T/W For minor character death
Chapter seven
Emma tried to wipe the massive grin from her face as she exited the bug but it was more than difficult considering that she had just returned from the mayor's office after coming up with a very 'pertinent' explanation as to why she had to go to see her girlfriend. Regina had rolled her eyes at paperwork that she had asked for the week before but her exasperation had fallen away when she realised that the papers came with a to-go cup of coffee.
However, the closer she got to the station, the more it started to fade as she realised just who would be waiting for her there. Out of her parents, she was pretty sure that David would have taken everything better and would be more willing to have an adult conversation with her. But that was before they had found out about her and Regina. When she had imagined coming out to her parents, she never thought that she would basically have to do it three times. She knew that her being gay would never really be an issue with them, but being a vampire and being with a woman who had spent decades trying to make them miserable was more than most normal people would be able to take. She would understand if her father was at least a little apprehensive around her, but she also knew that it would hurt.
With a few rather unnecessary deep breaths, she pushed the door to the station open and started walking down the corridor as slowly as she possibly could. She couldn't help but imagine how she would feel if Charming didn't smile at her as he always did when she came to work, she could just see it in her mind the brief frown he would throw at her before he quickly changed to a forced grin. The atmosphere would instantly become awkward and they would be forced to spend the rest of their shift in an oppressive silence which would only be broken by the occasional work related comment. That was not something that she felt like she could deal with and for a split second she considered simply going back to Regina. She could call in sick and hope that her father wouldn't question how common it really was for an immortal vampire to get the sniffles.
As she thought about this, she failed to notice that she had already passed the point of no return since she was standing at the entrance to the main area of the station.
Swallowing hard, she allowed her eyes to move over to the blond prince sat at his desk. Her footsteps had brought his attention away from whatever he was working on and he was currently looking at her with an unreadable expression as his paternal sleep deprived brain was working on registering exactly who was the cause of his distraction.
Emma stared at him for a couple seconds, before she offered him a tentative smile and almost begged him with her eyes to show some emotion so she could figure out exactly how he felt.
She got her answer before she had any time to react, however, as Charming stood from his chair without a second thought once he realised that it was his eldest child who had arrived. He quickly crossed the station and brought his arms around her. The blonde woman blinked a few times, trying to come to realise that she had been completely wrong about what she should expect. Finally, she managed to return the gesture and suddenly felt more than silly for doubting that her father would be anything but welcoming, especially since it had been so long since they had actually seen each other, well it was a long time for the Charming family anyway considering how close they had become since the curse had broken.
The hug went on for about five more seconds before the male of the pair finally released the woman and took a step back, offering his daughter a huge smile.
"You look tired…" Emma frowned once she finally got a closer look at her father's face.
Charming just shrugged and shook his head at the same time, as if to tell her that there was no reason to worry about him.
"It wasn't too easy to go to bed early after so many weeks of sleeping whenever Neal slept. It will take a while to get used to having a baby and a job at the same time…plus…"
When he trailed off, the saviour quirked an eyebrow and asked, "plus?"
"Your mother has been having some trouble sleeping…she misses you."
Emma bit the inside of her cheek and suddenly felt a pang of guilt at the thought that she had caused her parents such problems when she was basically having a perfect week with her girlfriend and their son. But then she reminded herself that if Snow had messaged or called her, she would have been more than willing to talk to her.
"I…" she began, wishing that she could say sorry, but at the same time, she didn't want to apologise for something that wasn't her fault. It wasn't as if she had chosen to become a vampire and she would have had to tell them eventually anyway. It was just unfortunate that they had to find out the hard way.
Charming held up his hand to cut off any attempts at an apology and said, "it is no one's fault and you certainly have no reason to apologise…though maybe you could have waited a while to act on your crush if only for your mother's mental stability."
Emma blushed and smiled slightly at the same time as her mind wondered to Regina, as it often did.
"I didn't plan for it to happen…but…"
"Don't worry, Em, I get it," David laughed lightly, "and I honestly thought that it would have happened a lot sooner, so I suppose that I have mentally prepared myself for it…Snow…not so much…"
The saviour nodded and said, "I do miss her too, but I figured that it would be better to give you guys space like I promised I would…."
"We were actually talking about that earlier…" Charming said, "I was thinking…if you're up to it, you could join your mother and I for lunch and we could try and talk things through…"
Emma swallowed hard and thought about this for a moment. Her throat constricted slightly as she pictured that lunch going terribly wrong. As much as she loved Snow, she knew that the woman could be irrational whenever she was faced with change.
"I can do that…I guess…" she sighed, along with the feeling of worry brewing in her stomach, she also felt a certain sense of foreboding at the thought of interacting with both of her parents at the same time. Even if she knew that she had nothing to worry about with her father, she was painfully aware that he tended to steer on the side of agreeing with his wife, at least in the moment. If Snow was unable to be as civil as she planned to be, there was a good chance that this wouldn't go well and their relationship would take another hit.
"It will be fine," he assured as he slung his arm around her shoulder reassuringly. The pair began languidly walking towards the desk with all of the work they had to complete piled upon it.
"You don't sound so sure…" Emma frowned with a quirked eyebrow.
David bit his lip and quickly ran through all of the possibilities, but he quickly shook his head and said, "we just need some explanations for some things and then I think that we can start to move past the initial shock."
"Explanation," the blonde mumbled almost to herself, "I can definitely do that."
"Where is her head?!"
Damon winced and took in a sharp breath as an image of his sister's detached head popped into his mind. Even though he had been so set upon taking Talia's life just a few days ago, that didn't change the fact that there were certain limits, even for him.
Swallowing hard, he looked up from the hardwood floor, still making a point of keeping his head bowed slightly.
"Forgive me master, but she was not alone when we attacked…"
"I thought that you said that she had refused to become part of any of the clans," the middle aged man stood before him growled.
Damon took in another deep breath and looked sideways to the two comrades who had accompanied him to New York. He could tell that they were still pissed at him and he honestly couldn't blame them.
"She isn't part of a clan, master Darius, she was with a human."
Darius set his jaw and narrowed his eyes at the same time, "you were defeated by a human?! My top three hunters were defeated by a fucking human?!"
Damon winced again, it wasn't often that his master swore and it meant that he was truly in trouble.
"She defended her master, she got in the way of my sword and I wounded her."
"So you killed the human?"
"No…well not exactly…"
Darius stared at him blankly and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"You believe that this human has been turned?" he asked slowly, his voice dripping with disbelief.
"It is almost a certainty; I could see it in Talia's eyes. There was no way that she was going to allow her friend to die, especially since it was her fault that she was injured in the first place."
"Let me see if I have this straight, you have wasted three years of the orders time and the result of your efforts is you having created another vampire?"
Damon looked down at the ground, once again refusing to look up at his enraged master's eyes.
"If you just give us one more chance, we can…"
Darius held up his hand.
"You have had more than enough chances, Damon. There have been no reports of Talia causing harm to any humans in the areas in which she has lived. There are many you could have saved rather than wasting your time!"
"But she's a vampire!" Damon shot back, not quite sure where his sudden burst of courage had come from, "the order has taught be that they must all be snuffed out."
Darius quirked an eyebrow at the boy and looked between the other two hunters kneeling before him. They were looking at Damon in complete and utter disbelief, one of them looked as though they were on the verge of telling him to shut up.
"Indeed the aim of the order is to eliminate the supernatural," he agreed, "but it would be foolish to believe that this goal can be achieved in your lifetime. Though it would be unreasonable to believe that every vampire can be disposed of so easily, it is also foolish to waste a lifetime hunting only one. Especially when this one seems capable of outwitting you at every turn! But then again Talia has always been the better hunter!"
Damon looked up to the man with contempt shining in his eyes. Clearly the man knew just what button to press to piss him off.
Darius noted his growing anger and decided to continue, "I truly regret that I have failed your parents so incredibly. They trusted me to watch after you in the event of their death and now their children have become a monster and a failure!"
With an almost animal like growl, Damon sprung to his feet and leapt at the older man. The two of the stumbled backwards until the younger of the two had the other pinned against the wall with his forearm placed against his neck.
Damon's two companions also sprang to their feet and each drew a short blade from their sides, but their master shook his head slightly to tell them to back down.
Damon pushed his arm tighter against his neck when Darius started to laugh deeply.
"What is your plan, boy? Kill me and then what? Continue to hunt your sister until the day you die?"
The younger man's face contorted into one of pain and conflict. Obviously he didn't know what he wanted.
"I…I don't…"
As he stuttered, Damon loosened his grip on his master, who took the opportunity to bring his knee up straight into his stomach.
The young man's eyes widened as he stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, clutching his stomach tightly as he desperately tried to catch his breath.
"You have no idea what you're doing," Darius growled as he walked over to with a slight smirk playing across his lips. "It should have been you."
Damon blinked a few times and looked between his 'friends' to see if they had any idea what their master was talking about, but they looked just as confused as he felt.
"What?" he asked hoarsely.
The older man reached behind him and drew a short blade from his belt, "it should have been you who was turned. Talia wouldn't have taken three years to track you down!"
"Please…" Damon tried when his mind finally caught onto the fact that his master had drawn a blade, "just give me one more chance, I will hunt them both down…"
"There's an old saying that you've probably heard of, Damon," Darius said in a deceptively calm tone while he pointed the sword at his student. "If you want something done right…" on the last word, he thrust the blade forward into the young man's throat and as Damon desperately gasped for air, he added, "do it yourself."
Emma tapped her fingers against the table and briefly berated herself for asking Charming whether she would be able to go and meet her mother on her own. The man had smiled and agreed instantly since he knew that his presence could potentially make things slightly more awkward considering that he had already pretty much reconnected with his daughter. He wanted Emma and Snow to have a conversation without any kind of distraction; plus, this way he could watch Neal and give his wife no excuse to back out of her promise.
But that did mean that Emma had to sit at the booth without someone to tell her that this was going to go well and then everything would start to go back to some kind of normal. The prospect of not having to hide who she really was and getting to have Regina as her girlfriend sounded unbelievably perfect. But that perfection was predicated on the idea that she would still get to have her parents in her life, which meant that Snow would have to find a way to get over everything that had come to light.
"It's going to be fine," someone said next to her as they placed a to-go cup in front of her. As the smell of blood hit her nostrils, she instantly knew that it had to be Ruby and she turned to offer her best friend a cautious smile.
"Thanks, Rubes," she sighed as she pulled the cup closer to her, the smell was already relaxing her slightly and she had yet to actually let her personal ambrosia to pass her lips, "but how did you know that there's something going on?"
The waitress just laughed lightly and said, "you look really concerned, which either means that you're having relationship issues or your having parent issues. Since I could smell madam mayor on you the second you walked in, I'm gonna go for the latter…"
"I've had lunch with Snow a million times, I've never been this nervous…" Emma admitted as her eyes pretended to be interested in the pattern of the cup in her hand.
"Exactly, Em, you know that Snow loves you but she does over-react to almost everything new. The fact that she was willing to even set up this lunch is a good thing. Trust me."
"Okay," the blonde said unsurely as she looked back over to the door, "but it probably would have been better if I hadn't gotten here ten minutes early, I'm never early.."
Ruby laughed and shook her head, "she'll be here any minute and you will have a perfectly civil conversation. She'll probably ask you some questions about everything and then you can all move past this whole thing."
Emma bit the inside of her cheek and wondered whether her mother would take her past quite as well as Henry and Regina had. She certainly didn't feel like having to tell the story of how she became a vampire again, but she also had no doubt that it would probably be one of the many questions the school teacher would want answered. Despite this, the saviour couldn't help but think that this could only be a good thing. All she had to do was answer a few questions, be completely honest and then she wouldn't have to spend most of her day wondering whether her parents wanted to disown her.
Ruby tried not to scowl when another customer raised their hand for her attention and she quickly placed her hand on the blonde's shoulder reassuringly.
"You've got this, Em."
With that she walked away and Emma watched her go for a second, briefly wishing that the wolf could have stayed at the table for moral support. But then she reminded herself that there was a reason that she had asked her father to not come to the lunch and she hardened her resolve.
A moment later, the bell over the door rang out and the blonde's eyes shot over to it. As the pixie haired woman walked in tentatively, Emma felt the knots in her stomach tighten while her shoulders relaxed at the same time. She considered that she could just poof herself away or she could use her super speed, but that would just be postponing the inevitable. She wanted to have this conversation, but she was still rather worried that it wouldn't fix everything and things would be awkward for the foreseeable future.
With these thoughts running through her mind, she forced herself to offer her mother a short wave in order to catch her attention.
Snow's eyes were brought over to her instantly and she swallowed hard when she realised that it was all her own fault that she hadn't seen her eldest child since the night she had found out the truth.
Slowly, she made her way over to the booth and slid into the space opposite her.
The pair of them sat in silence for a few moments, before Emma cleared her throat and awkwardly said, "hi."
Snow looked up from the table top and finally managed to offer the blonde a smile. When Emma smiled back, everything melted away for a second and her own smile widened. That was until her eyes looked down to the to-go cup in the other woman's hand and she realised that she probably didn't have coffee in it since she could have just had it in a normal mug if she was drinking something that no one would question.
"Is that blood?" she whispered after a moment of contemplation.
Emma looked down to it and winced slightly when her mind registered the hint of judgement in her voice, but then she considered that she probably would have had the same reaction if she had ever decided to open one of Talia's 'protein shakes' before she found out the truth about her. The idea of drinking blood would obviously be a repulsive prospect to a mortal and there was probably never anything that she would be able to do about that. But that didn't mean that her parents couldn't get used to it over time.
"Yeah…I kind of have to drink it…" the blonde replied quietly.
Snow's eyes widened when she realised her folly and she quickly reached across the table to grab her daughter's hand. Emma blinked down at their connected hands for a moment before she looked up to her mother with a questioning gaze.
The brunette bowed her head a little at the blonde's confusion, "I didn't mean to say it as a bad thing…"
Emma brought her free hand over her mother's and squeezed it lightly, "I know, mom."
They smiled at each other before they fell into another silence which was quickly disrupted by the arrival of a certain wolfish waitress.
"What can I get you two lovely ladies?" she asked with a grin as her eyes fell to their joined hands. Ruby did enjoy being right.
"Err…I think I'm good," Emma replied as she looked down to the cup that she had yet to pick up, "mom?"
"Chicken salad and coffee please," the brunette replied as she reluctantly brought her hands back to her side of the table.
"Okay, dad said that you have questions," Emma said after Ruby walked off to the kitchen.
Snow bit her lip and reached into her purse tentatively and she pulled out a little notebook. The blonde quirked an eyebrow as her mother slowly pushed it over to her and she hesitated for a moment before she flipped the front page over and allowed her eyes to run across the first through lines. After, she flipped through it and couldn't stop herself from laughing slightly.
"I might have to call dad and tell him lunch is going to take a while."
A.N. I hope you guys enjoyed :) I need to help PerditusFic for her help XD
Reviews would be very appreciated :)