A/N: Thank you to everyone who has followed and reviewed so far! I wasn't sure how this story would go over, but you've given me the motivation to continue for sure!
This will be DragonQueen down the line, but just a head's up that Regina will have a couple ill-fated relationships before she gets there. It's kind of essential to the story.
Chapter Two
"Regina. It's just a coincidence. He's probably just babbling."
Regina ignored Ruby's words as she stepped closer to Henry's high chair and leaned forward to be at his eye level. "Henry," she said, trying to keep her voice even as to not betray her nerves to everyone else in the room. "Do you see someone there?"
Henry just giggled and continued to look to his right. "Emma!" he said again.
"Where is Emma?"
Henry giggled and pointed toward the wall beside him, before frowning and looking back to Regina. "Emma go."
"Emma go?" Regina repeated. "She left?"
"Emma bye," Henry replied, turning his attention back to the cake in front of him.
Regina sighed and stood back upright. Henry's pediatrician had been impressed at how well Henry spoke at such a young age, but at this moment, Regina would have given just about anything to have him be able to string more than two words together in a sentence, and explain just what the hell was going on.
"Regina," Ruby tried again.
"How could that possibly be a coincidence?" Regina snapped, as she spun back around to face Ruby. The fleeting look of shock that flashed across Ruby's face wasn't lost on Regina, and she forced herself to calm down before she spoke again. "Of all the names in the world, how could he come up with that one?"
Ruby shrugged. "Maybe he heard it in a cartoon or something?" she suggested.
Regina sighed. Ruby babysat Henry frequently, as she'd opted to take a few years off after high school before starting college, and Regina was sure Ruby must know as well as she did that there was no 'Emma' in any cartoon Henry watched. He barely even paid attention to the TV as it was, but Regina knew she'd remember hearing that name.
"Well, I mean, Regina what else could it be? Did he overhear you say it on the phone with the social worker?"
Regina shook her head as she turned back to Henry, who appeared to be more cake than baby at this point. She wished she could enjoy this moment more, but her stomach was in knots. "I've never talked about her on the phone. I haven't talked about her since the day I picked him up, and he was only a day old."
"Well, what else could it possibly be? I mean, it's not like she's a ghost or something," Ruby said, shaking her head. "Wait, you don't think she's a ghost, do you?"
"Of course not! There's no such thing. I just… I don't know. Maybe he some sort of connection to her?"
"So, you don't believe in ghosts but you believe your son has a psychic connection to a woman he never met?"
"She gave birth to him. There are things in this world we can't understand, Ruby."
"Wait! Wasn't your old girlfriend into that kind of weird stuff?"
Regina cringed. "Mal. Yes, she was, I suppose. She believes in all sorts of… other worldly things."
"Maybe you should call her?"
Regina raised an eyebrow at Ruby. "You understand that as my 'old' girlfriend, she's also my ex-girlfriend, correct?"
"So?"
"So what, I should just call her up out of the blue? Hey, Mal, we haven't spoken in years but guess what, I have a kid now and I need your advise on ghosts…"
Ruby shrugged. "Well, what else can you do?"
Regina sighed as she looked back at Henry, who was giggling as he smeared icing all over the tray of his hairchair. "I suppose I don't really have anything other options," Regina agreed, finally.
It took nearly a week for Regina to work up the nerve to call Mal. Sha paced the floor of her living room, listening to the phone ringing while Henry napped in his playpen four feet away. He hadn't mentioned Emma's name since his birthday, but the rest of his behaviour had not changed, and Regina was convinced he was still seeing her.
Regina had done all the research she could on ghosts and spirits, but to a non-believer, it seemed like a load of crap, and she knew she was in way over her head. On one hand, the hopeful part of her mind wanted to believe that it was possible, since it meant there was nothing wrong with Henry, but on the other hand, the logical side of her brain told her it was completely ridiculous to believe in ghosts.
By the fifth ring, Regina was convinced that either Mal wasn't near her phone, or was actively ignoring her call, and she was about to hang up when she was stopped by a curious 'hello?' on the other end of the line.
"Hi, Mal," Regina said, somewhat sheepishly, really wanting to kick herself for not calling sooner.
"Regina. I thought that was your number. Hard to tell when you haven't called in nearly three years."
"Mal, please, can we not fight? I need to talk to you about something important."
That was enough to snap Mal out of her sarcastic mood, since despite everything, she still cared deeply for Regina. "Sorry. What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I am… but there's something I need to ask you about. God, Mal, this is so awkward."
"Spit it out Regina. You've always been able to tell me anything. Or, at least you once were."
Regina sighed, and nodded, working up the nerve. "Right. I know. Um, this isn't about me, really. It's about… my son."
Regina braced herself for Mal's shocked reaction, but was shocked herself when it didn't come. Instead, Mal let out a small, mirthless laugh. "Yes, I'd heard you'd adopted a baby."
"You did?"
"Regina, just because you don't speak to me, doesn't mean everyone in Storybrooke has cut their ties with me, you know."
"Right, sorry."
"So what's wrong with your son that I could possibly be of any help with?"
Regina paused, unsure of how exactly she should word this. "It's… it's kind of complicated. I think… well, I suppose I should start off by saying that Henry's birth mother died during childbirth."
"Okay. Was she sick? Is he sick?" Mal guessed, when Regina paused again.
"No, well, maybe?"
"Regina, honestly, just tell me. If it's important enough to end three years of radio silence, then just get it out already."
Regina took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes… I think Henry's being visited by the ghost of his dead mother."
There was a long pause from the other end - long enough that Regina wondered if the line had gone dead - and then Mal burst out in laughter.
"Mal! This isn't funny!"
"I'm sorry," Mal said, breathless once she'd gotten her laughing under control. "But of all the things I thought I'd never hear from your mouth, that has got to be in the top ten."
"I know, but…" Regina let out an exasperated sigh as she watched Henry smiling in his sleep. "I don't know what else it could be. I've had Henry to see numerous doctors, getting his vision checked, other tests done… they're thinking Schizophrenia for crying out loud!"
"And you don't think that's it?" Mal asked, her voice calm and concerned now that she was picking up on the panic in Regina's.
"I thought maybe it was possible, but then… Mal, I wouldn't have believed this if I hadn't witnessed it myself, but he said her name. More than once. I didn't have an explanation for it, but his babysitter put the idea of ghosts into my head, and now I don't know what to think."
"Well, I mean, there are ways of testing for these sorts of things," Mal pointed out.
Regina cringed as she nodded. She knew that Mal took all things magical and supernatural very seriously, and Mal knew that she very much did not. Despite the fact that Regina had been the one to call, she still couldn't help but think the very idea was preposterous. But still…
"I was reading online," Regina admitted. "A lot of it seems very…"
"Conspiracy theory level crazy?" Mal suggested.
"Yes. Exactly. But I read about seances and exorcisms and I'm just way in over my head, Mal. I wouldn't even know where to start. Do you think I should get a Ouija board and try to talk to her?"
Mal let out another short laugh. "No. Well, not yet. And you don't need to exorcise her unless you think she might be a demon."
"Oh, my God, could she be a demon?"
"I very much doubt it. Let's stick with the possibility of a ghost for now. Tell me exactly what's going on. Henry said her name? What else?"
"Well, he seems to see things that aren't there, and interact with a person no one else can see."
"And?"
"That's it. Isn't that enough?"
"Okay. So Henry is seeing something - or someone - and no one else is. Have you noticed anything else?"
"Like what?" Regina asked, sounding a little more desperate than she intended to.
"Things going missing, unexplained sounds, cold spots…"
"No, nothing like that."
"Damn, Regina, I told you to get a cat. Animals can sense these things, you know."
"Yes, I remember. But if I remember correctly, you told me to get a cat to curb my… what did you call it? Baby fever? Not to act as a live-in ghost detector!"
"Well, you never listen to me anyway."
"Mal, seriously. Can you help me or not? Because I found some seances online that I could try."
"Do not try a seance. Regina, I know you think it's all a load of crap, but it's not. You don't need to be messing with the spirit world and pissing off a ghost that's already taken up residence in your home."
"So what then?" Regina cried.
"Listen, I have some time off next week. I'll fly in to Maine on the weekend, alright? Just don't do anything until I get there."
"Okay," Regina agreed, hoping her voice wasn't betraying her nerves. Talking to Mal on the phone from the other side of the world was one thing. Seeing her face to face again was going to be a whole different ball game. "And what do I do in the meantime? I mean, is it safe to stay here?"
"Well, if the ghost hasn't done anything yet, then I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm sure she just has some sort of unfinished business to attend to that's preventing her from crossing over. We'll figure out what it is, and we'll help her out, and she'll be out of your hair before you know it."
"You're sure?"
"I've done this before."
"Really?"
"No. But I know people who have. It'll be fine."
Regina sighed as she hung up the phone, after a promise from Mal that she'd call the moment she booked a flight. Regina was quite sure she'd forget to call, but she knew Mal well enough to know that she wouldn't go back on her promise to come. It was Wednesday, and knowing Mal she'd be there by Saturday morning, if not Friday evening, so Regina knew she didn't have a lot of time to prepare.
She checked on Henry again before turning to head upstairs to change the bedding on the guest bed. She hadn't had anyone sleep there in over a year, and though they were over, Regina still felt the urge to try to impress Mal. Stale bedding just wouldn't do.
Regina pushed open the closed door to the guest bedroom, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she came face to face with a young blonde, standing in the middle of the room, looking panicked.
"Who the hell are you?" Regina demanded, taking a step back as she scrambled to pull her cellphone out of the pocket of her slacks where she'd deposited after ending her call with Mal.
"Don't call the cops," the other woman said, somewhat timidly, holding her hands up in an act of surrender. "They can't do anything anyway."
"What?" Regina's hands were shaking as she tried to flip open her phone and head for the door to get back to Henry at the same time, while also keeping an eye on the girl staring at her with pleading eyes.
"Please, don't exorcise me!" the younger woman cried as Regina neared the door, causing her to stop in her tracks and stare back with wide eyes.
"No…" Regina said, her phone all but forgotten and her voice barely a whisper. "You can't be…"
The blonde scrunched her nose up in an almost apologetic way. "Hi. I'm Emma."
To be continued...