A/N: So sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Things have just been crazy and I just got back from being on vacation. Hope you enjoy! :)
Chapter 7
The group of lumber mill employees continued to trek their way through the forest. The sense that maybe they weren't actually going to find anything was again settling over the group when suddenly a large looming green figure appeared before them.
"Holy hell," John was the one to gasp out as everyone stood still in shock, trying to wrap their heads around what they were seeing.
Zelena was the first to become un-stupefied, "What are you imbeciles doing?" she growled, "Shoot it!" She raised her own gun and took aim but before she could do anything the large green beast growled and swiped at the gun, the metal crunching and bending back rendering it useless.
No one could exactly say what happened in the next moments but by the time Robin yelled, "Run," and they were heading in the opposite direction back out of the forest, no one had a functioning gun left, and the green monster had disappeared from site.
They were all panting as they finally clambered into vehicles. As they sped away, no one had even the slightest clue that they were being followed by an invisible dragon.
Robin dropped Zelena off at her home but she never made it past the entranceway.
She stood in the hallway of her home for several long minutes before she spun angrily on her heels, snatching her keys and stomping out to her convertible. She knew where she needed to go.
Regina and Mal were just finishing up the dinner dishes when the loud pounding on the front door started. It was incessant and didn't stop until Regina yanked the door open. She was surprised to find her sister, looking more frazzled than Regina could ever remember seeing her, standing on the other side of the door.
"Zelena?" the confusion was evident in her voice.
"There's a dragon in the forest!" Zelena spit out with urgency, "I need to speak with that kid, the one from the forest. Immediately!"
"There's a...what?" Regina frowned, although the picture Emma had drawn immediately came to mind.
"It attacked us," Zelena insisted, "It was huge. I need to talk to the kid. This isn't some coincidence that the day she turns up is the day I run into a bloody freaking dragon. She's gotta know what's going on."
Regina shifted, her arms crossing as she studied her sister. She didn't like the wild look in the redhead's eyes. Zelena was sometimes unpredictable and when she got like this, Regina didn't really trust her. She wasn't about to let her anywhere near Emma. Especially because Zelena had been the one to grab Emma in the forest today, leading to her fall. Regina couldn't guarantee that seeing Zelena wouldn't scare Emma and she wasn't about to risk causing the child any distress. "Are you sure it wasn't a bear?" Regina deflected with a calculated quirked eyebrow.
"I'm not an idiot Regina, I know what a bear looks like. This was a bloody freaking green dragon. Now let me talk to the kid," Zelena waved her hands angrily as she spoke.
Regina didn't flinch, "No. It's been a long day. Emma doesn't need anymore excitement. Go home Zelena, we can talk about this tomorrow."
Zelena's teeth gritted as she huffed, "Fine, then let me talk to your wife."
Regina rolled her eyes at Zelena's use of the word wife but she didn't correct her or call her on her tone. Zelena always referred to Mal as Regina's wife and Regina had given up correcting her sister a long time ago. "Why do you want to talk to Mal? She isn't going to tell you anything different than I have. You can't see Emma. Not tonight."
"I don't want to ask her about Emma," Zelena scoffed, "I want to ask her about the dragon. She knows. She saw it."
Regina stiffened, her brow furrowing against her will.
"Oh come on, don't pretend you don't know," Zelena shook her head but when Regina looked no less confused, Zelena cackled, "Oh my goodness you actually don't know."
"Don't know what?" the furrow of Regina's brow deepened, her voice dropping low.
Zelena cackled again, resting a hand on her hip as her laughter died down, "I guess you were still in elementary school when Crazy Mal happened. When we were in high school your wife swore she saw a dragon in the forest. Everyone thought she was insane. She literally lost all of her friends over it," Zelena shook her head, "although...maybe she wasn't as crazy as we all thought." That last part was muttered under her breath.
Regina was reeling but trying not to show it. Why would Mal have never mentioned this to her before? Her thoughts were interrupted by Zelena speaking once more.
"So? Are you going to go get your wife or what?"
"No," Regina shook her head, uncrossing her arms and reaching for the door, "Go home Zelena." Before Zelena could protest, Regina closed the door in her face.
Regina deferred Mal's question about what had just happened with a, "later," relieved when she didn't push. This was a conversation to be had when little ears wouldn't overhear.
It didn't take very long to finish the dishes and they headed for the living room where the girls were watching TV. Well, Lily was watching TV, Emma was sitting on the couch with a book on her lap. As Regina neared she realized it was the book from upstairs, the one Emma said she had - she must have gone up to get it.
Mal noticed the book in the child's lap as well and she smiled as she approached. As a bookstore owner, she was always thrilled to see a child with a book in their lap. "What are you reading sweetie?"
"It's Elliot Gets Lost," Emma looked up with a grin, "I have this book," Emma informed Mal the same way she'd informed Regina earlier.
"You do?" Mal asked, letting her voice carry curiosity but also enough enthusiasm to match Emma's. She sat down on the couch beside Emma, studying the page Emma had the book open to a minute and then tilting her head to look at the girl, "Would you like me to read it to you?"
Emma nodded vigorously, her eyes lighting up. "To everyone?" she asked curiously, her gaze drifting to look over at Lily.
Sensing the eyes looking at her, Lily turned her head away from the TV, craning her neck so she was looking at her mom and Emma. She shrugged a shoulder, "Sure." The book was much too young for her but she didn't mind, especially not because Emma seemed pretty excited about it.
Regina nodded to, moving to take the seat on the other side of Emma on the couch, Lily taking the seat beside Mal.
Emma handed the book over to Mal who flipped it back to the first page and began reading. She used the voice she used when they had children's story telling hour at the bookstore. She'd have to bring Emma, she was sure the girl would love it. She shook her head at the sudden thought, a thought that suggested Emma would be sticking around past today, and focused back on the book.
Three pages in, Emma frowned, sitting up a bit straighter, "This isn't how I tell it." The actually story, it turned out, varied quite a bit from her interpretation.
Mal paused her reading, her eyes catching Regina's momentarily before they settled on Emma. "Would you like to tell it?" she asked kindly. Mal guessed that Emma didn't quite know how to read and, despite her attempt to stamp out the sudden flash of an image, she was already imagining teaching Emma.
Emma looked quickly over at Regina who gave her an encouraging smile, and then back at Mal, "No," she shook her head, a soft smile replacing her previous frown, "I like it this way."
Mal smiled back and then resumed her storytelling. She was surprised when minutes later, Emma's head dropped onto her shoulder.
Invisible, Elliot followed the mean lady from the forest to Regina and Mal's house. The mean lady with the red hair had talked about Emma, so Elliot decided she must know where Elliot's girl was.
Once the mean lady had stormed away Elliot moved carefully, well as carefully as a large dragon could, around the yard. He struggled with a discarded jump rump, and then a sprinkler, but when he finally made it to an open window and peered in, he got excited at the sight of his girl. She was sitting with some other people and they were reading their book, the one they read every night. Elliot Gets Lost.
He listened carefully, confused when the lady reading the story didn't say any of the things Emma usually said. He felt his heart flutter when Emma interrupted to say that it wasn't right, she was going to tell it the right way now, he couldn't wait. He also couldn't wait till he could get her out of there so they could go back to their home. She was going to be so happy to see that he'd come to get her.
But then Emma didn't tell it the right way, she said she liked this new way, and then she put her head on the lady's shoulder, the way she usually leaned against him.
Did Emma actually like it here without him? Did Emma not need him?
Sadness permeated through him as he turned away from the window, walking away from the house and back towards the forest.
Mal read Elliot Gets Lost twice and then she went and grabbed a couple of other books she thought Emma might like and read those too.
Emma, who'd been reading the same book for six years, was enthralled by the books Mal brought. The look on her face as she pointed at things on the pages and asked questions about the stories, only made both Regina and Mal's fondness for the child grow.
By the end of the fourth book, Emma was yawning repeatedly, and Regina rubbed her back, "I think it's time for someone to go to sleep."
Unlike their almost nightly struggle with Lily, Emma did not protest at all at Regina's suggestion that she should go to bed. She just looked curiously over at Regina.
Regina rubbed Emma's back once more, "I'll take you upstairs to the guest room so you can go to sleep. How does that sound?"
Emma nodded, "Okay."
Regina and Emma stood and the child shuffled her feet, clearly not sure exactly what she was supposed to do when Regina didn't immediately make a move towards the stairs, her gaze following Regina's to look over at Mal still seated on the couch.
Mal smiled gently, "Would it be alright if I hugged you goodnight Emma?"
Emma's eyes widened slightly, curiosity and surprise evident at Mal's request. Slowly she nodded her head in the affirmative.
Mal leaned forward on the couch, shuffling to the edge and reaching out for Emma, who was standing just beside her. Her arms wrapped around Emma's waist and after a brief moment, Emma leaned forward into Mal's arm, her own arms wrapping around Mal's neck, as she returned the hug
Mal kissed the side of Emma's head before she pulled back, murmuring softly, "Sleep well sweetie."
"Goodnight Emma," Lily chirped, waving at the girl as Regina led the way towards the stairs.
Upstairs in the guest room, Regina helped Emma out of the clothes she was wearing and into a pair of Lily's pajamas. She also undid Emma's braids, letting the long blonde hair fall loose. Emma desperately needed a haircut - the image of taking the girl to the salon popped into Regina's brain before she could shake it away.
Pulling back the covers on the guest room bed, Regina patted the empty spot, motioning for Emma to climb up. Once the child had scrambled up onto the bed, Regina pulled the covers up and over her, tucking them around her. She smoothed blonde hair and smiled fondly at the little girl, "I know it's been a long, confusing, day munchkin. I hope it wasn't too difficult for you, being here with me and Lily and Mal.
Emma smiled at Regina, "It's nice here. I had fun…" anything else she was going to say was cut off by a wide yawn.
Regina's smile grew and she leaned over to kiss Emma's forehead, "Goodnight Emma." She smoothed the child's hair one last time and then straightened heading for the door, pausing and turning back to face Emma, "I'll leave the hallway light on. Come find us if you need anything."
Emma's eyes were already starting to droop shut but she nodded her head, curling up on her side and mumbling out, "G'night 'Gina."
Later, once Lily had gone to bed as well, Regina and Mal sat in the living with a glass of wine each.
"So what did Zelena want?" Mal asked after a sip of wine.
Regina took a sip of her own wine before she answered the question. She chose her words carefully, studying her girlfriend as she said them, "She wanted to talk to you...about the dragon you apparently saw in high school."
Mal stiffened, her face paling and her jaw tightening. She said nothing.
"So it's true," Regina's words were a statement not a question. Mal's reaction made the answer clear. "Why didn't you ever say anything before?"
Mal's eyes widened and then she quirked an incredulous eyebrow, "Why did I never tell you about the time I imagined a dragon in the forest and got labelled crazy? About how my parents made me see a therapist? About how literally no one would talk to me after that for years?" She scoffed, "Sorry. But that's a part of my life that I've purposely forgotten about. I wasn't going to dredge that up."
Regina couldn't conceal that she was hurt that Mal hadn't told her about this and her next words were more biting then she would usually allow them to be, "I told you everything about Daniel."
"And I told you everything about Lily's father," Mal spit back immediately, although her words weren't nearly as biting as Regina's. "Regina," she sighed, setting her wine glass on the coffee table and reaching out to put a hand on the other woman's knee, "this isn't something I kept from you on purpose. It honestly just never came up. It was a long time ago. I really don't think about it much."
Regina knew the hurt she was feeling was a bit ridiculous but that didn't make it any easier to tamp it down. She sighed too, "Do you really think you imagined it? The dragon I mean."
Mal looked away, her brain bringing up an image from her past, the large green dragon, it's wings tucked at its sides, standing right in front of her, staring right at her, and then the snap of twigs nearby, someone else coming closer, and suddenly the dragon was gone, disappeared, the only indication that it had been there at all the rustling of nearby trees. She'd eventually conceded that she'd imagined it to the therapist and to her parents and they'd clearly been relieved. But the truth was that she knew she hadn't imagined it. It had been too real. Her shoulders sagged as she looked back at Regina. She couldn't lie to her. They didn't lie to each other. "I...I don't know."
Regina set her wine glass down beside Mal's on the coffee table. She pried the hand that was still on her knee up and laced their fingers together, "Maybe you didn't imagine it. Zelena has certainly changed her tune. She swears she saw a dragon today."
The look of complete surprise on Mal's face was almost comical, "Seriously?"
Regina nodded, "And she isn't the only one…" Regina dropped Mal's hand, shifting in her seat so that she could pull the folded paper out of her pocket. She unfolded the drawing she'd grabbed when she was upstairs earlier and held it out for Mal to take.
Mal stared at the drawing of the green dragon, the expression on her face one of awe. Her thumb ran over the paper as she continued to study the picture.
"Emma drew it," Regina explained, although that probably didn't actually need to be explained, "It's Elliot."
Mal looked up from the paper, "Her friend from the forest?" her words were almost whispered, "that's how she survived? A dragon?"
Regina shrugged, "It's sort of unbelievable, isn't it?"
Mal nodded, her eyes dipping back to the paper, "This is what the dragon looked like. The one I saw when I was sixteen. The one that everyone told me I'd imagined. Hallucinated. He was green. And furry. With wings. And this tooth that stuck out of his mouth. And we just stared at each other for what felt like forever. It seemed like he could see right into my soul. And then he was just gone. It's weird to think he's really out there. That he's been out there this whole time. That all those people that called me crazy...my own parents...how wrong they really were...even though I pretended they were right."
It was Regina's turn to put her hand on Mal's knee, offering her girlfriend the comfort of her touch. She waited for blue eyes to look up at her and then she smiled gently. She didn't need to say anything, there wasn't much to say, but the look was enough to convey her understanding and support and love.
Mal smiled back and then she shook her head in disbelief, "It's strange you know... Emma had your compass and apparently my dragon...it's like she is meant for us."
Regina's smile widened. She couldn't agree more. She'd planned on talking to Mal about fostering Emma - and they would need to talk about it - but it was clear in that moment that they were on the same page.
A while later, they climbed the stairs holding hands but as they reached the top landing, Regina's gaze drifted in the opposite direction of their bedroom. "I'm just…" she started.
"Going to go check on Emma," Mal finished for her, offering her girlfriend a knowing smirk.
"Yeah," Regina shrugged one shoulder, somewhat sheepishly that it had been so obvious.
"Go," Mal squeezed her hand once before letting it go and heading for the master bedroom.
Regina headed in the opposite direction, gently pushing the door to the guest room open. For a second her heart dropped, the bed seemingly empty, the blonde head not resting on the pillow, but as she stepped quickly into the room, her racing heart slowed as she realized there was a child sized lump on the end the end of the bed, completely ensconced in blankets.
Regina smiled tenderly as she carefully tugged at the blankets, freeing Emma's head and resettling the cover so that it was resting just over her shoulder. The little girl was curled up in a tight ball, taking up hardly any square footage at all. She looked so peaceful.
Watching the steady rise and fall of the girl's chest, Regina couldn't help but reach down and stroke Emma's hair. She could have sworn Emma smiled in her sleep at the action .After several minutes, Regina finally pulled her hand away, leaning down and kissing Emma's forehead before leaving the room with one last glance over her shoulder at the sleeping child.