The carriage rocks from side to side as the horses carry it down a thin dirt path that crosses through the woods right where Emma had first driven into Storybrooke, and Henry's looking as nauseated as his mother by the end of the ride, clutching on to the side of his seat as he peers out the window. "How much more time is this going to take?" he whines.
Regina shoots him a quelling eyebrow. "As I said previously, this trip is primarily about surveying the kingdom. When I am finished, then we can discuss other plans." It's her last holdout against Emma's persuasion, and they all know it.
Emma had been encouraged by Grumpy's uncertainty regarding Henry's tyranny, and the obvious answer to the villagers' hate had been to introduce Henry to them, to let them see for themselves that he could someday be a king they'd tolerate far more than his mother. It has the added bonus of giving Henry time with his peers and outside the stifling castle, and Emma isn't entirely averse to the idea of getting some fresh air for a day that doesn't end in the mines with a bunch of unreceptive royals. Regina had refused outright.
And maybe she's right, maybe placing Henry in a position where he'll be surrounded by enemies who'd think nothing of killing him is a bad idea, but they're traveling with two carriages of guards today and Regina herself. Emma can't imagine that any villager who values his life would try to assassinate Henry under Regina's eagle eye, and she knows that keeping Henry from all this will only exacerbate an already hostile situation. And as long as no one is turned to stone or thrown into the dungeons by the end of today, Emma's confident it'll be a pretty good publicity move.
Still, though, they'd fought back and forth about it for days and that had been a nightmare, Regina threatening to lock her back in her room more than once if she didn't stop "taking liberties with her son" and actually slashing her arm with a sword during one heated fencing session. (She hadn't retaliated, per se, when she'd tried using magic in response and nearly set Regina on fire, but if she had it would've been totally justified, okay?) It had taken that injury and Henry's outrage to finally calm them both, and only once Henry had informed them that he wanted to do it, and didn't his mother trust him to be a noble and true prince?, did Regina relent to taking him out with the possibility of a visit to the village.
Henry had been overjoyed, Emma optimistic, and Regina tense and so unhappy that she won't even make eye contact with Emma on their trip today. Emma is delicately keeping quiet, leaving the chatter to Henry as he exclaims on familiar landmarks and the occasional magical creature that vanishes into the trees as they stride past.
"Look over there!" Henry says suddenly, tugging her arm so she can peer out at the water beside them. "See that? That's the troll bridge where Snow and her prince first met!"
"Trolls?" She squints out at the shadowed area under the bridge. "No, wait, Henry. That's not a troll, it's one of my ex-boyfriends." Regina lets out a laugh in a whoosh of breath that she covers up by glaring extra hard at Emma, who winks right back at her, unintimidated.
Henry gives her a look, the familiar one he's been giving her lately that says you and my mom are getting along and it's making me very concerned about your good guy credentials and she squirms, falling silent again and keeping an eye on Regina. They've reached a fork in the road that has a trap with a deer in it hanging from a tree at the center and that she's certain they've passed three times already in Regina's very thorough surveillance.
Finally, Regina sighs heavily and says, "Well, I suppose it's time to take a look at the village," and the driver lets out a shout and all three carriages turn to the right and drive on.
It's only then that Henry tenses, fear that has nothing to do with his safety written all over his face, and Emma recognizes that face from a dozen first days at a new school. She slides her hand over to squeeze his, and he squeezes back, staring out the window at nothing at all. "You're going to have a great time, Henry."
"This is a terrible idea," Regina grumbles, staring out the window rather than making eye contact with either of them. She sighs. "Well, then, I suppose we can stop here."
Here is just outside yet another body of water, this one within a hundred feet from the village and full of kids. Kids laughing, dunking into the lake and throwing each other inside. Kids on the bank beside it, fighting with branches and climbing into trees, kids chasing each other in winding paths around the trees and the water.
Kids who fall silent when the carriages halt beside the lake and the guards emerge, standing at attention outside the center carriage while Henry stares out at them through the door to it. They follow his descent with untrusting eyes, and Emma bites her lip as Regina follows him out, glaring at them all equally suspiciously. It's like walking around with a team of cops waiting to arrest anyone who blinks wrong, and Emma knows from experience that no one's going to be having any fun like this. Persuading Regina of that fact will be a whole different matter, though, judging from the queen's stiff posture and flashing eyes. Henry seems reassured by his mother's presence, though, hesitating at her side before he moves forward.
"Um…are you fencing?" he tries timidly, approaching the closest boy wielding a sharpened stick.
The boy stares at him, then back at his friends, and then he deliberately walks along the bank until he's far from Henry, his friends trailing at his heels.
Henry stares at his feet. Regina is livid, fireballs half-emerging from her fists before Emma catches sight of them and ducks out of the carriage, grabbing the queen by the wrist before the village is reduced to rubble. "Regina, hey! Relax!"
"No one insults my son like that!" Regina grits out, the flames in her hands getting worryingly warm against Emma's arm.
Emma tightens her grip, wincing at the abject terror on the faces of the kids who'd followed the first kid off. The latter boy stands unafraid, his branch high and defiant in his hands, and Emma gives him a dirty look, irritated and maybe a little impressed. "Yeah, well, what are you expecting from these kids? You've got a dozen armed guards in the middle of their park, and the evil queen herself is trying to make them make nice with her son!"
"Don't call me that," Regina growls. "You have a better idea, Miss Swan?" Her voice is like ice, but her hands have cooled as well, Emma notices with some relief.
She shrugs. "Send the guards back inside. Leave one," she adds quickly, remembering that Henry is most definitely in some danger here, regardless of Rumpelstiltskin's assurances at the last meeting she'd attended. "But the guards and the carriages have to go or these kids are never going to get any closer to Henry."
Regina stares at her, and she squeezes her arm, reassuring. "And we are going to go for a little walk, just over there." She waves her hand over to a spot across the road, still in clear view of the lake. She softens her voice. "Give Henry a chance to win them over. You can't force love," she murmurs, and feels Regina's muscles relax in her grip.
The queen doesn't say anything, just nods to her guards and follows Emma, and the carriages are gone before they make it to a nicely shaded spot. "I don't like that boy," she says finally, standing beside the tree like a sentry.
Emma tugs her down beside her. "Come on, he's just nervous. Henry's going to be fine." The young prince has settled down on a rock beside the water, making eye contact with no one and drawing faces in the dirt.
"His name is Hansel." Regina leans back against the tree, her eyes never leaving Henry. "His sister attempted to seduce and harm Henry last year."
Gretel. Right. "What'd you do to her?" It's not curiosity or accusation anymore, just the weariness of knowledge that Regina has done something else awful to someone who probably deserved better. She can't muster up outrage as easily anymore, and it feels more like surrender than she's comfortable with, truth be told.
"I banished her." Regina gestures somewhere toward the troll bridge where they'd come from. "I set up an enchantment that will never allow her to return to her family. Others can cross the border of her home to bring her food or company, but her brother and father can never reach her again."
It's a cruel punishment, if not nearly as bad as Emma would have imagined for someone who'd hurt Henry. Regina goes soft on kids, she thinks, and wonders if those fireballs would have even been thrown if she hadn't been there to stop the queen.
No. Underestimating the lengths Regina might go to can't be a good idea, even when she's soft and quiet beside Emma and watching her son with eyes that can't guard her love and protectiveness.
Henry is still sitting alone on the rock, but the other kids are starting to play around him, returning to their old spots and talking and laughing again. "Soon," Emma murmurs, and she feels a wave of sympathy for their son. She remembers too many schoolyards where she'd been in the same position, watching the other kids playing ball or sharing snacks and ignoring the little girl with too-large clothes and sullen resentment on her face. Of course, she hadn't had Henry's princely disposition either, and she'd taken to picking fights instead of making friends. She'd come back from school to the home of the month most days with nearly as many scrapes and bruises, she'd noted proudly, as her adversary had earned.
She tells as much to Regina when the other woman is tensing up again, and she's surprised to see Regina's face darken at that nearly as much as it had at Henry's snub earlier. "Children can be cruel," she says, running her thumb against Emma's hip absentmindedly.
"You have many friends growing up?"
In the Emma/Henry/Regina triad of social failure, it seems least likely that Regina would be the one with the healthy past, and she isn't surprised when Regina shakes her head. "They were all too terrified of my mother to approach me, and I was equally terrified to do the same." She laughs, and it isn't pleasant. "I suppose Henry has inherited that legacy as well."
Emma pokes her. "Oh, please. You, terrifying? You're like a vicious kitten who occasionally snatches people's hearts and dooms them to your eternal rule." Which might be a new level in her audacity toward said vicious lady, but she's survived nearly being burned today and she's feeling bold.
Regina turns away from Henry for the first time to squint at Emma. "Did you just call me a vicious kitten?" She is looking fairly kittenish today, all curled up in the grass with wide, dark eyes and bewilderment on her face that might've been bordering on adorable on a lesser woman.
"Maybe a lion cub," Emma concedes. "But not a very terrifying one."
"You don't think I'm terrifying?" There is something terrifying in Regina's face as she asks that, but that's more in suggestive mischief that they might be engaging in some very twisted play within Henry's earshot and less a threat on Emma's life. It's been a long time since she's been genuinely afraid that Regina might hurt her, and she's startled to discover that she might just trust Regina wholly now.
She might not trust her to make good decisions or to make things less difficult around the castle, but she does trust her with her life and Henry's, and it's reassuring and nerve-wracking to come to terms with that. She exhales, struggling to find a response that's as irreverent as it is dismissive, and instead slides down the trunk of the tree to rest her head on Regina's lap.
Which is commentary enough on how frightening she finds Regina, and the other woman brushes a stray curl out of her face with surprising gentleness as she murmurs, "Look."
Emma shifts to glance across the road. A girl a little younger than Henry has taken pity on him and swum over, talking quickly and smiling at something he's said. He's nervous, twisting his fingers in his lap, but as she continues talking, his eyes light up with interest and he's suddenly jumping into the water behind her, soaking his clothes and following her as she leads him along the shallow end of the lake to a spot on the other side. There's already a gathering there, exclaiming at whatever they've found, and none of them seem to notice or care very much that they've been joined by the prince.
"Jefferson's daughter," Regina says darkly. "I suppose he's found her again now that they're all in the one village." She shakes her head. "I don't trust her."
Emma's fairly certain that Jefferson wouldn't think twice about shoving Henry underwater until he couldn't breath or fight back, but she thinks she's a pretty good judge of character and Grace seems to have handled a sociopathic parent as well as Henry himself has. Henry's telling her something now, pointing toward what looks like it's…a starfish, maybe? and the rest of the crowd has fallen silent, listening to what he's telling them. Even Hansel's crew has paused what they're doing to listen to Henry, though Hansel himself determinedly sharpens his branch against a tree trunk and stares anywhere but at Henry.
"What did I tell you?" Emma murmurs, and now the group is dissipating as Henry's explanation winds down, but Henry's being swept away with a crowd of kids who are climbing up a tree and jumping into the water. He's soaked and his teeth are chattering and he'll probably be catching a cold, but Emma doesn't think she's ever seen him smile this wide before.
Regina doesn't say anything. The hand still stroking her cheek trails a path across Emma's lips this time, and it's as evocative as any kiss.
They finally tear Henry away when the sun is starting to retreat behind the trees and several concerned parents have reclaimed their children, but Henry's still beaming as he bids goodbye to his new friends and climbs into the carriage. "I told them everything I learned about starfish when Snow and I watched that video series on ocean creatures and then Colin and Aria wanted to know about movies and then they showed me how to find beetles in tree sap and Grace says that she has a rabbit that eats beetles!" He pauses for a moment to sneeze, and Regina fusses over him, charming his clothing dry and giving him her handkerchief before he can sit back down. "I want to go back, Mother. Can't I go back tomorrow?"
"Maybe soon," Regina allows, but she can't hide her own pleased smile, and Emma's emboldened enough by Henry's success that she cuts in to suggest, "Hey, why don't we grab something to eat at the tavern instead of doing dinner at home?"
Regina peers at her suspiciously, but Emma's looking to Henry already, who's thrilled by the idea of extending their day. "Three guards," Regina says at last. "Inside the tavern with us."
Her agenda in this day has only been about Henry making friends as a secondary goal, and about him becoming something more human and solid to the resistance as a primary one. And while she knows that having the village children come home and report about the kindhearted prince who'd played with them as an equal is going to earn him some points, it won't be nearly as effective as them seeing him themselves, recognizing that this innocent little boy is the one who they would kill in cold blood.
And so they're off to the tavern, and Henry seems oblivious to the jeers and whispers of the villagers who see them dismount and walk inside. Regina isn't quite so forgiving, and it takes Emma's arm bumping against hers before she can stop her fierce glower and continue toward the tavern with her head high. It's all enough to firm up the walls that Henry's joy had weakened earlier, and when Emma sneaks a peek at her companion, there's tempered malice in Regina's eyes.
The room falls silent the instant the queen enters, and Emma sees Grumpy and several other dwarves at one table jerk up and reach for their axes before they catch sight of her at Regina's side. Red's manning the counter, her eyes very wide, and she's hurrying over to their table nearly before they're seated.
"Hi!" Henry says. "You're Red, right? Snow's friend?"
"I-" Her eyes dart to Regina and back, as though admitting to be a friend of Snow's might get her killed (and maybe that's a valid fear, Emma concedes, watching the dangerous smile on Regina's face widen). "Um-"
"There a problem here?" And of course it's Grumpy, swaggering over to them like provoking queens is his specialty, a mug of ale half-full in his hand.
Regina stares at him like he's a nasty looking fly. "Get out of here, you wretched little twit, before I decide that you'd make an apropos companion for Snow's precious prince."
"Right," Grumpy says, more than a little plastered, and he walks out the door and promptly trips over the doorstep.
Red and Emma wince as one, but Regina smirks and returns her attention to their server. "Well? Didn't my son ask you a question?"
"I-" Red looks to Emma for support, and Emma shrugs, not entirely sure if Regina's just toying with her or is feeling genuinely malevolent after their reception outside. "We knew each other, before."
"She misses you a lot," Henry says earnestly. "You should come by the castle sometime and visit. That's okay, right, Mother?"
"It-" Regina pauses, disconcerted by the invitation thrown out so freely after decades of keeping Snow in isolation. Emma has her suspicions about the extent of Red's contact with Snow that she won't share with either of her companions, but she raises an eyebrow anyway, impressed at Henry's easy manipulation of his mother.
"Or maybe we could bring Snow next time we come here!" Henry amends. "She's taught me lots about the animals in the forest and I bet she could show me more right here in town." His voice is free of guile, but his lips are barely hiding his grin, and Emma's suddenly not entirely sure that this outing has been her doing, after all. She may have severely underestimated the boy who'd so easily gotten her trapped in Storybrooke, Maine, come to think of it, and for all his well-meaning kindness, she's not entirely sure that he isn't also an evil mastermind.
"Per…haps?" Regina stutters out, looking as bowled over as Emma feels.
Red's staring at them, her lips twitching with amusement at the queen brought to her knees by her ten-year-old son, and maybe that's just enough for her to announce, "I'll bring you our specialties," and head back to the counter.
"That sounds pretty reasonable to me, too, kid," Emma agrees, and Regina gathers enough of herself to aim a sharp kick at Emma's knee.
Henry beams at them both. "Today is the best day ever," he announces, and it's enough to melt Regina all over again, putty in her very determined son's hands.
Red returns with their food in record time, and it's Emma who urges her to join them, after a quick wordless exchange with Henry. "Oh, I…I shouldn't," she says uncertainly, glancing at Regina for a moment.
"Really, are you going to offend Emma with rejection?" Regina drawls, and yes, she's enjoying Red's squirming and not even attempting to conceal that fact! Emma tries to kick her back but her chair legs abruptly grow vines and tie her legs against them as Red shudders out a denial and sits beside her.
"Tell me about the village!" Henry says, and soon they're all eating as Red fields Henry's questions, her uneasiness fading as Regina gives up her agenda to prove how terrifying she can be and tastes the food instead, proclaiming it acceptable and mostly ignoring their guest. It feels more like a family meal than it's ever felt in the castle, and Emma has to blink back the emotions that threaten to escape at that realization.
This is more than she signed up for when she'd gotten involved with Henry and Regina, and there's a part of her that's still desperate to run back to Boston and escape from what's probably bound to be the most emotionally damaging relationship in her life- and she's had a boyfriend put her in prison. But Henry's grinning and Regina has vanished the vines and replaced them with a foot, sliding up her calf distractingly, and she's not entirely sure that it isn't too late for escape even now.
The tavern is filling with the customers who don't turn around and make their escape upon seeing the queen in the room. One of the regular dwarves is serving drinks so Red won't have to, and the company is watching them eat with brazen curiosity. Emma recognizes enough of them from the resistance to know that she'll be tackling some difficult questions about her relationship with the queen at the next meeting she attends, but she can also see their eyes following Henry and she knows that not all of them will be so bloodthirsty next time, either. Even several royals are in attendance, and while she isn't holding out for King George to suddenly find his repressed inner grandpa, Abigail nods to her once in quiet recognition and her escort actually grins.
"That was very adequate, Red," Regina pronounces when they're finished, and she leaves several gold coins on the table as Henry hugs the girl goodbye. Red blinks, flustered, and Regina brushes past her, stalking toward the exit with dangerous grace that shifts chairs out of her way and draws all eyes to their little party.
It's only once they're home and Henry is off to the library to find Snow and report on his day that Regina settles a hand on Emma's back and murmurs, "Thank you." They're still standing outside and the light is too dim to see her face. "I haven't seen Henry this happy in a long time," she says, and there's just as much self-recrimination in her voice as there is contentment.
"You know," Emma says hesitantly, "You keep yourself and Henry so distant all the time, locked up in your castle far away from that."
"I don't have a choice, or have you forgotten that my kingdom hates me?"
"No, I just…" She leans in to kiss the corner of Regina's mouth, for no reason other than that her lips are gleaming in the moonlight and her eyes are dark and solemn. "This is a life you could still have. If you weren't the queen and he wasn't the prince, you'd be living every day like Henry's happiest day ever."
Regina scoffs. "Don't be ridiculous," she sneers, pulling away from Emma to stalk into her castle, and Emma's not sure if she'd imagined the quiet longing on Regina's face.