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And now they're back in the carriage out to the village, but the air in the compartment is heavy with the tension centered around the two women seated opposite each other, each avoiding the other's gaze. Snow is focused on Henry as they peer through the window together, but her hands are twisting together in her lap and she keeps glancing at Regina, whose eyes are fixed only on her son, ignoring the other woman altogether.

For her part, Emma has a hand resting on Regina's in a valiant attempt to calm the queen that only seems to agitate Snow White, but it's kept Regina quiet beyond an escaped scoff or two so Emma considers it a success. "Thank you," she murmurs, leaning into Regina's shoulder for a moment, and Regina curls her hand around Emma's in response.

Snow coughs loudly, probably unintentionally except that now she's watching them again and not even bothering to disguise her discomfort, and Regina's eyes narrow at the former princess as Emma closes her own, wincing. "Uh," she says stupidly in an attempt to change the subject. "So Red must be excited to see you, huh?"

Regina scowls and suddenly she's tipping Emma's chin forward, capturing her lips in a kiss that escalates so rapidly that it can't be unintentional. Emma's powerless to resist, kissing back with the same fervor and sighing with pleasure when Regina attacks her neck, biting a path down her collarbone as her hands trace uneven circles across her back and Emma's own hands creep down below the shawl that shields Regina's back from view to squeeze and elicit a rather delightful choking sound from the queen.

She's halfway on Regina's lap and pressing kisses to the curve of her cheek to a sensitive earlobe as Regina growls with approval when Emma remembers- much too late- where they are and who's present. Yikes. She touches her lips to Regina's once more regretfully before pulling away, winding her arm around the other woman's waist and tilting her head against her shoulder in a half-attempt to apologize to her for ending the kiss and half to hide the flush in her cheeks that's only partially out of embarrassment.

Henry is making gagging noises, just as red-faced as Emma. "As nice as it is to know you two finally like each other, can you not do that in front of me? Ever again?" he requests archly. He's never sounded more like his adoptive mother and Emma grins at the floor, nudging Regina's shoulder with her head.

Regina lets out a short burst of breath that might be laughter or annoyance or- just as likely- embarrassment, but she presses her lips together firmly and says with equal gravity, "Emma will attempt to control herself." She gets a kick in the ankle for her efforts but Emma can't be too bothered when her heart is still racing and Regina's fingers are drawing patterns against her hip, even while Snow's eyes are on the ground and her pale skin is a deep tomato red.

Snow nearly leaps out of her seat when the carriage comes to a halt, and Henry's all too glad to pull her out with him before his guards are even in place, dragging her to the water and calling out to several of his friends. "Look who's here! I told you she'd come someday!"

Regina's lips are pursed again, the distaste on her face unrestrained and unconcealed, and she's sitting back down as though she plans to stay in the carriage before Emma seizes her hand. "Hey."

"No."

"No?"

Regina scowls at her. "No, I'm not going out there as though Snow and I have mended fences and all is forgiven. I won't stand by and…enjoy today." She spits out enjoy like it's a curse. "This is for Henry and Henry alone. I place no import on what the peasants think of me."

She'd thought they'd made progress yesterday, that Regina might have been willing to let go of the past, but she'd been naïve. There's too much bitterness still, too much resentment that will take more than one day by the stables to heal. And while patience has never been her strong suit, she wills herself to nod now, to let Regina's hand go and to murmur, "You might not care, but I do."

Regina stiffens, but Emma only presses her lips to the queen's cheek and dismounts from the carriage alone.

It's for the best. Regina glaring at Snow or barely repressing her hatred toward the town hero will be as poorly received as the curse itself, and she can't pressure Regina into behaving and playing nice. And she's disappointed, but this is still a step forward, and she'll take her victories as they come.

"Emma!" Snow is calling her name, her cheeks flushed with another excitement as she sits on a patch of grassy moss near the riverbed, surrounded by eager children. Of course. They'd all been children when Snow had been crowned queen, too, and Emma doesn't doubt that she'd been the hero of the kingdom, beloved by all but the woman seated in the carriage behind them.

She's singing to them as she gathers flowers to form wreaths for the girls closest to her, her voice so sweet that there are birds fluttering around them singing along. The children are spellbound, and Emma's kind of charmed, too. This is Snow White as a princess, given new energy and joy from the interruption of her confinement, and she belongs with nature and surrounded by children like some kind of woodland elf.

A few feet from the circle of children, there are some older boys- and the surly Hansel is with them, though he's shifting uncomfortably and not speaking- with Henry, gazing down at their former ruler. "How did you trick the queen into bringing us Queen Snow?" one of them wants to know.

Henry's brow furrows and he shrugs, glancing back to the carriage for a moment. "I just asked her and she said it was okay." It's a stretch of the truth but it's enough for the children nearby, who nod approvingly and ask no more about Regina.

Emma climbs onto a nearby rock, taking in her surroundings while she enjoys the light breeze and the smell of the woods and the water. Snow is teaching some of the younger kids how to make their own flower garlands, laughing with them and encouraging them to crown each other and Emma herself. A few of the older children have run off, probably to share the news of Snow's arrival to the rest of the town. The rest are back in the river now, Henry among them, swinging on ropes and climbing up branches as they hum Snow's song together.

It's an idyll, a perfect snapshot in time that Snow has brought to them all, and as glad as Emma is, she can't help the loneliness that drains her of the rush that the day seems to fill everyone else with. She's happy here, happy for Henry and Snow and these innocents who are only glad to have someone important to them back with them after years of exile, and happy for herself that she'd been able to have a hand in this. But it feels like an empty joy, now when she's grown accustomed to seeing her own bliss reflected in dark eyes that smile so rarely that every time they lighten it's a gift in itself, when soft hands and sharp words can't conceal an affection for her that makes her feel at home in this once-alien world.

She misses Regina, misses sharing this with her, and there's a lump in her throat at the thought of the carriage that separates them, that allows Regina to hide in the darkness instead of joining them in the sunshine. Maybe it's too much to ask from the universe to resolve this without pain, to truly have it all, have her closest friend and her son and her…Regina…at peace all at once. Good is good and evil is evil, and nothing in this world comes without a price, even redemption. There's no space for shades of grey in fairytales.

She ducks her head, staring at her own reflection in the water, studying the shadows lining her face as they ripple away into the vastness of the lake. They join with another reflection, one of shimmering deep blues and brown undertones and considerably longer than any of the reflections of the children present. Regina.

She scoots over without looking up, and the queen seats herself on an outcropping of rock just above Emma's seat, gathering the extra material of her dress around her so it won't dip into the water. "You kept staring at the carriage. I was concerned something was wrong."

Emma can't answer, so she nestles up against her lover and lays her head down against Regina's thigh instead. A light hand glides across her curls in response, and she doesn't need to look up to know that Regina's watching only her, not the woman still surrounded by adoring fans a few feet away.

They sit in silence, content even as the children race around them and Henry demands that they watch as he somersaults into the water from above, and it isn't until they're interrupted by a child's voice that they both jerk.

"I made you a crown to match your dress!" It's a little girl who can't be more than three or four standing in front of them, holding up a wreath decorated with deep blue flowers, and she doesn't even pause before she's clambering up onto Regina's rock and laying the crown proudly on the queen's head.

Regina is momentarily speechless, something Emma's rarely seen before and would have probably enjoyed if the girl's lip hadn't started trembling at Regina's lack of reaction as she whimpers, "Don't you like it?"

Emma nudges the other woman and Regina's face splits into a smile as wide as any she's ever given Emma. "It's the most beautiful crown I've ever worn," she pronounces, taking the girl's hands in her own.

"Really?" The child's eyes are round with wonder, and she reaches out to touch her wreath, a chubby little palm pressed to Regina's hair.

Emma confirms it without thinking. "Really," she agrees, squeezing Regina's thigh.

"But now you have no crown of your own," Regina says, frowning. "And none that would match your own pretty dress." She extends her hands and a garland appears out of thin air, intricately woven with flowers of the yellow and blue and orange of the little girl's dress dotting the pattern.

"Wow," the girl breathes, and she enfolds Regina in a hug so quick before she runs off to show her friends that Emma wouldn't have been sure that it had actually happened if not for the way Regina is smiling fondly in the direction of the children and her worst enemy.

She wonders, not for the first time, about Henry's childhood, about muddy hands and chocolate kisses and Regina the mother laying aside Regina the queen for her child. She has no regrets, not for the life she could have had with her son that would have meant a life without his mother as well, but she wishes she could have seen it, could have watched Henry thaw the evil queen a thousand times in childhood and fallen a little more for this family every day.

And now there are adults approaching, parents summoned by their children to greet their beloved Snow, and Regina is tensing up again, searching for her guards and casting an apprehensive eye toward their carriage. But she doesn't remove the crown of flowers, and Emma runs reassuring fingers along the inside of her thigh, and the villagers pay them both little mind as they rush to embrace the queen they'd wanted.

"Would it be so terrible?" Emma asks, echoing a question she'd asked Regina only once before. "To give the people what they wanted and to…to take what we wanted for ourselves?" Regina's life is about vengeance, her joy rooted in the pain of the people around her, and she wonders if Regina can even comprehend happiness outside others' suffering. Does she know how much joy she feels around Henry, around their family and this life? Or is it all tempered by hatred and bitterness and a craving to wound? Emma can't believe that, can't believe that Regina is so isolated from contentment even now, regardless of what the queen insists.

"I should return to the carriage," is Regina's only response, and she makes her way back to the road.

Her face appears at the window almost immediately, and she watches the people in front of her with no expression at all.

To all their surprise, when Snow is reluctant to climb back into the confinement of the carriage and the people around her protest it passionately, Regina just sighs and says, "Very well, walk on," and shuts the door to the compartment before Henry and Emma can climb back inside. Emma's left with the uneasy feeling of having chosen a side in a war that's barely over, and it's only when Regina's carriage takes off with a lurch in the direction of the tavern that she tears her eyes away from it and hurries to catch up with Snow and Henry.

They're surrounded by doting villagers but Snow reaches for her hand at once, bringing her to her other side as she clasps Henry's shoulder, and there's so much warmth in her gaze that Emma ducks her head and tries to forget the weight in her heart that calls for notice only when Regina is isolated and they're all…not. "I'm so glad you're here today," Snow murmurs, squeezing her hand. "I'm so glad I'm here today," she amends, laughing to herself. "My people have needed me for so long, and I…"

It's Henry who asks the question they're both thinking, furrowing his brow with concern. "You're coming back with us, right?" They'd promised as much to Regina, and Snow had seemed amenable enough in the castle, but freedom is freedom and Snow has finally gotten her taste of it.

Snow's eyes widen. "Of course!" she says, loud enough for the people around her to hear and sigh with mass disappointment. "Still, though…this is a beginning to something more, isn't it?"

"Mother will let you leave again," Henry says firmly, all the conviction of a ten-year-old who believes too strongly in his voice. "I know it."

But Snow smiles, the same unwavering certainty in her voice as she responds, "I do too." A shadow crosses her face. "I'm sorry Regina didn't join us much today. I don't want to come between your family for my own happiness."

And that's Snow, still as in tune with Regina's needs as she is to her own- or maybe it's only with Emma's needs, and the lag in her step as she thinks too much of the queen cloaked in darkness and resentment and isolation- and Emma softens enough to smile and point out, "Well, you're family too, aren't you?"

There's only a strangled breath in response, Snow's eyes swimming with tears as she gazes at Emma in awe, and Henry is grinning madly and Emma's feeling both stifled and touched at the emotion in Snow's face before they're all distracted by a figure cloaked in red and shouting as she tears down the road, "Snow!"

And then Red and Snow are embracing and both are crying and babbling at the same time as they cling to each other, the world around them forgotten and Henry and Emma left standing aside, bemused, as Regina's carriage pulls up to Granny's up ahead.

And maybe there's something close to amusement on the queen's face as she descends to join them and takes in the scene in front of them, though it's masked the moment Emma looks at her with raised brow. "They behave as though they haven't seen each other in years."

"Imagine that." Emma bumps her shoulder against Regina's, grinning a little at the contagious exhilaration that permeates the town today. It's a joy that Regina has brought to the people she loathes, and she can feel the tension still keeping the queen teetering on a precipice, so close to surrendering to pleasure or despair. "Want to go inside?" It'll be safer there and Emma's still wary of the resistance and still protective of the woman and the boy she stands with, still aware that their enemies might strike at any time. She has a sword at her hip and Regina has enough magic for the both of them, but in the open and surrounded by people, Emma still feels more vulnerable than ever.

"Please," Regina murmurs, and there's a ghost of a kiss against Emma's jaw as they make their way into the tavern, barely earning glances from the people now growing accustomed to their presence.

And then Snow and Red and their companions are pouring inside and the place erupts, the people of the kingdom running to Snow and falling to their knees and even Grumpy looks a little wet in the eyes as he stands back, watching the throng and waiting for a moment with the returned princess who'd never quite made it to queen. Emma even spots some members of the resistance present, dwarves and a few of the villagers, and they show no sign of the hostility toward Snow that she's seen from the rest of their group as they embrace Snow and she hugs them back with teary smiles and earnest words. Regina sighs, rolling her eyes, but there isn't nearly as much rancor there as there could be and Emma privately thanks whatever fates run this fairytale land.

"Snow!" Henry calls out, gesturing for her to join them, and to Emma's surprise, Snow immediately stops receiving guests and takes her seat at their table, shifting aside only so Red alone can join them. It's a clear message to the people around them, an alignment with Regina and her son that they can't ignore, and now there are speculative glances from all directions and people crowding into the seats at the nearest tables to be close to their chosen ruler.

The people will accept Regina if they receive Snow in the bargain. Regina knows it too, if the way her eyes close for a moment with weary frustration is any indication, and it seems Henry has been aware of it all along. Henry and Snow are the long-term planners of the group, the ones who think first and act later and will architect plans so detailed in the process that they have the whole future mapped out in advance. They're setting a stage today, a new reality where everyone might be happy someday, and Regina and Emma are just along for the ride.

Across the room, Grumpy is still standing with several of the other dwarves, and Emma grins, getting up to bring them over to the table. There's no reason for their hatred of Regina to get in the way today, not when this is their moment to see Snow White, and she winds her way through the crowd to greet Grumpy when he grabs her and yanks her into a corner, his eyes wilder than she's ever seen them before. "You brought Snow here."

"We all did," Emma corrects him, her eyes flitting back to Regina as she leans in to ask Red something at their table. Red stands, but it's only to move to the bar and retrieve some drinks. "Henry and Regina and-"

"You brought Snow here," he repeats, and it's with an urgency that punctures her good mood. "And I haven't been told about a resistance meeting in a week."

"Good, maybe they're winding down," Emma says, but that's wrong, that can't be it, those royals and Jefferson and Rumpelstiltskin aren't going to give up now. If Grumpy hasn't been invited to meetings, it's because they don't want him there, don't trust him with whatever they've been planning. And if they don't trust him- "You think Snow's in danger."

He shrugs helplessly. "I think they know that your queen has been spending time among the people, and I think they know that I trust you more than I trust them. I don't want to-"

"Grumpy!" And they both stop at once because Snow has followed Emma's path across the tavern and seen her old friend at last. "Grumpy, you're here!" She runs to the grouchy dwarf and hugs him so tightly that he really does cry, a few tears leaking from his eyes as he growls out, "My queen," and wraps his own arms around hers just as tightly.

Emma doesn't stay to watch, not with dread climbing back up through the joy and sudden fear for her son and his mother still seated at the same table as always- the same table, the same routine every time, how could we be so stupid?- and she tears through the crowd, shoving people aside and knocking them over as she races back to their table. They have to leave, they have to go now, because there's new danger and Regina is standing up, looking puzzled at her desperation but catching enough of it to seize Henry to her and start toward Emma-

-The explosion tears through the wall just beside where they'd been sitting moments before, and suddenly the air is alive with debris, with screams and pounding feet and an enormous shield of glowing magic that billows out from Emma and meets the eruption head-on. There's blood and pained shouts and cries for help, and Emma can't even think about the magic that she can't control that's saving the bulk of the tavern, can't focus on it as her ears pop and everything is suddenly muted, sounds straining in only from a distance, and where is Regina, where is their target, ReginaReginaREGINA-

She stumbles forward into the smoke and the damage and nearly trips over a body flat on the floor, clad in deep blues and with hair lightly singed and wild from the dust that thickens the air. "No. No. Nonononono," she chants to herself, falling to the ground to touch tentative fingers to Regina's side, to pull her over to face her.

"Regina," Snow's voice breathes out in horror behind her, and Regina's eyes snap open as she rolls over, revealing only cuts and bruises and the boy she'd been shielding huddled beneath her, sobbing, with a bloody arm at a terrifyingly unnatural angle.

"Henry," Emma whispers, crouching beside them both, and Henry is fine, he's alive and he's reaching for her with the arm that does work and he's sobbing into her clothes as she struggles toward Regina. "Regina?"

Regina is sitting up, dark eyes fixed on a spot just behind Snow, and she slides away from Emma's extended arm, pulling herself to her feet. "Henry," she says quietly, and it's not a request for him as much as an accusation to the dwarf who'd followed Snow over to them.

Grumpy shakes his head wildly, and Emma only then grasps the danger she hadn't anticipated, sees how the rest of the people in the destroyed tavern have backed away and are separated from the cold-eyed queen by the still-shimmering shield of magic Emma's somehow thrown up. "No, it was the resistance. Not me. I wouldn't have-"

"Regina!" She's shouting and reaching for the queen's arm as Regina raises it, leaving Henry slumped on the ground as Snow's mouth opens in a scream as well. And it's too late, it's been too late since the moment Henry had been hurt, and the madness glowing in Regina's eyes isn't going to be tamped down by anything today, not Emma and not Snow and not even Henry.

A twist of her hand, two fingers pressed to her thumb in irritation, and Grumpy's head mimics the sharp movement, jerking to the side.

He's on the ground in an instant, eyes sightless and empty and his mouth still open in protest. Snow is sobbing, falling onto his body and weeping his name, and Emma sinks back to the ground, clutching Henry tightly to her, hiding his face as he cries even more. She swats at her face with the back of her hand, frustrated at her own tears as they escape and blur her view of the queen still standing erect and gazing down at her handiwork.

"He was innocent," she whispers, and Grumpy had been a friend, even if he'd just been a guy she could drink with, a loyal friend to Snow and the one who had warned her about this to begin with. "This is-"

Unforgivable. She'd thought Regina might falter someday but this isn't faltering, this is…this is murder, foul and ugly and spurred by rage. This is beyond Emma's capacity to overlook, not for Henry and not for her own selfish desires, and she clutches their son even tighter as she watches Regina take stock of the hardness in her eyes.

Regina, for her part, looks away from Emma and Henry, and turns to the people now cowering a few feet behind Grumpy's corpse. "One of you will bring me to this resistance," she commands, and fire lights up in her hand, a threat as potent as the one that had stricken Henry.

And Emma doesn't care, not anymore, not about protecting Regina when Regina is beyond protection and beyond Emma's support altogether. When Grumpy is still lying on the floor and Regina looks at him with nothing more than stony satisfaction.

"I can take you there," she says, her voice hoarse and thick from tears both shed and forcibly restrained.

Regina's back is still to her, and the tiny part of Emma that doesn't take savage pleasure in the ability to hurt Regina back- to wound her with the same crushing pain and disappointment that she's wounded Emma with- is perfectly attuned to the subtle arch of her spine, to the way she pauses and sags just a hair with Emma's admission.

And then she turns, and there's nothing other than practiced coldness on her face, a mask set in place for decades first discarded, then restored, for a woman who'd dreamed once a folly of loving an evil queen. "Very well," says Regina.