."

"Really?" David was impressed and rather proud of his daughter.

"She has a lot of power, David, she's really rather special," Mal told him with admiration.

David sat back, shoulders set proudly, a small smile at the corner of his lips, and everyone could see how much he valued the older woman's opinion of his daughter.

"We have something else to consider," Archie brought their attention back to the discussion, "our spy reported back early this morning, that something is going on with Snow. She has been acting cold, distant and empty, and is doing everything Blue asks of her, without argument, no matter what it is. She appears lost, and he suspects that Blue may have taken her heart."

"Wow, that callous bitch!" Emma exploded, "not that she doesn't deserve it, because quite frankly, I would happily take her heart and crush it. But for Blue to do that? They are sleeping together!"

"Emma," Regina chided gently, "you don't mean that. You don't want to kill her."

"Don't I?" challenged Emma, "I voted for her execution if you remember, and you weren't there for what they did to me."

"We understand that you're upset and angry, Emma," Mal stepped in, "but murdering her wouldn't just be irreversible for Snow, but it would be for you too. You can't come back from that, and neither of us are going to let thou commit premeditated murder."

"She deserves it," Emma mumbled, grouchily.

"Yes," Mal and Regina both replied simultaneously, with a quick small smile to each other, both reaching out to touch Emma at the same time in comfort.

"If she hasn't got her heart, then she will no doubt play the victim card," Kathryn warned, "she will try and convince us she was being controlled all along, even back in Storybrooke."

"I'm not falling for her lies again," Emma spat, "a truth serum should work, or we find her heart and question her while holding it, or we check her memories using mirror magic. Either way, she will not get away with any of this."

"Depending on how we play this, her not having a heart could work for or against us," Belle suggested, "if we could find it first, then we could stop Blue using her to take action against us."

"I would imagine Blue keeps it close to her at all times," Regina mused, "but we can ask our inside person if there is anywhere obvious it may be being kept."

"So in the meantime, we are training for the next few days, to make sure we are all as prepared as possible," Mal advised the council, "we need to be ready for any eventuality, because we could be walking into anything when we get there."

"Keep us informed of any changes, and let us know if any of us can help with any preparations," Archie requested, "does anyone else have anything else to add?"

No one else spoke, so Archie dismissed the meeting.

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Blue was muttering in the study, pacing as usual, as she found it harder and harder to control the magic that was slowly driving her to the brink of madness. She freely admitted to herself now, even if to no one else, that the magic from Storybrooke was too much for her body.

In her twisted state of mind, she still intended to go ahead with her plan to take the others' magic. She foolishly believed that maybe more magic was the answer to help her settle the imbalance inside her. Blue thought adding Emma's light magic to the mix would be what she needed to counteract the darkness of the Dark Curse she had absorbed.

She would win. She was determined to win. Nothing could stop her now. She muttered to herself, ever pacing across the room and back.

'Knock knock!'

"Come in," she snapped, already out of patience for the day.

Granny walked in, desperately trying not to display her surprise at just how much the fairy's changed appearance startled her. She didn't have her heart, but she still had her inbuilt sense of self preservation, and everything was screaming at her that one false move would lead to her death. The fairy looked like she could be toppled over the edge into a chasm of insanity at any moment, and Granny didn't want to be the one to do it.

"I have news," she told her hesitantly, hoping that Blue wouldn't shoot the messenger.

Blue glared at her, and Granny got the message and carried on talking, "you told me to keep an eye out for anything strange at the castle. I was on my way to see Regina and Emma and I caught a whiff of something very familiar in that wing of the castle."

"Go on," Blue ordered, eyes shiny black and dangerous, causing Granny to falter slightly.

"I think Ruby is home," she blurted out, knowing that the last thing she wanted to be doing right now is telling the fairy this, but she had no choice. The fairy had her heart and had requested to be told of anything unusual. Ruby being home, without talking to Granny was definitely unusual.

"You think?" Blue asked, "how can you not know if your own granddaughter is home? Don't you dare lie to me Granny," momentarily forgetting that it would be impossible for her to do so.

"I could smell her, and the scents of Lily and Dot, though they also carry with them another scent that I do not recognise. I believe they are in the castle being hidden from me." Granny desperately fought against the control of her heart, but was unable to prevent the spill of information coming from her traitorous lips.

"I want you to find out where they are hiding, and what their plan is," Blue dismissed her summarily, "leave, now."

Knowing no other words were needed, Granny left the room and made her way stealthily back to the castle, with the dread that she would indeed have to find out more information and give it to Blue.

She didn't know her heart had been taken, but she felt the weight of Blue's control as though she were an Alpha in her pack, and felt powerless against it.

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Emma and Mal were sparring in the courtyard, lazily throwing fireballs at each other, and Emma's speciality of lightning, but in a much more controlled manner to the first time she had used it. Mal was impressed with how quickly the younger blonde had learned to control it, and wondered what else she was capable of. Obviously there was more to Emma than met the eye.

To everyone else it looked like they were training, but in reality they weren't really pushing themselves, they were just chatting. Sometimes they spent hours in each other's company, content not to say a word, and other times they discussed magic, philosophy and other interesting subjects. Other times all they talked about was their amazing family.

Walking out to join them in the courtyard were Lily and Regina, who were there to practice their skills, new and old.

"Oh, I see you two are working really hard," Regina teased, as Emma and Mal had the decency to look sheepish.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, who had been impressed with the display of magic in front of her, as fire and lightning was thrown between the two women and they attacked and defended themselves in a blur of quick movements.

"This might look impressive, but you should see them when they really put the effort in," Regina laughed, eyes sparkling, "it's truly a sight to behold," she said proudly, looking at her two favourite women, "what they're doing now is gossiping!"

Emma opened her mouth to deny it, but shut it again quickly, unable to defend herself and unwilling to lie to her wife. She shrugged, offering Regina a lopsided smile that she knew would make her wife go soft.

"I know what you're doing, Emma Swan-Mills," Regina scolded playfully, walking over and wrapping her arms around her sweaty wife.

"I'm gross, don't touch me," Emma complained, trying to pull away.

"Well maybe I should catch up then?" Regina winked, "want to play?"

"Oh yes!" Emma was enthusiastic, loving it when they duelled together. Their magic combining and thrumming through their veins, connected them intimately. It usually ended with them in bed straight after, working the magic out of their system and coming down from the high together.

"Ready, darling?" Regina asked as a courtesy, knowing her wife was already chomping at the bit.

"I'm always ready for you," Emma grinned, her double meaning clear not only to each other, but to Mal and Lily too, who just laughed.

"Have a seat with me, Lily?" Mal asked, and when Lily nodded she summoned a couple of chairs at the edge of the courtyard.

Regina and Emma faced off and started to duel, their laughter and contented smiles speaking of their enjoyment of doing this together.

"They look good together," Lily commented.

"They do. Much the same can be said about you and your new paramours, my sweet," Mal told her.

Lily blushed, "I wasn't sure what you would think about it," she confessed.

"I know the feeling," Mal admitted, "I was worried how you would take my relationship with Belle."

"Really?" Lily was surprised.

"There is a large age gap, she is younger than you, and she's a woman. I confess it gave me pause," Mal told her, voicing her concerns.

"Well, she's actually 28 years older than she looks, because of the curse, so not actually younger than me," Lily justified, smiling. "Plus, everyone is younger than you because you are literally hundreds of years old and immortal. As for her being a woman, I don't really think I could have a problem with that, do you?"

Mal grinned, "I suppose not. Are you really ok with this then?"

"Yes. Are you really ok with me being in a relationship with Ruby and Dot?"

"Yes. I'll admit that I was concerned that they were married first, and that you would just be some kind of plaything for them to drop when they were done," Mal started, hushing Lily when she jumped to their defense, "but I can see now that that isn't true. You all share true love and that is a powerful bond. I find myself genuinely happy for you," Mal's eyes glowed with affection and happiness for her daughter, and Lily's eyes glowed softly back at her.

Acceptance.

"I really want to get to know you, Lily, we have both missed so much. I have missed so much," Mal confided, "and it makes me so sad that I couldn't be there for you growing up, but I can be here for you now," she offered, hoping that Lily would be open to it.

"I wish you had been there too, and I wish that I had known then, what I know now," Lily told her, "I grew up feeling abandoned and alone and I haven't quite been able to drop that feeling, nor can I relive my past in a different way, with the knowledge I have now. I would like to change the future though."

"I promise, Lily that I will never give you cause to feel alone or abandoned ever again," Mal vowed.

"And I promise to try and let you in and give you a chance. It just may take a while, ok? Not on purpose, and not to hurt you, but because I have lived my whole life feeling one way and it takes time to let go of the emotions that have always protected me," Lily explained, not wanting to upset her mother.

"I understand that, and I will never push you. I love you, Lily, and I want nothing more than to just be a part of your life. I know I'm too late to be a parent, and I will take whatever you feel you want to give me in terms of a place in your life."

"You may be too late to be a parent, but you'll always be my Mom," Lily smiled, "and I love you too."

Mal scooted her chair closer, putting an arm around her daughter and pulling her against her for a hug, sighing when Lily closed her eyes and rested her head on her shoulders.

They had a long way to go, but they would get there.