CHAPTER 11 – Emma – Introduced

I was running in a forest, nothing but trees and green surrounding me. I was completely out of breath, my burning lungs desperately seeking air, my spleen a piercing pain in my side, but I couldn't allow myself to stop.

I thought I saw a few familiar faces, hidden between bushes and branches: Lily, Neal, my parents, Hook. They were there for a second, but they disappeared as soon as I recognized them. I couldn't turn around and see if they were still there; I had to keep running.

And then, after the excruciating eternity that I ran, a bright light shone at the end of the forest, and I sprinted towards it as if my life depended on it – and it really did. I threw myself into the light, screaming at the top of my lungs the name of the person I was so recklessly trying to reach.

But I was too late.

It was still pitch black outside when I woke up, and the fireplace was dying out; it took a while for my eyes to get used to the darkness, and it took even longer for my heart to stop racing.

The nightmare I'd just had shook me, leaving me petrified and drained, both physically and emotionally. I didn't even notice my back was sore until someone moved, right next to me.

"You had a nightmare," a sleepy voice said, and the sole sound helped me calm down.

I didn't reply, tightening my grip around Regina's waist, ignoring my aching back, and relishing her sent of shampoo and sleep.

She's fine, I kept repeating to myself, she's here.

She moved until her eyes were at the same level as mine, a worried look crossing her half-awake – but still insanely beautiful – face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked me, rubbing my back in a soothing motion, and I immediately started to relax.

I shook my head, only to immediately regret the movement. A stab of pain shoot from my neck all across my backside, and I couldn't help but groan in discomfort.

"Let's go to bed," she whispered, starting to get up.

I practically coiled up around her to keep her from moving. My heart resumed his frantic rhythm, and fear took over me.

"I'm not leaving," she reassured me, gently stroking my cheek, "but you're in pain, and we need to get to the bedroom."

Without a second thought I teleported us into Regina's room, earning an amused eye-roll. Struggling to stay as close as possible, we slid under the covers and tried to find a comfortable position, Regina's concern for my well-being making something flutter around my stomach area.

We settled for something much more comfortable than earlier, but just as intimate: my head was on her chest, and her arms were still hooked onto my back, her fingers softly running onto the slice of bare skin on my lower back. I was getting used to the magical reaction that sparkled whenever we touched, but I still shivered at the pleasant feeling.

I fell back into a deep sleep, the regular thumping of her heart a sweet reminder that she was still with me.

"Please, tell me you're not planning on having other life-threatening activities, today," Regina commented as I sat down on an island stool, a plate full of waffles already in front of me.

"Well, you do need to practice your magic," I replied, swallowing a mouthful of delicious food, "but I think we could just relax today, maybe I can show you around town."

An overly-dramatic sigh of relief informed me of her approval, and a half hour later we were on the walkway, admiring in awe the ice that had formed overnight onto the neat hedges, as we walked out of the property. Sometimes the world managed to be so deceptively beautiful.

We strolled in a comfortable silence, both lost in our thoughts, enjoying the brisk temperature of a December morning. I lowered the hood of my winter coat, tilting my head forward so that most of my face was sheltered by my scarf, and hid my hands in my warm pockets.

I was never one to appreciate cold weather, preferring sun and heat to overcast skies and icy roads; but there was something about winter in Storybrooke that made me feel warmer than ever. This thought made me realize how much I was missing my parents and Henry: over the last few years, our relationship had become almost obsessive, spending as much time together as we could to make up for the twenty-eight years (ten, in Henry's case) we spent apart; but ever since Regina had come back I had started hovering over her, unconsciously balancing out the few months she was away, and I didn't want the rest of my family to feel neglected or left out. Besides, hell knows how much I was missing Henry!

As if they were aware of what I was thinking, my phone started ringing, signaling an incoming call by none other than daddy dearest.

"Deputy Nolan, to what do I owe the honor?" I teased, unintentionally reminding myself of Regina.

"Hello to you too," he replied, and by his voice I could tell he was smiling. "Honey, I know you've been busy and all, these past few days, but… don't you think it might be time for you to come back to work?"

"Oh, would you look at that?" I said, sarcastic. "Someone's fed up with all the paperwork!"

As we reached the end of Mifflin street I gestured Regina to turn right, so that we would have to cross the park to arrive downtown. It was ten in the morning, so the children that usually occupied the playground were at school: we had the place all to ourselves, and it was a sight.

"I'm not!" he said, feigning hurt. "But now that your mother has to replace Regina as Mayor and I am here all by myself, Neal has spent the last few days either at Belle's or at the Convent… I just don't want him to feel like we don't care about him, that's all."

I rolled my eyes at dad's over-protective instincts, but, after an epiphanic moment, I came up with an idea.

"What if Regina and I look after him, for a few days?" I asked, glancing over at Regina, who was looking curiously at me. "I'm sure she won't mind, and since I can't come back to work and leave her alone, Neal can stay with us."

"I guess that would work," he replied, clearly relieved. "Alright, then. I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, let's all have dinner together tonight. We'll be at the loft by eight, we'll bring Henry."

"I'll tell your mother, then. Bye, kid."

We hung up, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from my chest.

As Regina and I walked through the park, I told her about the change of plans, and I could tell she was trying to stifle her excitement for taking care of my brother. Man, she's such a mom!

We got to the library about ten minutes later. As she heard the front door close, Belle popped out from behind the shelves holding a book with one hand and my baby brother with the other.

"Hi, Emma! Regina!" she cheerfully greeted us. Judging by her behavior, I assumed my mother already told her about Regina knowing about our world.

"Hey, Belle," I replied with a smile. "And hello, young man!"

My voice automatically turned into a high-pitched, obnoxious singsong, as I grabbed my brother and rocked him for a while.

"Belle?" Regina asked, curious. "As in…"

"… 'Beauty and the Beast', yes," Belle finished, rolling her eyes and smiling kindly. "I thought by now our dear Sheriff would've told you about all of our alter-egos."

"Well, we didn't exactly have time; we had to hide for a while, since your dear husband very politely threatened us," I said, and her expression turned into a severe mask of feigned indifference.

"Ex-husband," she corrected me, and I watched as she tried to suppress the pain, feeling slightly guilty.

I saw a flash of surprise cross Regina's face, but she had the good sense not to question Belle's love life any further.

"We came by to pick Neal up," she said instead.

"And I wanted to ask you if you had found anything useful for our little issue over here," I nodded towards Regina, hinting at her memory loss, "but I assume you would've told me, by now."

"I'm still researching," she replied with an apologetic look, lifting the book she was holding eloquently, "but I'm afraid there's only one way to get rid of a curse, and we both know what that is."

I nodded, resigned, and we said our goodbyes before walking back outside.

"So, that man… Rumpelstiltskin… He's also the 'Beast'?" she questioned, gently grabbing my brother and holding him close to protect him from the harsh weather.

"Yup. And he's also the 'Crocodile' from Peter Pan's story. And the son of Peter Pan himself…"

"Okay, okay, never mind. I would never remember all of these counterparts, anyway."

"He's also the one who originally taught you how to use magic, you know?" I continued. "Back in the Enchanted Forest, you were kind of… I don't know, friends? Allies? Hopefully nothing more than that?"

She stared at me, her mouth dropping open.

"What made him become so… sketchy?" she asked me, her face twisted in a grimace.

I smiled ruefully, gazing at the pawnshop as we walked past it. Flashbacks from my own Dark One period forcefully came to mind.

"Pain."

The rest of the morning turned out to be fairly uneventful; we made a stop at Granny's, just to keep baby Neal warm, at least for a bit.

"Try and guess who they are," I told Regina, as I looked at Ruby and Granny.

She seemed to pick up on Ruby's red pieces of clothing, and it didn't take long for her to put two and two together.

"Not-so-Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother?" she guessed. "Hadn't they been eaten by the Big Bad Wolf?"

"Actually," said Ruby loudly, so that we could hear her from the other side of the diner, "we are the Big Bad Wolf."

She sneered, amused by Regina's surprised expression: surely she didn't expect Ruby to have werewolf superpowers that would let her hear what she had just said. She made sure to talk really quietly as she mused, "That explains the dog hair…"

I looked at her deadpan for a second, processing her words, only to burst out into a cathartic laughter right after, followed suit by Regina. It quite amazed me how much I had missed the carefreeness in her bright grin as she did so: it was extremely rare, before she cursed herself, and I had learned to cherish those sporadic moments of light-heartedness, always trying my best to bring about more. But then she left, and I spent over two months without her smile to light up my days.

A conversation we had a couple of days prior popped up into my mind: she told me she didn't smile often; now, seeing her relatively happy warmed my heart.

My goofy smile wasn't lost on her, so I quickly erased it from my expression and brought up some random topic of conversation to avoid her questioning it.

It was nice to just sit there and talk about everything and nothing, cooing Neal every now and again: it had been way too long since the last time something so ordinary had happened. But, of course, nice things always come to an end, and before we could entirely appreciate the situation, it was time for us to go.

As I turned around to say goodbye to Ruby and Granny, I had a brainwave.

"Rubes?" I called her, catching her curiosity. "My father's been having some trouble at the station, taking care of everything by himself. Think you might be interested?"

"Of course!" She beamed. "I'll call him right away, we'll make sure my shifts won't overlap with my job here."

She had always liked her job as my assistant, and since my father wasn't exactly enthusiastic of handling everything on his own, this could be a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

Once Regina and I got back outside, she asked me what our next stop would be.

"I think there's one last person who wants to see you," I smirked, enjoying her confusion as we took a smaller street that led to the suburban area.

When we reached Zelena's place, she was leaning on the doorstep, waiting for us to join her. How she knew we were visiting, I couldn't imagine.

"Well, well, who do we have here?" she said, watching Regina rock gently baby Neal just like she was doing with Robin, fairly amused. "We may not look much alike, but right now anyone could tell we're sisters."

She stepped to the side, a silent invitation for us to enter the house.

Fortunately, Regina was already aware that her sister was currently raising her ex-boyfriend's baby: I couldn't even begin to imagine how awkward that encounter would've been, otherwise.

We made small talk for a while, Regina curious as to how her sister had grown up, questioning her about Oz and world-trespassing tornados. I noticed how genuinely polite Zelena was being, avoiding her usual sarcasm and snarky comments: her relationship with Regina had developed into a full-on alliance, before leaving for the Unerworld, Regina wanting to give her sister a second chance; but now, maybe because both Zelena and Regina had recently lost their significant others, or because Regina had been away, she was showing nothing but kindness towards her.

"So, did you make any progress on finding a cure for the memory issue?" she asked at some point.

I shook my head. "Belle is still researching, and we don't really know what else to do, at the moment. If True Love really is the only way to break the spell, then we can't do anything but wait – either for Regina to fall for someone, or for her to love Henry again. I thought about bringing Robin back to life, somehow, but Hades destroyed his soul, so that's not an option."

Zelena flinched as I mentioned her former boyfriend's name, but didn't comment on it; instead, she opened a hand and summoned an antique-looking, humongous book, its leather cover distressed and stained and the pages torn and yellow.

"I tried to take a look at this," she said, browsing through the old tome. "It's the first magic book I ever studied: everything I know about magic comes from here. It has a chapter dedicated to potions, and I found the recipe to the strongest love potion ever. Mind you, I'm not very confident with this – True Love can't be reproduced artificially – but if you want to try it out, here it is."

She handed over the book, and I quickly teleported it to Regina's place: I had no intention of carrying around something that looked heavier than a golden retriever.

"Thank you," I murmured, and after saying goodbye we went back home.