Chapter Twenty Five

"Here," said Emma, as she walked back into the living room where Regina still sat on the couch, and handed her a cold beer. "After this morning, I think we could both use a drink, don't you?"

Regina raised an eyebrow, but accepted the bottle anyway. "It's eleven in the morning," she pointed out.

Emma shrugged as she sat back down on the couch and twisted the top off her own bottle. "Someone once told me that people like us aren't bound by social etiquettes and mores."

"I was talking about casual sex," Regina reminded her, as she removed the cap from her beer and placed it on the end table beside her. "But I suppose a beer couldn't hurt after the morning we've had. Not my first choice of drink, but it will do."

Emma sighed and shook her head. "It's all I got. Wasn't really expecting company when I picked it up, you know."

"You had company last night," Regina pointed out.

Emma scrunched her face up in a look of embarrassment mixed with regret. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Wasn't really planning on that, either. But I needed the distraction to chase you out of my head for a few hours."

Regina nodded. "I really did a number on you," she acknowledged. "Why you would still want me is beyond me."

Emma watched her intently as she sipped her beer. The woman sitting across from her now, absently picking at the label on her beer bottle, her legs tucked up under her in a way that seemed far too casual for the Regina she thought she knew, this woman was an anomaly. Emma had known her longer than she'd known anyone in her life, and yet she really knew nothing about her. Even still, she couldn't help but think she was finally getting a glimpse of who Regina really was, on the inside.

"I told you. You were the first person who ever cared about me."

"That can't possibly be true."

Emma shrugged again. "You'd be surprised. I was the kid in the system that no one wanted. I never stayed in any home longer than a couple months, before I got shipped off someplace else. I was always too much to handle. All I wanted was someone to love me. Was that too much to ask?"

Regina shook her head. "No. Of course not."

"Yeah. But no one ever wanted me around. You were different. You let me stay the night with you when you never did that with anyone else. You wanted to see me again. You went so far as to give me a way to keep in touch with you."

"The phone you pawned."

"Yeah. I never would have done that if I wasn't desperate. You know that right?"

"Yes."

"You weren't the first person to only want me for sex, you know. But you were the first person to ever make sure I was really okay with it. You were the first who made it feel good and the first who still looked at me like I was a person when it was over. That might not seem like much to you, but it was to me."

"You were so young," Regina said, quietly.

"You're the only one who's bothered by that. I wasn't a virgin when I met you, Regina. And my friends didn't stand me up that night. I was there alone, and I was hoping some guy would try to pick me up so I could go back to wherever with him, and take his money when it was all over."

"Wait, you were a-"

"No, no… though the thought had crossed my mind. No, I just grabbed the money from their wallets once they fell asleep, and took off. I'm not proud of myself, but life on the street is hard. You do what you have to to survive."

"God, Emma… if I'd known…"

"If you'd known, what? You'd bring me back to your cursed town? I don't think so. You didn't care what I was doing, and Regina, I was okay with that. And I stopped, shortly after I met you. I really did get a waitressing job."

"What made you stop?"

"You."

"Me? Why?"

"I idolized you. As much as I wanted to be with you, I also wanted to be you. I wanted to be this sultry, sexy business woman like you, with all my shit together. It didn't exactly work out quite like that, but I did alright for myself, I think. Eventually. You gave me something to aspire to. You gave me a reason to want better for myself. I don't know… I don't remember telling you I loved you, but maybe I did. Maybe deep down, I knew."

"I once envisioned a life where we were together, raising Henry, as a couple. As a family. Long before I ever knew you were his birth mother."

"It's not impossible, Regina. Curse or not."

"Emma, I don't know what's going to happen when this curse breaks. I don't know how or when, and for all I know we could all end up back in the Enchanted Forest. Everyone's going to want my head on a platter. Best case scenario, I'll end up locked up in the tower in your parents' palace again."

"Again?"

"I did a lot of terrible, horrible things. I was on death row until your mother decided to spare my life. And do you know how I repaid that kindness? By trying to kill her. Again."

Emma studied Regina's face carefully. She was telling the truth, but Emma could see the remorse there. The regret. The fear.

"Whoever you were in that life, I don't think that's who you are anymore. It's been twenty eight years."

"You think I could change?"

"I think, given the chance, you could. Anyone could. I changed. I did better. You can do better. I mean, no one who loves her son as much as you do could truly be evil. You'd have to be heartless, and you're not."

Regina offered a sad smile as she set her barely touched beer down on the end table. "That's easy for you to say because you've never seen me at my worst."

"Or… maybe it's easy for me to see because it's what I'm supposed to see."

"What do you mean?"

"You've said it yourself… fate keeps forcing us to cross paths. If my destiny or whatever was supposed to be to fight you, I don't think we'd have met the way we did. I mean, if my fate were to defeat you, wouldn't I have met one of your enemies instead?"

"I don't think fate is all that specific."

Emma shrugged. "Maybe not. I'm not even sure I believe in fate, to be perfectly honest. But I'm supposed to be the savior, right?"

"Apparently so."

"So what's to say I'm not going to be the one to save you?"

"I supposed there's only one way to find out."

"Go back to Storybrooke," Emma said, nodding her head. "It'll be okay."

Regina smirked. "I suppose if you don't fight me, your parents will want to kill me once they learn who you are and what we've been doing all this time."

Emma groaned. "Well, if Mary Margaret really is my mother, she already knows. I kind of… went to her for advice."

"Advice?"

"Yeah, like… relationship advice? Not that we were in a relationship, but… you know."

"And what about now? Are we in a relationship?"

"I haven't been in a relationship since I was seventeen… Henry's biological dad."

"Neither have I. Not since Daniel. If you don't count my marriage."

"Well, a relationship requires consent, so no, your marriage doesn't count." Emma sighed and shook her head. "Maybe we're both so jaded and fucked up, we might actually be able to make this work. I don't think there's another person on this earth who could possibly understand me the way you can."

"Can I kiss you?"

Emma let out a small laugh. "You've never asked permission before."

"We weren't the same people before. If we're going to do this, I want to do it right, right from the start. We already know the old way doesn't work."

"You're right. And yes, you can kiss me."

Regina took the half empty beer bottle from Emma's hand and set it on the coffee table before moving toward her. She cupped one hand behind Emma's head, lacing her fingers through her soft blonde hair before closing the rest of the distance between them, and pressing her lips hard against Emma's.

Despite how hard and draining the morning had been already, Regina felt a flutter like butterflies deep in her belly the moment their lips touched. For a moment, it was like everything had been erased, all the terrible things she'd suffered, and all of the atrocities she'd committed with her own hand were gone, forgotten in a moment, and she was young and carefree and in love once again.

And in that moment, she considered that maybe - just maybe - Emma was right. Maybe the savior wouldn't be her undoing. Maybe it would take a savior to redeem the Evil Queen.

It had been a lifetime since Regina had dared to let herself hope for anything, but right now, Emma felt like hope personified to her. Maybe she always had been, and Regina just couldn't see it. Or wouldn't.

Whatever lay in store when they returned to Storybrooke, Regina knew would be beyond her control, but she found she didn't care anymore. Whatever price she might pay when the curse was broken wasn't important anymore.

She broke off from the kiss and moved back just enough to meet Emma's eyes with her own. "Let's go home."