CHAPTER 5

"I'm so sorry."

Mal inhaled a deep breath. Regina had spent the past hour doing nothing but crying and apologizing. Not that she didn't appreciate it. It's just they really had more important things to deal with at the moment. She looked over to where Regina sat slumped against the sofa.

When she'd been awakened by Ursula and Cruella, they'd given her a crash course in what had been going on in the time she'd been trapped in her dragon form. They now existed in a new world. And her daughter was still lost.

She hadn't cared nor needed to hear anything else outside of that. She'd insisted that they take her to Regina. And they'd instantly obliged.

Being a cold blooded animal, she had spent the past 28 years in more of a brumated state. She was still weak. And hungry. But right now her baby and her lover trumped everything else.

"We must find her," she ran her hands down her face.

Regina nodded woodenly as her voice broke, "don't you think I know that?"

She had tried everyday since her first day of waking up here to find her daughter. Without magic, it had been difficult.

She'd scoured the entire town and hadn't found one infant that would fit the little she knew to be true about Lily. She was aware she had her hair and eyes. According to Mal, she was a little Regina. But that had been the only information she'd gathered before the curse had swept them all here.

She'd tried questioning Snow. But she'd gotten nothing out of her. She remembered nothing of their former life. At one point, she'd even had to be pulled off of Snow White by the then Sheriff Graham. She'd been seconds away from choking her to death. The townsfolk had looked upon the situation with shock and horror. Of course the curse had reset and the situation had soon been forgotten by everyone. Everyone except Regina.

When she had ensured that she'd checked throughout this town, she'd extended her search beyond its borders. But the world they had come to was vast. There were different rules than the ones from their old. She'd tried her best but had still come up emptyhanded.

She'd been so defeated. She'd lost her lover and her daughter. She was ready to throw the towel in. Then there was Henry.

He'd been a last gasp of life to a dying soul. He'd delivered her from darkness. He'd been her everything. But she wasn't enough to stem his wrath once he found out that he was adopted.

Now he was gone too. And she had been alone. Again. Until now.

"I'm back," Maleficent said as she sat up impossibly straighter than her perfect posture already allowed. She reached over and wiped the tears away from her lover's eyes. "I'm back," she repeated softer this time. "And WE will do this. We will bring out daughter back home to us."

Regina felt something inside her warm as the dragon's breath blew lightly on the embers inside her heart. Tears still made their way down each cheek. But this time she reached up and wiped them away from obscuring the sight of the woman she'd loved and thought had been lost to her forever. "You're back," she nodded.

And with her reappearance, magic had returned. Regina could feel hers thrum just beneath the surface of her skin. It mixed with the dragon fire and lit her on fire from the inside out. What had once been frozen on the insides slowly warmed and came back to life.

She looked around her study and her eyes landed on the books that had been tucked away at the very top of her bookcase. She had put them up there after Cora. She hadn't wanted to see anything that would remind her of her Mother's death.

But she had spent years hunting through her collection of magic books. Maybe – . Any hope was better than the nothingness and despair that sat before them.

She lifted her hand and the books magically swept toward where she and Mal sat on the sofa. She looked into her lover's eyes, her determination making hers appear to almost glow. "Let's get to work."

-:-

MF

"I know this is difficult for you to hear dear. After everything else you've done. You've shown a love that – ," Cora's voice broke as she stared at the angry redhead in front of her. She cleared her still aching throat loudly and swallowed before continuing, "There is no way to ever repay what you have given to me. And after all that I have done to you," again her voice trailed off as she tried desperately to regain her composure.

"You've always loved her more!" Zelena spat as her hands wrung together. She sat staring ahead with glassy eyes beside the Mother she'd longed to have her entire life. And she still wanted the brat instead.

"Love?" Cora smiled wistfully. "I promise you that she would completely disagree with you." She shook her head as she continued. The guilt, regret, and even self-hatred that lived inside her she knew was her price to pay for all she'd done before. "I – I didn't really know how to love very well. And I took it out on you. But also on her."

She turned to her eldest daughter. With her heart back in its rightful place, emotions that had long withered and died inside of her now returned. "I was less of a Mother to her than I was to you. At least you had a chance with someone else. The things I did - ," her voice cracked again and this time tears began to sting the back of her eyes. She blinked rapidly but couldn't hold them back anymore. "Damn these emotions," she dabbed impatiently at her eyes hating herself for this weakness. She spent almost every waking moment crying her eyes out. She needed the pain inside her to go away. The urge to rip her heart out herself this time forced her to hands to tighten into fists.

Since her heart had been returned to her so had the nightmares that she'd caused others. The ache inside her was almost constant. And she knew she deserved that and worse.

But she had to try and make things right. Not for herself. But because she owed it to her children. She was the monster. And they deserved their happiness.

"I promise nothing," Zelena answered as she finally turned toward her Mother. "But I will send word."

Cora leaned over and stroked her daughter's cheek. She still couldn't believe that this magnificent creature was hers. "I do you know."

Zelena raised a single brow in question.

"Love you,' she breathed. The redhead's chin trembled and her eyes became waterlogged but she refused to let them flow. "And not just for this. For being you. And that you're better than me. Had you lived with me - ," she shook her head horrified at the memories of all she'd forced her youngest child to endure.

"If she were here – she'd say you got the better end of the deal. And she'd be right," Cora's cheeks reddened as she admitted what she knew to be true as the self-hatred rose up to claim her.

And still – the beautiful creature before her showed her true heart once again. She leaned over and took her Mother's hand and clasped it tightly in hers, "I'm here because of you." She locked eyes with her Mother and refused to allow her to look away. "And I do too."

Cora buried her head and allowed the emotion that had escaped her for decades now flow through her. She fell into her daughter's arms. And she cried because she could.

-:-

CF

Emma was beyond pissed. She was absolutely fuming. She paced her room. Or rather her room as she gathered all of her willpower to help her calm down before going and facing her parents.

Not only had they allowed their own grandson to be publicly humiliated. But they'd sided with that – that thing!

Neal had tried his best to distract Henry with bad jokes and stories of his life adventures but he was having none of it. The dinner that he'd been so proud to attend had ruined his appetite. After a few minutes in the kitchen, he'd asked to please be excused.

Emma assured him they'd come and tuck him in soon. It usually excited him to spend time with both his parents. This time he just gave her a sad smile and nodded before slumping away.

"I can't believe they did that," she gritted out through her teeth. "I mean – what the hell were they thinking?"

Neal looked at her perplexed. She had been 17 when he'd met her. But she had been to school before. And seen old movies. "Emma what were you expecting here?"

She stared at him blankly completely stupefied. "What do you mean?"

"Your parents must've explained to you that life here is completely different. There are completely different rules here. You're going to have to get used to it fast. And teach him to get used to them fast."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she cried out. "Henry's their own grandson and they just treated him as if he was - ," her voice broke off before she used the word pariah. For some reason at that moment, Regina was what had popped into her head. She shook it to clear those muddled thoughts away.

Neal stared at her as her face took on a thoughtful faraway expression. His entire world had been rocked in just a few days. He'd found out he had a son, the father he never expected to see again had reappeared in his life, the woman he'd left to fulfill her own destiny had come back into his life, then he'd been sucked down into a portal that had brought him back to the previous hell he'd run away from. He had his own problems.

But he was a Father now. And making sure that Henry was okay was his first priority, "we should go and check on Henry."

Neal's voice drew Emma away from her inner demons. She nodded her head and followed him up the backstairs to the second floor.

They went together to tuck Henry into bed. But he was already asleep when they got there. His shoulder's shook as he took ragged breaths in then let them out in a shuddery exhale. It broke Emma's heart to see that even in his sleep he was crying. Not for the first time, she found herself questioning what she'd done by bringing them to this world.

Neal gently eased the storybook that he held clutched to his chest from his arms and covered him before they both backed out of the room.

They both stood awkwardly in the hallway. "I should - ," they said in unison and pointed toward their respective rooms at exact same time.

Emma gave him a small smile as she turned toward her room, "well goodnight."

"You too," Neal said as he made his way towards his.

Now Emma paced back and forth still fuming over the day's events. How dare they! Henry didn't deserve that! She made her way to the door having made up her mind to confront her parents.

When she went back downstairs, the dining rooms had been emptied. She searched through the small part of the castle that was still standing and found no one. That is until she came out into the foyer. Gold stood there with one of his trademark smirks on his face. He leaned lightly against his cane as if he'd been expecting her at just this minute. She hated when he did that.

"Missing something?" he asked as his eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Or someone?" he inquired with one of his maniacal giggles.

Her head reared back as she tried to put on a bored, blank expression. "I was just looking for my parents," she lied covering up what or rather who she had actually been thinking about in that moment. Right as she'd turned the corner the question of how in the hell Regina had put up with all of this had just entered her head. Now Gold was staring at her as if he had heard what she'd been thinking.

The look her gave her said that it was clear he was aware she was lying. But decided to let it go for the moment. "They've retired for the night. Everyone's gone to bed already." He turned toward the stairs and slowly began to make his way up them.

When he got near the top stair, he called down below him, "when you're ready to ask about her. Let me know," he said before disappearing from her sight.

"I hate when he does that," she muttered.

CF

The next morning she rose and washed quickly. She wanted to get to her parents and have it out with them before Henry woke. She wanted to ensure that he would face no more unpleasantness in their time there.

When she went looking for them, she'd been directed toward their old throne room by a sour faced woman. She'd come with them from Storybrooke. Emma thought she recalled her being a waitress from the Rabbit Hole. Now she wore old clothes and somehow looked older than she remembered her to be just yesterday.

When she entered the room the woman had pointed to she gasped aloud. The room was in rubble and overrun just as the rest of the castle had been. But the fact that her parents were sitting on their thrones despite the rats and other wreckage shocked her.

She stepped up as their heads swung her way. They'd appeared deep in conversation and frowned as she came closer.

She opened her mouth to address the situation from last night. Instead she got another shock of her life.

'Emma," David and Snow sat up straight as she made her way up the stairs to their chairs. "We need to talk to you."

"I was thinking just the same thing."

Snow nodded her head before fixing her with a huge grin. She flicked her wrist out, "we'll get to your behavior at dinner last night later. But first," she clapped her hands and leaned forward on her throne. She was practically bouncing from excitement, "We've received a proposal for your hand in marriage."

Emma stared at them as if they'd lost their minds. When she realized they were serious she could do nothing but stare at them in horror. "What?!"