A/N: I'm falling way behind my normal pace, mostly because the transition to the Enchanted Forest has been really tricky to write. I'm going to be away next week so I'm not sure when I'll be updating, but I hope you'll bear with me!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on people and places you'd like to see in the Enchanted Forest. I know the direction I'm going, but I haven't worked out all the details yet and I'm open to suggestions. Snow, Charming, and Rumple are all in the grand plan, and Red is off the table since I short-sightedly included Ruby in the first chapter (Leopold, too, but nobody wants him anyway).
Regina could see Emma from the top of the hill that sloped from her neighborhood towards the school. She couldn't imagine what the blonde was doing there this morning, but she'd recognize that jacket anywhere. She hurried her pace, hoping to have plenty of time with Emma before classes began. As she neared, she forced herself to take deep breaths, hoping to quiet her racing heart and fight off the warmth she could feel rising in her face.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were stalking me," she said, smile brightening as Emma turned on the bench to see her.
"Do you know better?" Emma teased, moving over to make room for the brunette. "You know nothing about me."
"Then tell me." Regina sat down even though she knew she didn't have much time. "If you're not busy I can meet you after school."
"Or," the blonde countered, "you can forget about that mile-high stack of perfect attendance awards and come with me now."
"What, just skip school?" It was an idea that had never crossed Regina's mind in all her life. She'd never even missed a day for illness. But there were so few days left to miss, and the thought of dealing with Leo alone was enough to make her want to crawl back home.
Emma shrugged. "I'm doing it." She didn't mention that she'd skipped the day before, too. Finishing her senior year had stopped seeming at all important once she'd had everything else she knew ripped out from under her.
Regina's heart hammered both at her proximity to Emma and at her realization that she was really going to do this. "Okay." As they started down the street, she glanced over her shoulder several times, sure that trouble would be close behind, but the sidewalks were quiet now that the school bell was ringing.
"Let's see," Emma said, calling Regina's attention again as she began to divulge the promised information. "I've lived in 5 different states. A whole lot of foster homes. My parents abandoned me when I was a baby, so I've pretty much been on my own."
Emma had to admit to herself that this detail, while critical to knowing her, was almost more of a test. She prayed Regina wouldn't respond with the sort of annoying "I'm sorry" that she so often got. As if those words could fix anything.
Regina met her eyes, and Emma was grateful that her expression was more thoughtful than pitying. "That sounds hard, all that moving around. All that change."
Emma couldn't help smiling. "You get used to it."
"Do you?"
Regina kept her eyes on Emma while the blonde looked straight ahead, all of the years of hurt and loneliness rising in her mind. "I'm used to it," she said, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Doesn't mean it doesn't suck."
Regina was quiet for a moment, and then reached out to link her arm through Emma's. "Well, those are just your circumstances. Tell me something about you."
Emma's heart thudded in her chest, both from Regina's touch and her words. No one had ever said something like that to her before, like they really, truly wanted to know her. She loved Regina for it, and the realization was shocking. She didn't open her heart to just anyone, but since the moment they'd met she'd known Regina was different. "I have a wicked sweet tooth," she started, her eyes sparkling when she looked at Regina again. "I really like to read. I like sports but with all the moving I never really got to do teams, so I mostly just run. I've always wanted a dog." She paused, moving her gaze away from the brunette again. "I thought you were really cute when you got your heel caught on the street."
Regina blushed furiously and dropped her own gaze to the ground. Her grin didn't fade. "Thank you."
Emma led them the rest of the way to the mall, Regina surprised by their destination. "Well, you can't play hooky in your school uniform," Emma pointed out. "Not that I don't like it on you."
The store Regina chose was an upscale place that Emma would normally never go anywhere near. The prices were astounding, but Regina hardly seemed to notice. Emma decided to push aside her discomfort and dive into helping Regina sort through the various styles of jeans.
There was a bit of awkwardness when it came time to try things on, Regina not sure if she should invite Emma into the changing room with her. She decided against it. As much as she liked Emma, it seemed a little soon to be so exposed before her. Instead, she wriggled into an unforgiving pair of skinny jeans that the blonde had picked out and stepped out from behind the curtain to get her opinion.
Emma desperately wished she could think up some sort of intelligent response, but she could only stare. Regina had been cute in all the skirts, but this was something else entirely. "I think you should get those," she said once Regina began to look uncomfortable with all the silent staring.
"You don't think I should try the others?" Regina twisted to the side in front of the mirror.
"I just doubt anything can top that." Emma resisted the urge to tell Regina exactly how awesome her ass looked, figuring the brunette wasn't the type to enjoy that kind of compliment.
Regina charged the expensive jeans without flinching and left the store in the new denim and the crisp white button-down of her school uniform. Emma couldn't help noticing that Regina had buttoned it just a little lower.
"I think this is the most fun I've ever had," Regina told Emma as they walked up the hill to the brunette's house.
"You really need to get out more," Emma teased.
"I liked it because I was with you," Regina said, glancing at the blonde out of the corner of her eye. "I've done more exciting things than sitting in the food court for hours and talking, but you weren't there for any of them."
"I don't know. You did go to a diner in your prom dress with me."
Regina stopped at the bottom of her driveway, turning to face Emma and tentatively taking her hand. "I didn't know how much I was going to like you back then," she said quietly.
"Oh?" Emma grinned at the revelation, taking a step closer. "And how much do you like me now?"
"A lot."
Regina closed her eyes as Emma leaned in, offering herself up for a kiss, but before Emma could close the distance between them Regina heard her name in the sharp tones of her mother's voice.
Regina's eyes shot open again and she immediately took a step back, looking nervously up towards the doorway. "Now," Cora barked, and Regina barely had time for an apologetic look at Emma before she hurried up the walk.
"Mother," she started, although she couldn't imagine what she could possibly say to avoid her mother's anger. There was no explaining why she'd been almost kissing a girl outside, or even why she was wearing denim.
"The school called me this morning to tell me you didn't show up," Cora said, shutting the door behind them. "I told them they must have made a mistake. For 12 years you have refused to miss a day of school, which I frankly never understood. But suddenly you do it, and you'd better have a good reason for not telling me."
"It wasn't really planned ahead of time," Regina said. "Emma just—"
"Emma?" Cora peered out the window to see the blonde still lingering on the sidewalk. "You don't know any Emmas. Who is she?" Before Regina could respond, Cora roughly closed the curtains to block the blonde from sight. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that you were kissing her in the middle of the street in broad daylight. And you look like a mess. After all the work I've put into your reputation and your prospects, you throw it all away just like that?"
"Mother." Regina's tone was more pleading this time. Everything was going downhill faster than she'd anticipated.
"How could you do this to me? To yourself?" Cora grabbed Regina roughly by the shoulders and gave her a shake. "You idiot girl. What man is going to want to be with you after you go and do something like that?"
"I don't like men," Regina said softly. "I like Emma."
Cora studied Regina coldly before pulling her hands back. "I don't even know who you are anymore," she said, putting on her injured mother voice. "You apply to Columbia without telling me, you skip school, you start fooling around with some girl I don't even know."
Regina took a deep breath. She'd learned over the years just to take her mother's criticism, but after having her dream college snatched away the words "Yes, Mother" had become bitter in her mouth. She opened the door without speaking another word and left, hurrying down the street to catch up with Emma.
The blonde turned and stopped at the footsteps. "Is everything okay?" she asked, even though it obviously wasn't. Regina was just beginning to cry, and after calling her name a few times Cora had slammed the door and locked it.
"I hate her," Regina said. "She's always been harsh but she can't keep expecting me to be something I'm not."
Emma wrapped her arms around the brunette, not saying anything. Hate she was familiar with, but parents were far from her expertise.
"Could I stay with you?" Regina asked, stepping back from the hug as the panic of leaving Cora's protection hit her. "Just for a little."
"No, you can't." Emma wished she could take the words back as soon as she said them, remembering how just a week ago Ruby had said the same thing to her. Regina looked absolutely crushed, and Emma took her hands and squeezed them. "I don't mean it like that, Regina. If I could I would let you stay as long as you wanted, but you're better off asking someone else."
"I don't know who else to ask," Regina replied softly.
Emma hadn't told anyone the truth about her situation, and she dreaded what she was about to say. It was sure to drive Regina from her, but at least it was honest, at least it would show that she didn't want to reject the request. "My foster parents kicked me out. I don't have anywhere to take you."
That silenced Regina. The brunette was shocked, her own pain forgotten as she gaped at Emma. "Where have you been living?"
"Nowhere. Wherever." Emma shrugged, and suddenly Regina was back in her arms and holding on tight.
"Oh, Emma," she whispered. "That's terrible. I wish you'd told me. Maybe I could have helped you."
Emma slowly wrapped her arms around the brunette, surprised that the revelation had somehow brought Regina closer. "I didn't think you'd want to spend time with someone who is, you know, homeless."
Regina gripped the fabric of Emma's jacket as if desperate to keep her there. "Well, now you don't have to be alone."
"This doesn't change the fact that you need to stay with one of your school friends," Emma insisted. "You have options. You're not sleeping out in the cold somewhere."
"Only if they'll take you, too," Regina insisted. "Or we can get a hotel room or something. I'll pay. No matter what my mother says, my dad won't cut me off."
Emma eased Regina away so they could see each other, the blonde overwhelmed with emotion. No one had ever cared this much about what happened to her. Not her parents, not anyone in the long string of social workers and foster families, not her smattering of almost-friends and almost-girlfriends. Just a girl she hardly knew.
This time, there was no one to stop Emma from kissing Regina.