Oh yes this is the chapter!

Enjoy!

Chapter 5: That one historic time the Evil Queen didn't throw a fireball at a guest

And Emma's deal-making skills could use some work.

As she approached the castle, a guard appeared. "Halt! Who goes there?"

"My name is Emma, I hear the queen is looking for a Silvertongue," Emma stated.

"And what of it?" The guard asked.

"I am a Silvertongue and I want an audience with the queen," Emma continues.

The guard began guffawing. "You are drunk lass. Go home before you get yourself hurt."

Emma huffs and jumps down from her horse to stand in front of the guard. "I am not drunk. I want to speak to the queen, now."

The guard gulps. No one just came to talk to the were either taken here against their will, or they wanted to beg for mercy as they requested for something because they were desperate. But wanting to speak to the Queen of their own volition. That was a new one. "Alright lass, it's your funeral. Follow me."

So Emma lead her horse and followed the guard, who took her to the stable, and then towards a side door.

"Er, I wanted to talk to the Queen. Isn't the throne room that way?" Emma didn't know much, but she knew that the throne room would be in the biggest area of the castle, not through a dimly lit hallway.

"Before you can do that, you have to go through the Captain, Graham," the guard explained.

So Emma followed along until they reached an office.

"All yours, lass."

Emma entered, finding a man engrossed in his papers.

"Captain Graham?"

At seeing her, his confusion was apparent. "Can I help you?"

"Er yes. The guard outside told me I had to talk to you before talking to the queen?" Emma explained.

The captain rolled his eyes. "Wilson you damn idiot. Anyway, what business have you with the Queen?"

"I am a Silvertongue, and I am offering my services to the queen, in exchange for a favour."

Graham couldn't stop a laugh from spilling out of his lips. "I'm sorry, you want to ask for a favour in order for the Queen to utilise your powers as a Silvertongue?"

"Yes," Emma said.

"You are surely mad. Even if I did believe a word of it, the Queen would never agree to it."

"Let me try. What have you got to lose?'

That was true enough. He scratched at his beard. "Fair enough. Let's go."

And so Emma followed behind Graham, through another set of winding hallways - any plans of escape are suddenly lost - and she's eventually welcomed into the throne room.

"You can wait for the Queen here. Just as a tip, kneeling for her can raise your chances with her."

Emma nodded. "Thanks."

Graham chuckled as he left, seeing the woman kneel. The Queen would eat her alive.

And it wasn't long before Emma heard the doors bang open, and "If you are wasting my time, I swear you will sorely regret it."

That voice.

No.

It couldn't be.

Emma whipped around and her jaw went slack. "Regina?" she tried to ask, but it came out more like a mewl.

The woman in front of her certainly looked like Regina, barring the much more dramatic makeup and clearly longer hair piled on top of her head. The burgundy dress that the Queen was wearing made Emma's mouth dry up.

"Emma?" Recognition dawned on the other woman's face, and Emma knew, just knew, that that was her Regina.

So she wasted no time in launching herself and colliding with Regina in a swift and fierce kiss.

In between kisses they both laughed, tears flowing freely, as well as whispering soft words that said nothing but meant everything to them.

Once they had finally finished expressing all that they had, Regina shakingly asked, "But what are you doing here? How did you get here?"

Emma smiled tiredly. "It's a long story. And I'm not alone."

Regina frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Henry's here too. Well, outside the castle. It was a chore to get him to not follow me here-"

"Henry? Here?" Regina paled. "He must've grown these past few years."

Emma chuckled. "Yeah, kid's almost a teenager and-"

"Teenager?" Regina repeated.

"Yeah?" Emma frowned. "Regina, how many years have you been here?"

"Three years," Regina immediately responded.

Emma cringed. "Right, time moves differently here."

Regina swallowed. "How long has it been for you?"

"Six years."

They decided that it'd be best to just bring Henry in first before continuing. After all, it was almost time for dinner, and Regina wouldn't hear of them not joining her. Not that Emma was about to deny it. She didn't want to waste a second without Regina. So she just told her where she had left their son and ran out to get him, though not before stealing another kiss.

Once she met up with Henry, she could barely contain her excitement.

"Did you find her?" Henry excitedly asked.

Emma nodded. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"Never mind, better that I show you, come on!"

If any of the guards were surprised at the joyfulness that the latest visitors were displaying, they kept it to themselves. They just watched as the woman and the boy rushed to the throne room.

Once Emma and Henry arrived at the throne room, they found Regina standing fiddling with her hands near her chest. It was a tell-tale sign that Emma had long ago learnt that meant that Regina was nervous as hell.

"Hello, Henry," Regina greeted with a soft smile.

Henry looked at Emma, silently asking if this is who he thought it was.

At Emma's nod, Henry wasted no time in launching himself right at Regina, hugging her tightly. "Hi mom."

That was enough to release the waterworks again for Regina, wrapping her arms around her son. Her teenage son.

Emma waited for a few moments before joining, the first time in a long time that they had all been together.

But it wasn't meant to last for long.

With a loud pop, and thick dark smoke, a figure materialized.

Emma whipped around and saw Rumpelstiltskin. Well, a more grotesque version of the imp she had met. He was also a lot more furious, his jaw set and his nostrils flaring.

"So sorry to break up the family reunion," he mocked. "But I'd like my castle back."

Regina only had half of an idea of what was going on, but she could feel his magic. It was dark and twisted. "You'll leave right now."

The imp cackled. "Oh the infamous Evil Queen! If the circumstances were different, I'd say it's an honour to meet you, but believe me dearie, you best do as I say."

Regina walked around to stand in front of her family while calling up a fireball in her hand and hurling it at the unwelcome visitor. "No."

Rumpelstiltskin barely blocked the fireball, and he grit his teeth. "You forget. This is my castle."

He snapped his fingers and suddenly every guard in the palace was seemingly bursting in through the doors, weapons at the ready.

"And those are my guards," Regina tersely responded.

"I'd beg to differ. You see, I own their hearts. Literally." He stepped aside revealing Graham behind him.

Graham stepped forward and thrust his sword into the air. As he made the graceful curve downwards, he yelled, "Get them!"

"Grab my arm, now!" Regina called back to Emma and Henry. When she felt two hands on either of her arms, she called forth her magic to take them far away from that place, just as an ambitious guard attempted to rush them.

When the deep purple smoke dissipated, they were in the forest, next to their horses.

"You have magic?!" Henry excitedly exclaimed when he let Regina's arm go.

Regina turned around to face her family, and saw that Henry was looking like it had just hit him that he had just stepped into an actual fantasy story.

But Emma. Emma just looked bewildered, like she wasn't sure what to make of all of this.

"Everyone okay?" Regina decided to ask.

Henry was yapping away, and Regina was worried someone would overhear. They weren't that far away from the castle, and it wouldn't be long before a patrolling guard found them.

It seemed Emma's thoughts were running on the same wavelength for she said, "Kid, I'd keep a little bit quieter unless you want a repeat of a few minutes ago."

"Oh, right, sorry." He looked at the two horses. "So where to now?"

Regina sighed. "I don't know. I've spent my time here mostly holed up in this castle. I don't suppose you two know of anywhere we could go?"

Emma was about to shake her head when Henry piped up, "We could go back to the camp!"

"Camp?" Regina asked.

Emma sighed. "Yeah, a camp with Snow White and Lancelot."

"Did you know that Snow White is my grandma?" Henry excitedly blurted out.

Regina frowned. Last she checked, her own mother was a piece of work that would be the farthest thing from Snow White, and Emma was an orphan so… "I'm not sure I follow."

It was Emma who begrudgingly said, "Apparently I'm originally from this world. It's a really long story, but Snow White is my mother."

That made Regina cringe. "I see."

"Yeah, and Lancelot told me all about the Evil Queen...I had no idea it'd be you," Henry continued. "He made it seem like you were some crazed lady."

That did nothing to quell Regina's growing nausea.

Thankfully Emma had enough tack to say, "How about we just start riding away from here. Then we can figure out where we're going."

They were all in agreement, but, "How is mom going to ride?"

Regina grinned at Henry's question, summoning her steed to her with her magic, as well as giving herself a change of clothes; her dress was not sensible for horse-riding, not like a pair of pants and light tunic.

It wasn't long before a dark brown horse appeared, with a long flowing mane. "This is Rocinante."

"Cool!" Henry went up to pet the horse, but before long, they heard voices coming from the palace, so they all got on their horses and quickly fled the area.

Once they were surely out of bounds, they slowed down and Henry asked, "Why can't we just use mom's magic to teleport there?"

Regina shook her head. "Can't teleport when we don't know the destination."

Henry frowned. "So why can't we go to grandma's camp? They didn't seem that bad. I mean, I get why mom," he jerked his thumb towards Regina, "wouldn't want to go, but why not you mom?"

He was looking expectantly at Emma, and the latter just sighed and said, "It's not that I don't want to, it's just...complicated. It's hard to try and reconcile the fact that I had parents that wanted me, and if it wasn't for Lacey…"

When Emma couldn't finish, Regina just rode up beside her wife and took her hand. "We can figure this out together. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but right now, I think our best choice would be to go to them. By ourselves we don't have a chance if that imp returns. And besides, if that's my mother in law, I better start making amends."

That got Emma to laugh, and in turn it made Regina beam. Maybe things were looking up for her after all these years.