My Doves! Thank you so much for your support. Your wonderful reviews certainly inspire my muse. Enjoy, Lovelies, and as always comments, criticisms, and suggestions are welcome.
This chapter completely rearranges the canon events. I was going to try and keep all of the actual events as close to accurate as possible, but this just worked so much better.
(P.S. Couldn't help myself with my little mini-ship at the end. I do hope you enjoy it. True love at first sight!)
Songs: I Hate it When You See Me Cry and I'm Not an Angel by Halestorm (and if you haven't checked out this band by now, do so. I'm convinced that there isn't a feeling out there that Lzzy Hale can't provoke)
Emma awoke slowly. The oddly refreshed feeling was strange. She hadn't felt like this since moving to Storybrooke. Her eyes opened naturally, and a slight panic gripped her chest as the events of the previous night slipped over her once more. She wasn't weak. She wasn't that person who needed to be taken care of, especially by someone like Regina Mills, former evil queen and supposed arch nemesis.
But there she was, sleeping peacefully with one hand tucked beneath her chin and the other still pressed against Emma's chest. She'd been so gentle, so human, when Emma had desperately needed someone. She never imagined that she would find that someone in Regina, and the intimacy of their shared misery terrified the crap out of the sheriff, just as the intimacy of their current position made Emma's chest clench, left her wanting to move her hands, to get up, to run away, but she remained still, hands holding Regina's in place on her collarbone.
Regina looked so differently when she slept. Her features relaxed into something that nearly resembled innocence, but Emma knew that peaceful sleep only provided temporary respite for Regina's torment. So Emma lay perfectly still and forced long, deep breaths in and out of her chest, quelling her fears about waking so close to the woman literally separated from her by steel bars. Any movement would have surely roused the brunette.
They hadn't done anything wrong last night. The situation simply required they stick together until they straightened out the mess. For Henry, Emma reassured herself. She protected Regina because Henry needed his mother, and she needed her assistance with the magic stuff. Still, Regina's soothing voice and gentle kisses floated to the surface of Emma's mind, and the blonde shivered. Comforting a broken savior wasn't required, but she'd done it anyway.
There had been no judgment, no expectation, just an offering of quiet strength that reinforced the strings that held her heart together. Emma had to wonder if she glimpsed a moment of the real Regina, soft and quiet but firm and confident in her actions. She hadn't apologized for crossing a physical boundary by kissing her, hadn't wanted to broach the awkward topic when Emma had returned to the main office. She simply accepted that Emma needed physical comfort in that moment, and she had given it willingly, without hesitation or remorse.
How had things changed so drastically between them in just a few days?
"Mmm," Regina released a throaty groan as her eyelids fluttered. Emma's lips pulled upward.
"Morning," whispered Emma, slowly coaxing the older woman from her slumber.
"I hate mornings," Regina muttered, eyes still closed.
"Really?" Emma's suddenly louder voice echoed harshly off the cement walls, and Regina's eyebrows pulled together. "You're always up so early, though. All those seven am meetings. Even on the weekends you always had Henry up before ten."
"Miss Swan," Regina warned. "If you wish me to hold conversation, I require coffee and no less than twenty minutes for it to take affect." Her brown eyes finally opened begrudgingly, and Emma smirked at the mayor's grumpiness.
"Granny's?" Emma asked, keeping her questions as monosyllabic as possible. She glanced towards the window and saw that the sun was only beginning to peep over the tree line. "Should be early enough to avoid a crowd," Emma added quickly.
"That'll do, Pig," Regina rasped as her eyes fell closed again. Emma giggled, trying her best to hold the sound in.
"Did you just make a Babe reference?" Emma laughed at the absurdity, and Regina's eyes flew open again.
"You know, I've never slit a throat before, but you make me want to try it out. See how it feels," Regina seethed, and Emma sobered enough to stop laughing but failed to wipe the smile from her face.
Regina's eyes shone with irritation. Emma reluctantly released Regina's hand and pushed herself from the bed. Her overused muscles groused, and she stretched towards the ceiling before letting her body fall forward to lay her hands flat on the floor. Regina blinked away the sleep and watched the sheriff awaken her sleepy body, hand still on Emma's cot.
When Emma unlocked the cell and then silently disappeared down the hall, presumably to change her clothes, Regina finally rolled over and set her feet on the cold stone floor. She frowned at the wrinkles in her blacks slacks and deep red blouse as she pulled them from her bag but donned them anyway along with her flat boots. Her stitches protested with each stretch forward, and she ignored them. Her wounds would be completely healed in a couple of days, so there wasn't any point to complain.
Emma returned a few minutes later, dressed in her typical skinny jeans, boots and a heather grey t-shirt that hugged every curve of her torso. Her wild blonde hair went without brushing and framed her face in large swooping curls and tiny knots here and there. Regina thought the look suited Emma. It was untamed, wild, just like the blonde sheriff. As much as she despised the Charmings, she admitted that they certainly made a beautiful baby.
"Ready?" Emma asked as she slipped her sidearm onto her belt and then secured the buckle.
Regina said nothing but followed the sheriff to the front door. Emma diligently checked for any signs of a threat the entire two minute walk to the diner. Regina wasn't even certain the sheriff took a breath until the bell signaling their arrival at the restaurant jingled above their heads. Regina almost felt insulted and nearly lashed out several times as Emma threw her arm out to halt their progress or glanced behind them or stepped closer, hand hovering centimeters from the small of Regina's back. She neither asked for nor required the sheriff's protection, her pride screamed, but Regina held her tongue because she knew that she'd already be dead, torn to pieces by a lynch mob by now, if it weren't for Emma's influence. She needed Emma Swan, and it pissed her off.
"Ruby?" Emma stopped abruptly, and Regina bumped into her shoulder before she stopped her momentum.
"Emma, hey," Ruby bounded over to them and hugged Emma. She eyed Regina apprehensively.
"Mayor Mills," she nodded, trying desperately not to be afraid of the woman next to Emma.
"Miss Lucas, where is my son?" Regina bit, and Emma sighed. She was sure Ruby had a perfectly reasonable explanation as to her early return to town.
"He's in the back room asleep. We came in late last night, but you weren't home or at Mary Margaret's. The station was locked up tight, so we came here." Ruby explained to Emma quickly and then turned her big doe eyes to Regina. "He was worried about you."
Regina reacted visibly and then straightened herself, Mayor face in place within a second. Emma grabbed her hand and squeezed. Ruby worried her bottom lip, clearly waiting for the backlash from The Evil Queen.
"Go. I'll bring you some coffee back in a minute." Emma encouraged Regina who merely nodded and nearly tripped over her boots in her rush to see her son again.
Emma shrugged when Ruby's confused eyes met her.
"Rubes, we need coffee stat," Emma changed the subject easily, though her anxiety at Regina's absence started burning slowly in her stomach.
"She's, uhh, different, somehow. Still scary as hell, don't get me wrong, but different." Ruby casually commented as she filled Emma's coffee request.
"Ruby, do you know what Regina likes for breakfast?" Emma asked and drummed her fingers on the counter as she waited for their coffees.
"Umm, she's only been in a few times, but I think she likes omelets with mushrooms and onions," Ruby's nose crinkled at the combination.
"Great. We'll take that and two orders of pancakes for me and Henry, bacon extra crispy." Emma ordered absently, eyes turned towards the back room.
"Sure, Emma. I'll just bring it back there." Ruby tried to smile but only managed a tight grin that didn't reach her eyes. Emma could have punched herself in the face.
"Ruby?" She reached across the counter suddenly and snagged Ruby's hand. "Are you okay?"
"I… I'm here." She tried to smile again and simply shrugged when it failed again.
"Thank you for taking care of Henry. It means a lot to me and to Regina, though she'd probably never say it." They both managed a smirked at the truthful comment.
"He's a good kid," Ruby said sadly, the brief moment of playfulness gone.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Emma's bright green eyes flitted back and forth as they searched for the truth in Ruby's large chocolate orbs.
"Not everyone was cursed when they couldn't remember their life before Storybrooke," Ruby confessed quietly and then abruptly turned and disappeared into the kitchen before Emma commented.
The sheriff watched her go with squinted eyes and tucked the information away for later. She'd put Ruby back together once she fixed the town, retrieved her parents from an unknown realm, saved Regina from execution, broke the barrier spell, returned Sneezy's memories, and accepted the fact that fairy tales were real. She shook her head at her to-do list and loped towards the back room.
She paused in the doorway and simply watched Regina and Henry in an emotional embrace. Regina's brown eyes shimmered with tears that she'd never let fall in front of her son. Henry's head was buried in Regina's chest, tucked safely beneath her chin.
"Hey Kid," she greeted, and Henry turned childishly happy eyes towards her.
"Emma!" He practically bounced in place as he waited for her to set the coffee down on the worn table in front of the sofa.
She grunted when the full force of eleven-year-old boy crashed into her diaphragm and eagerly wrapped her arms around his thin shoulders. Regina caught her gaze over his head, and Emma's breath snagged in her throat. Instead of the anger and pain and possessiveness that usually filled Regina's eyes when she watched Henry hug Emma, she saw only happiness with perhaps a hint of sadness on the edges. It should have made Emma feel good that Regina had finally accepted her role in Henry's life, but it only made her feel sick. Regina truly believed that she was going to die, perhaps she even wished it.
The moment passed, and Henry jerked her towards the couch. He nestled contentedly between his two mothers, unaware of what had just passed between them.
"Mom, Ruby is so awesome. She has, like, a superpower. She can smell things that are miles away now that magic is back, and she's teaching me how to track things in the woods. I really like camping. We should go sometime." Henry chattered excitedly as the two women sipped their coffees.
Regina's eyes caught hers over his head again as Henry happily jabbered on about Ruby this and Ruby that, and Emma almost choked on the hot liquid. Regina's expression was a mixture of amusement, irritation, and contentment at her son's antics. Emma found the answer to her earlier questions. Regina woke up so early because Henry was a morning person, and she sufficiently plied herself with coffee before her son rose in order to tolerate his overabundance of energy.
"Mom! Mom, are you listening?" Henry stared up at Regina with big eyes.
"Yes, of course, Sweetheart," Regina answered immediately. "I would love for you to show me how to build a fire." Regina smiled down at her son.
Emma stared at them. How had Regina kept up with the conversation? She usually zoned out when Henry sprinted off on one of his tangents and had to ask him a million questions to catch up once he realized she wasn't listening anymore. When had he started talking about fires? Regina smirked at her slack jaw surprise. A knock pulled their attention to the door just before Ruby slipped in, one hip at a time. Emma shook her head. For all of Ruby's blatant show sexuality, the girl would be unstoppable if she ever truly realized how sensual she was when she stopped trying so hard.
Emma grinned when she caught Regina's eyes flicker over the young waitress' body. Huh, she'd never noticed Regina's proclivity towards pretty women before, but now that she'd seen that side of the older woman, she realized that at least some of the predatory stares she'd seen the mayor throw around hadn't all been in anger. Ruby sat their food on the coffee table and then ruffled Henry's hair.
"Brought you some hot chocolate, Kiddo. It's probably much better when it's not made over a fire." Ruby smiled fondly at their son who was looking at the wolf with worshipful eyes.
"I like your campfire hot cocoa," Henry reassured. "Mom said she'd take me camping some time and let me teach her how to build a fire." He vibrated with excitement at the thought, and Regina rolled her eyes, never having made such a promise. "Maybe you can come with us, too, Ruby."
Emma smiled at the waitress, glad to have confirmation that she'd made the right decision by sending Henry away with her. He seemed happy and distracted from the fact that an angry mob lead by Dr. Whale nearly killed his mother a few days ago. Henry crunched into a piece of bacon, and Ruby turned to go.
"Ruby?" Regina spoke before Emma had the chance, and she turned a cautious eye to the dark-haired woman. Ruby crossed one over her chest and squeezed her other bicep as she bit her bottom lip and turned slowly to face the formidable woman.
"Thank you," Regina said reverently. To anyone else, Regina had merely thanked the waitress for bring their food and being nice to her child. To the three women in the room, however, Regina had just shown her gratitude to the woman who volunteered to care for her son and help him forget all of the bad things happening.
Ruby bowed her head shyly, red and black hair falling into her face. "If you need anything else…" The statement hung openly, and Henry glanced back and forth between Ruby and his mother, forehead wrinkled, like he knew he'd missed something but couldn't put his finger on it.
The moment passed when Ruby disappeared from the room, and Henry cut into his pancakes, content to take the interaction at face value. Emma followed suit, and Regina said nothing about her omelet if it was the wrong order. The sheriff had only taken three bites when her cell phone rang, and she rolled her eyes.
"Sheriff Swan," she barked into the device, clearly irritated at the interruption.
"What is it, Gold? Whose gone?" Emma dropped her fork to her plate and stood after listening for a few moments.
"Look, I can't just go looking for someone who might not even be missing in the first place." Emma cocked her hip and stared into the diner from the doorway. Regina tilted her head, intrigued. What could Rumpelstiltskin possibly need from Emma at this hour?
"No, just wait a few hours, okay. If she doesn't come back by then… Fine, yes, I will uphold my end of the bargain. We're square if I find her for you? I owe you nothing?" Emma's shoulders drooped, and Regina knew that Gold had just called in his favor.
"Whatever. Fine. Yes, I'll meet you there." Emma snapped the phone shut and turned to Regina and Henry's puzzled faces.
"I have to go. Regina…" Emma stopped when the mayor's face fell in disappointment.
"Can I speak with you privately?" Regina nodded and stood, unconsciously smoothing her shirt. "Kid, I'll be back in a little while, okay. Stay with Ruby, no matter what." Emma instructed, and Henry nodded.
"I will, Emma," he confirmed, and she nodded.
They took several steps down the hall until Emma was sure they were out of Henry's earshot. Regina wrung her hands and waited for Emma to speak.
"I have to go help Gold. Apparently, a young woman is missing. He called in his favor or I wouldn't bother. He's convinced that she's been kidnapped." Emma explained quickly.
"Who is it? Maybe I can give you an idea of where she might have gone."
"Some woman named Belle. I've never met her." Emma stopped suddenly when Regina's face turned ashen. "You know her?"
"I do," Regina confirmed mechanically, and Emma's stomach flipped. What had Regina done to this woman?
"I locked her in the mental asylum beneath the hospital for 28 years," Regina explained without provocation, head hung in shame. "She must have escaped when the curse was broken. Her father owns the flower shop."
"Is she dangerous? I mean, you locked her up for a reason, right?" Emma didn't want to know the truth, but she already saw it in Regina's eyes.
She'd locked her up to hurt Rumpelstiltskin.
Emma opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again, swallowed roughly. Finally, she touched Regina's shoulder. The older woman raised her surprised eyes to Emma's. The moment lingered.
"I'll find her, and then we'll help her," Emma vowed quietly. "I need you to promise me something, though. I need you to stay here in the back room with Henry until I get back. Please don't run away or try to leave. I know you think you deserve whatever they will do to you if they find you without me, but I don't and I don't want Henry to see that. Stay. Please."
Regina only stared. Emma searched her eyes frantically, wanting to hear Regina make the promise, but it never came.
"Stay here for Henry. Promise me."
Again, Regina only stared as her breathing increased and her brows pulled together in thought. Emma's heart raced. Regina could take Henry and leave Storybrooke and never look back if she wanted.
"Regina, please stay with me," Emma pleaded breathily, fingers clutching painfully at her shoulder.
Regina jerked at the soft words and the emotions behind them but formulated no answer to Emma's request. Emma touched her cheek with her free hand, holding her gaze, determined to find an answer in her watery brown eyes. Emma brushed her thumb lightly on the skin beneath her eye as a tear leaked out, catching the liquid before it dripped down her face. Heat pressed against her front as Emma stepped into her.
Regina tipped her back, bringing their lips closer together, and her breath mingled with Emma's. The sheriff hesitated only a moment and then lowered her mouth towards Regina's. They were only centimeters away from something that terrified both of them, and Regina gasped. Emma paused to search her eyes, finding fear and confusion.
"I'll stay put," Regina said suddenly and cleared her throat as she stepped back.
Emma's heart lurched at the sudden loss of contact, hands suspended in the air as if they still held the other woman's skin beneath them. They ached to reclaim what they'd lost, and she forced them to her sides in tight fists. Regina turned abruptly and retraced her steps to Henry, and Emma's eyes closed once she'd disappeared.
What the hell just happened, and why had she asked herself that question everyday since coming to Storybrooke?
She leaned her back against the wall as her mind worked to uncover the meaning behind she and Regina's very sudden and very deep connection. It came up empty. Jaws clenched, she pushed from the wall, stalking towards the dining room with a fiery purpose. A few other people sat quietly at tables now, nursing coffees or wolfing down breakfast before work, and Emma glared at them all. Ruby's concerned eyes caught hers as she approached the girl in the middle of the diner.
"Watch over them, Ruby," Emma pleaded quietly and touched Ruby's arm as she passed. She didn't wait for an answer. She didn't need one. Ruby may have been loyal to Snow White, but she knew that Regina didn't deserve to be humiliated and murdered in front of her son, a child that the wolf obviously cared for deeply. She'd protect them by keeping their presence a secret.
It didn't take long to track Belle down. Gold was right that she had been in danger, but it didn't make Emma's irritation at the man's antics lessen. The girl was clearly traumatized by her father's plot to erase her memories and trusted no one, not even Gold who fawned over her like a lovesick pup.
"So that's it, then. We're even?" Emma asked, interrupting the moment between, apparently, Beauty and The Beast. Her head spun with that parallel.
"We're even," he grimaced at the words, and a look of horror crossed Belle's face.
"You're still doing it," she accused and backed away from him slowly, her head shaking back and forth slowly.
"First the wraith, and now already another deal you've cashed in on. I've been back for less than a week!"
"Belle, please. I was only trying to help you. Sheriff Swan owed me a favor, that is all. She helped willingly, I swear it." Gold tried to reason with the girl, but she refused to believe him. She knew how to spot his lies.
"She is not here because she wants to be, Rumpel!" Belle flung a shaking finger in Emma's direction. "You will never change." The sheriff watched the exchange with curiosity. This woman had power over the Dark One. Belle turned to her abruptly.
"Please will you take me with you?" Her sad, haunted eyes turned upwards to meet Emma's, pleading, begging.
"Please, I have no one, nothing," she continued, tears falling freely down her face. Emma glanced between the girl and Gold. His eyes hardened with anger, and Emma felt a small piece of satisfaction. She'd already planned to take Belle to the hospital anyway, but if it pissed Gold off, then that was all the better.
"Come on," Emma said finally and held her hand out to the girl. She expected Belle to take it, but instead the girl pressed her trembling body against Emma's beneath her outstretched arm. Emma froze momentarily, shocked by the shaking body suddenly tucked against her, and then rested her arm around the girls shoulders.
"Gold," Emma fixed him with a glare of her own. "I am not taking her away from you so wipe that pissy look off your face. She doesn't want to go with you, and I'm not going to make her, understand? I'll keep her safe, and if she decides to come back, then it is her decision to make. No one will keep her away against her will."
Emma waited only for a moment and then turned towards the exit of the mines, unsure if her words got through to Gold's anger. She couldn't have mustered enough to strength to care if she'd tried. As she escorted Belle through town towards Granny's, a few people tossed odd looks in her direction. Some were because she was holding a sobbing shaking mess of a woman who was presumed dead for 28 years, and others were because she was not accompanied by Regina who hadn't been more then 30 feet from her for the past three days. She held the distraught woman against her tightly and covered her face with her hand, preserving what dignity she could. She adamantly refused to go to the hospital, insisting that she hadn't been injured, so Emma figured that getting her a room at Granny's would be the simplest solution until they figured out something better.
Emma released her hold on the girl when they reached the door of the diner but then took her hand when Belle's eyes filled again with tears. She poked her head in the diner and searched for Ruby.
"Hey Rubes?" She waved her over and then shut the door. Belle reclaimed her spot against Emma's chest, and the sheriff sighed silently.
Ruby poked her head out of the diner a moment later, eyes widening at the sight. "Emma, what's going on?" She asked as she slipped out of the door and pulled it shut behind her.
"Ruby, this is Belle. Belle, this is Ruby." Emma introduced them almost sardonically.
Belle hiccupped and then turned her bright blue eyes to the new woman. Ruby gasped and took a step back, eyes glued to the woman in Emma's arms.
"Hello," said Belle in a small, shy voice, and Ruby jerked suddenly.
"Hey, hi," Ruby stuttered, causing Emma's eyes to narrow at the odd reaction.
"Umm, okay. Look, can I get a key to one of the rooms? I'll explain everything later." She opted for ignoring Ruby's weird behavior altogether.
"Yeah, absolutely. I'll take her up if you want." Ruby said, a hint of blush tingeing her cheeks. Emma's mouth dropped open and she snapped it shut immediately.
"If you're sure. That okay, Belle?" Emma glanced down at the now calm woman who was staring at Ruby like she'd seen a ghost.
"Yes," Belle answered, pulling her eyes away from Ruby's for only a moment.
Ruby smiled in response and pointed towards the side door that led to the front desk of the in. She wrapped a hand around Belle's arm and rubbed her back soothingly with the other as she escorted the woman to her temporary home. Emma watched them until they disappeared behind the door, mouth hanging open again.
What the hell was happening in her town?
She shook herself from her musings and slid around the opposite side of the restaurant and slipped in the back door, praying that Regina had kept her promise.
