A/N: Hi folks, sorry for the ridiculous delay. I hope that, now that I've finally gotten through this chapter it will start flowing more smoothly again. Just over 24 hours ago I watched as my world shattered when my beloved dog was hit and killed by traffic in front of me. Remarkably, within 7 hours we had met a homeless man who had found a homeless puppy in need of a family. So as I long for sleep that I can't find, I mourn the loss of Maddee and rejoice at the addition of Miracle HeartSong Raine. (So we're sentimental saps. Shut up.) The good news for you is that I finally made myself sit down and cobble this together. It is going direct to video, er, post sans Beta reader this time. I'm just impatient, though contrite shadow is still the best person I could have gotten for a Beta. Thanks to CS for her help in the past and hopefully to come in the future. Please let me know if you see any mistakes or anything that doesn't make sense – I have had very little sleep and am just now feeling like it might finally be possible. Enough of my crap, here's the darn story. Thanks for reading and for your patience and support.
Chapter 14
The next morning, as Emma tried to decide how to pass the time that day, there came a gentle knock on her door. Hopeful, she opened the door to the kind visage of Millie, disguising the rotten soul within. Emma was grateful that announcing her presence had paid off. "Millie, how are you?" she greeted.
"Oh, I'm wonderful dear! It's so good to see you. I just wanted to see how you are. If you don't mind my saying, you and your friend didn't strike me as locals. Speaking of, where is she?" Millie looked past Emma, clearly trying to establish whether someone else was present.
"We, um, parted ways. Bit of a disagreement." Emma left it intentionally vague, but with an undertone of dark emotion.
"I see. I'm sorry to hear that." Although Millie appeared sincere, Emma was well aware that she was in fact relieved. "And what are your plans now?" Millie inquired.
"Well, I'm not quite sure." Playing the lost and overwhelmed out-of-towner wasn't all that difficult for Emma. She continued, laying the groundwork for her cover story. "See, I inherited this sword from my family. It's supposed to be special, magical or something, but I don't know how to use it. I thought about trying to join the Queen's forces but I'm not really trained, so..."
As Emma deliberately trailed off, Cora's excitement briefly bled through the disguise before she quickly collected herself and responded. "My son, may he rest in peace, was in the Queen's Guard. Some of his friends have kept an eye on me since he was killed in that dreadful attack on the Castle. Perhaps I could get them to help you. Would you like that?"
Emma quickly agreed, nodding in emphasis. "Yes, that would be great! When do we leave?"
"Anxious to get started, I see." Millie chuckled. "If you can wait here, I need to go and talk to them. I'll return by midday tomorrow, at the latest."
"Oh, sure. I'll just stay here until I see you again then. Until tomorrow."
"Yes dear. I'll see you soon." With that, Millie hobbled away and Emma settled in her room again, preparing to contact Snow and Regina.
After a brief chat with Snow, who assured her that she had not killed Regina and hidden the body, Emma wondered what to do with the rest of her day. Obviously there was no TV. She could practice magic, but that was tricky. She had to sell herself to Cora as ignorant and untrained in the ways of magic. If Emma practiced too much, not only did she risk being noticed but she might not be able to hide the training she'd received from Regina. Unsurprisingly, her stomach made itself known. While she had supplies, Emma thought that perhaps returning to the tavern would help her gather more information about the state of the kingdom, or at least the local area.
As she finished a meal which in no way measured up to what Regina could do with just a few ingredients, Emma noticed a familiar-seeming cloaked figure make its way to the exit. The figure paused just briefly near her table before continuing outside. Emma settled her tab and followed. Once outside, she noticed that her quarry had moved towards the tree line at the edge of town. Just before entering the shelter of the forest, the figure turned and confirmed her suspicions. To Emma's great relief, when the hood of the cloak was lifted slightly she was greeted with a warm smile from Graham. Without further hesitation, she followed him into the forest.
Emma spent the remainder of the day with Graham. She updated him on the plan and filled him in on her cover story. Graham agreed that it was plausible. Despite himself, he laughed when she told him of Regina's comment about her stumbling through life. As Sheriff Graham, he had seen enough of the awkward situations she tended to wind up in that he had to agree with the assessment. Graham shared with her some of his memories of Fairytale Land before the curse, when it was a much more lush and vibrant world. After a largely uneventful day spent in the company of her friend, Emma returned to her room in the village. There she tapped into the stores that Regina had sent her with and prepared a satisfying, if simple, meal.
As Emma was finishing her supper, there was a firm knock at her door followed by the now familiar billow of purple smoke. Presently, Regina stood at the inside of the closed door looking more frazzled than Emma had ever seen her. Torn between irritation and curiosity, Emma queried, "Regina? Is something wrong?"
"Is something wrong? You mean other than spending the last 24 hours with that insufferably cheery and self righteous woman? Why would anything be wrong?"
"Whoa, hey, Regina, that woman happens to also be both my mother and my best friend. Believe me, I know how annoyingly chipper she can be, but she's still my friend. Seriously, is something wrong? Has something happened?"
Regina took a few steps into the small room and took a few deep breaths before speaking further. "No, Emma, nothing has happened. I just needed to get away from her for a bit. I know you and Henry would never forgive me if I let her push me too far and hurt her. I figured I'd see what you've screwed up since last night so we could get started on fixing it." Regina's smirk, which was unusually warm, belied the harshness of her accusation as she entered further and deposited her queenly wares into the only available throne – which is to say that she sat with uncharacteristic gracelessness on the only hard, wooden, and wholly uncomfortable chair in the room. "Have you turned any peasants into stinkweed yet?"
Emma, having stood to approach at the knock on the door, resettled herself on the lone bed and leaned against the wall as she replied. "Well, there was the perfectly normal goat that now has two rear ends, the stockboy who is now a stock girl, but no stinkweed yet." With a slightest of hesitations, Emma switched from sarcasm to truth. "No, I haven't used magic except to contact you and Snow. I don't want to draw attention or anything."
"Mmm," Regina complimented; despite the outward lack of enthusiasm, their connection ensured that Emma understood Regina actually approved of her reasoning. They both knew just as clearly that Regina would never verbalize that, however. As they talked further, at times dangerously bordering on "chatting," the atmosphere became increasingly intimate and charged. Over the course of their time in Fairytale Land, both women had become aware of their seemingly natural tendency to touch in some way at night, when sharing the sleeping pallet. When both women were awake and alert, their interactions had increasingly consisted of flirty or suggestive banter and innuendo – but only when Snow was not around.
Well-versed in one means of relieving the stress and fear both women were experiencing about the upcoming tasks, Regina rose and approached Emma slowly, tantalizingly. She captured Emma's eyes in a smoldering gaze as she glided towards her, lightly grazing Emma's knee with the side of her hand as she moved to sit beside the younger woman. "Emma, perhaps we should try working magic together once more," she whispered, seduction dripping from her words.
Emma, very nearly enthralled, knew she had to stay strong. Stuttering, she implored, "Re- Regina, stop." As Regina continued to invade her space, Emma held up a hand to Regina's shoulder. Pushing lightly, she moved further against the wall and once again said, "Regina, enough. Stop this now."
Startled, and stung by rejection, Regina dropped both hands to her sides and looked at Emma through a haze of arousal, power, and confusion. "Emma, what are you talking about?"
"Enough Regina! We're both big girls here. We both know what you're doing. Do you think you're the only woman ever to use her body to get what she wants? Come on, be serious. I was a bail bonds-person for years. The night Henry came to me, do you know what I had just finished doing?"
"Blowing out a candle on your birthday cupcake, as I recall you telling me. How is that relevant?"
"Yes, but before that. I captured a mark by tricking him into meeting for a date. And believe me, that's one of the milder tricks I've used. So I know what it looks like when a woman is trying to seduce someone for her own gain."
"I'm sure you have many interesting stories from the street corner, but I still fail to see how-"
"Shut up! God woman, just shut up and listen to someone else for a change. Whatever I've done, isn't that much different from you screwing Graham to keep the Sheriff's Department in your back pocket. So just shut up and let me finish." Regina glared, as she often did, but remained quiet, so Emma continued. "Regina, there is something real here. Something more than just seduction, power, manipulation. We both know there is a connection between us we can't escape, no matter how much we may try." Despite her effort, Regina couldn't completely suppress the wry smirk in acknowledgement of Emma's point. "And," Emma continued, "there's more at stake here than our own pride, or our libidos. It seems that whole kingdoms depend on our success. More importantly, I want to go home. I want to see Henry, and I know you do too. And I don't want to screw up our chances of getting back to him just so we can get laid or keep up these power games or whatever else you want to call it. I don't wanna do the whole U-Haul thing here and overlook a lead that might help us get home. Okay? I..it's…" Shaking her head in frustration at her inability to express these still new and confusing feelings, Emma then sighed and continued, "I'm not saying no; I'm saying not now, and not like this. If you want me, if you want this, what's between us, we have to wait. We have to work for it. If, and when, we do make it back to him, I won't have Henry hurt more because we decided to use each other here." As Regina only watched her, thankfully intent on listening for a change, Emma concluded, "That's it, that's all I wanted to say."
With that, Emma rose from the bed and stood before the room's small window.. She was not accustomed to being vulnerable, certainly not by choice, and she had now opened herself to Regina and Snow more than she ever intended or thought possible. Taking time to calm herself and collect her thoughts, Emma watched as the small but bustling village wound down for the night. Soft though they were, she did not miss Regina's steps as she approached Emma. Regina stopped just shy of Emma's left shoulder and laid a gentle hand on her back. Softly, she returned Emma's offering of trust, "You're right. About everything you just said, you are correct. I am sorry. I was out of line. As you say, I am used to using seduction to get what I wish for. But, as you pointed out, what we both want most right now is to return to our son and no amount of seduction will help with that, nor is it appropriate under the circumstances. So, again, I apologize. And do not get used to hearing those words from me, I do not use them often. I do know that, like it or not, our magic is stronger when we work together. Combined, our power is greater even than what I had achieved before casting the curse. Somehow, magic has changed here. Or maybe just my magic has changed, I don't know yet. But when we touch-" Emma startled Regina by laughing at that. "Miss Swan! I was trying to take a chance, to open-"
Emma spun around to face Regina, and grabbed her hand before she could retreat. Still smiling, she interrupted, "Oh, can it Regina. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that when you said that, something ran through my head; an old song lyric, I don't even remember the song. Just something about how you said it made me think of this old song, that's all. I apologize now, and like you that's not something I do lightly. We are stronger together. Take that however you like, I mean it on every level. I ground you…" Emma paused and watched Regina for some indication that she was listening. Regina gave a small nod of assent, and Emma went on, "And you give me focus and direction. You are very skilled with magic, you have knowledge and experience I don't. I seem to have a type of magic you don't, but I can't control it very well without your guidance. We need to really be together for this to work – again, take that any way you want. There's no way I can take on Cora by myself. But guess what; I'm not going to leave you to face her alone either. Okay? You don't have to manipulate me, or seduce me, to get me to help you with this. We want the same things. I'm in. We'll see this through. We'll get back to our son, and maybe we'll be able to give him a family; if not a sane one, at least a slightly less contentious one." Emma went for the cheap shot, grateful when Regina let out a genuine chuckle.
Each woman was well aware that their hands remained joined but made no effort to separate. After a few moments of quiet but intense eye contact, Regina cleared her throat and broke the silence. "Well, I should get back. I need to be ready for transporting that mother of yours with me next time."
"Yeah," Emma said. "We'll figure this out together, but for right now we have different places we need to be to get it done. Go on back, we'll talk soon." With a barely perceptible nod and not-quite-there squeeze of their joined hands, Regina made her exit once again. Oddly, Emma noticed, the purple had a slightly different hue this time.