Chapter 3
Regina just watched her from across her desk. Emma's confession wasn't lost on her, but she wasn't going to comment. She was waiting for Emma to continue. She watched Emma.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to drop this on you like this. I should go. I am sure that David I waiting for me at the station," Emma told her as she started to stand.
"Miss Swan, sit down."
Emma stared at her. Regina wasn't about to be done with their conversation. She arched an eyebrow at her and laced her fingers in front of her on the desk.
"Miss Swan, you asked for this meeting. You haven't told me why you were here. You told me about a time with you and Henry. You still have yet to explain what that story has to do with me."
Emma just looked at her. There was so much emotion crossing her face that Regina could see it all. Emma didn't know what to do. She sat back down and leaned back in the chair. She put her hands on the arms of the chair and got comfortable.
"So, are you going to tell me more about these dreams of yours?"
"I thought we were going to discuss the kiss from the other night."
"We can't just get passed that for right now. Emma, you told me that you acted out because of your dreams. So it seems that we would end up discussing you slight slip in social norms if you told me about your dreams. So why don't you get on with it?" Regina asked her.
"Fine, I guess."
Regina sat back. She took her phone off the hook. She gave Emma a smile.
"I don't suppose that I can get a drink."
"This early, Miss Swan? Really? I don't think that is appropriate."
"Spare me, Regina."
Regina stood up. She poured her a glass of her non-spiked cider. She handed it to Emma before she returned to her own seat behind the desk. Somewhere during their conversation, Regina decided that it would be more prudent for her is she kept some distance between herself and Emma. She couldn't tell if Emma noticed it or not, but she could tell how uncomfortable Emma was.
"Thanks," Emma replied.
She took a good long drink of the cider. She looked around for a place to put down her glass. When Regina noticed her plight, she pushed a coaster across her desk. Emma pulled it closer to her and sat the tumbler down on the coaster and leaned back in the chair.
"It was the night of the Sox game that dreams started. I don't know what triggered them but they did disturb me at first. After a while, I came to want them. I would get depressed when I didn't have a dream with the woman in it. I didn't know who she was or what she wanted."
"Had you seen her before then?" Regina asked her.
"I don't believe that I have."
"Could you describe her to me?"
"She was magnificent. She had dark hair and soulful brown eyes. Her lips were always rosy and red. She had this look in her eyes that drew me to her. She never told me her name, but she knew mine. She would talk to me in my dreams. She would comfort me and tell me that everything was going to be okay. If I was having problems with Henry, we would discuss them and figure out a way to make Henry happy together. It was like she was another mother for Henry."
"But, she never introduced herself?"
"No, she didn't. She made me feel things…things I had forgotten. And, she was always very compassionate when I had just gone through a bad break up. I think that may have been the trigger. I had just arrested and broken up with Jacob a few days before the game."
"So, she came to you after a break up?"
"Yeah, and for a while, I hope that she was my mother. She would tell me things about myself that no one should know. Things that not even Henry knew, but all the stories she knew stopped at around the time I had Henry. I didn't know what to make of it. I didn't push her for answers. She made me safe and helped me with everything. She made me feel better about myself, especially when I was feeling at my worst," Emma explained.
"That is a very nice thing for this dream woman to do," Regina told her.
"I thought so, too. After a few months, things changed between us. I noticed little things at first."
"Like what?" Regina asked.
"She changed the way she dressed. When she first started coming, she was always in black and red flowing dresses, and I was in white like princess. Over time, her dresses got tighter, more colorful and they plunged a little more. The dresses became more revealing. She has a great body so I didn't care. I felt like I was in a fairy tale with her."
"Her dress changed, but what about yours?"
"It did. I went from long and white princess dresses to jeans and tanks. I didn't understand it, but she said that she preferred me in my natural attire. The tanks became more like tunics with a royal seal on them over time, but I couldn't place it. The elaborate hair designs that I had in the beginning became more and more like me every day. It was like I was evolving into myself. She was helping me see that."
"That is interesting. She would come to you every night? This woman of your dreams?"
"I know that it sounds horrible, but yes, she did. I felt an attraction to her. Even when I started dating Walsh, before we came back here, I couldn't wait to see her. I never thought that I would meet her in real life. I didn't think that I would ever be able to do it, so I decided that I had to move on and be in the real world, you know? I didn't think it was fair for either of us and I knew that it wasn't fair for Henry."
"I am sure that it wasn't. But that doesn't explain your fascination with this woman. Did you pursue her when you were awake?"
"No, I didn't know who she was or where she was. I did look for her for a while when we were in New York, but there are so many people there. I thought I found her once, but it wasn't here."
"What changed your mind?"
"Walsh did."
"Why?"
"Because he didn't run from Henry. He wanted to be there with both of us. I could tell that he cared for us, well until I took the potion and realized who he really was."
"And who was that, Dear?" Regina asked.
"He was a flying monkey and one of Zelena's henchmen. He was just trying to make sure that I staying in New York. I couldn't believe that I fell for it. I couldn't believe that I wanted to marry him. It just seemed like real life was an extremely bad dream. I wanted to go to sleep for days. Hook had already given me the potion."
"I know the rest of that story. You came here to help, but you didn't know what you were getting into at the time. You remember everything, but Henry remembers nothing. We've already established that."
"But, that isn't it, Regina. That is the part that you all know. Hook kissed me trying to make me remember. He figured that he was my 'true love' and that it would make me wake up and remember. There was only one problem," Emma stated.
"He wasn't your true love?" Regina asked with a smirk.
"That much is true. He gave me the potion later. Once I remembered everything, I wanted to go to sleep again and talk to the woman."
"Why didn't you?"
"I tried. She'd disappeared. I don't know what happened. She was just gone."
"What do you mean?" Regina asked.
"I would be in the castle or wherever we would be in my dreams. Everything was how I remembered it, but she wasn't there. It was like she just vanished. There was no one there. All the people that we might have seen before were gone," Emma explained.
"There were other people in these dreams?"
"Yeah, but they never really interacted with me. It was like they couldn't see me. But, she never kept me in the castle long. We would tour the grounds and woods. Once she even took me to a lake bed."
"A lake bed?"
"Yeah, something about finding something she'd lost. She was disappointed to find out that there was no water left. She tried to summon some from the mud, but it didn't work."
"She had magic?" Regina questioned.
"Yes."
"And, that is why you think that she was me?"
"It made sense to me. Who else do I know that would have such invested interest in Henry? But, she was gone. I didn't put any of it together until I remembered everything from before. I could remember you. I don't know if my brain was trying to make me remember you or if my magic was trying to make me conjure you because Henry needed you, too."
"Well, I am sure that would be a first," Regina added.
"I am sure, like most magical things are for me. When I remembered who you were, and you were the first that I remembered, it started to make sense to me. When we got back, everything seemed to be clear to me, except for the Zelena part. I had to find you, but I knew that you would know what happened after I spoke with my parents. I was a little surprised to find out that they were pregnant but couldn't remember how far along."
"Yes, it was quite a surprise to wake up here, again."
"I not surprised. I am sorry that there wasn't something that I could have done. I feel like we were trying to do something to stop Zelena before she cast her curse. I know that Henry would want me to come back and help, but I have to admit that it was hard. I could remember you, but he couldn't. I left before trying to sleep. We drove all night to get here."
"I know that, Dear."
"What you don't know, is that once I got here, the dreams started again."
"And?"
"You were the woman," Emma told her.
"How can that be? I haven't had any dreams of you. I would certainly remember them, if I had."
"I don't know. The only thing that I do know is that the dreams stopped when I think the curse was cast. It wasn't until I woke from the memories that you gave me that I knew it was you. The dreams started again once I got back. The woman changed. She was no longer in dresses. She was in power suits and had shorted her hair. Her face became more defined to me."
"How so?"
"Your scar, I recognized it. You smelled of apples again. Memories of you began to blend with the memories I had of you from here in Storybrooke. Even our disagreements made sense to us both."
Regina gasped. Emma looked at her. She didn't know what to do. She figured that she had said too much. She stood up. It was all too much and her natural habit to run took over. She was the mayor's office door before she realized it.
Regina was fast on her heels. She pushed Emma into the door. She spun Emma around. Emma looked into her brown eyes with her emerald green. There were so many questions for them both to answer.
"Regina, just let me go."
"I will not."
"Why not, Regina?"
"Because, I dreamt about you, too."
"You lied to me."
"Of course, I did. Do you think that I wanted to believe that you were the woman in my dreams? We haven't always been friends, Emma."
"Do you think that…"
"I've tried not to over think things since you got back, Dear. I am trying to figure out how to make Henry remember me. I am trying to figure how not to get lynched for a curse I didn't do. I am trying to figure out how to defeat Zelena, but I have no idea who or what she is."
"You don't have to do it alone."
"She is my problem."
"She is our problem, Regina. Our dreams brought us back together. We are going to fight her together."
"And, why is that, Miss Swan?"
"Because I am not letting you do this alone. I owe you for all the help while I was with Henry, alone. I am not leaving you. I promised Henry once that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I meant it then, and I mean it, now," Emma told her.
Regina's eyes got wider. She still had Emma against the door. She knew that if Emma wanted to leave she could have. Regina didn't physically have the power to keep her there. There was a wildness in Emma's eyes that Regina has only seen a few nights before.
"Tell me something, Miss Swan," she commanded.
"What is that?"
"Did something happen between you and this woman in your dreams?"
"I would rather not say."
"Tell me."
"I don't think that you would like the answer," Emma told her.
Regina's eyes got dark with lust. She had a woman that she spared with against her door. She had Emma in her hands. She didn't want to let her go. She wanted Emma to understand that she wanted her to kiss her the other night. She held Emma by her shirt. Emma looked down into her eyes. She could see her own lust reflected in Regina's.
Regina quit thinking about what she wanted to say. She quit thinking about the fact that she was Emma and Snow's daughter. She quit overthinking and trying to rationalize why she shouldn't want Emma just as much as it seemed that Emma wanted her.
She leaned forward and kissed Emma. Emma didn't respond at first. She was in shock that Regina had actually kissed her, this time. When Emma realized what was going on, she deepened the kiss. By that time, Regina had buried her hands in Emma's long golden locks. She pulled Emma closer. She felt their bodies melding together in the heat of the moment.
Emma pulled away when she couldn't breathe anymore. She looked at Regina and held her face. She smiled at her, but didn't say anything.
"It was you, wasn't it? In my dreams? It was you," Emma stated.
"I don't know, but if it was..."
Emma didn't let her finish the thought. She pulled her closer. Emma studied her face.
"It was you," Emma stated and kissed her harder than before.
Regina leaned in as close as she could and moaned into Emma's mouth. She didn't care at the moment. She knew that she wanted Emma and Emma wanted her. The rest they would deal with because they would fight it together. They had learned that together they were stronger. Regina reasoned that this was the reason that they were meant to be together.
Emma pulled back and looked at Regina. The questions were back. Regina didn't like it.
"What are we going to tell Henry?"
"Forget about Henry, he'll be easy. I am more worried about telling your parents. I don't think that they are going to be as accepting as you would like. They are the Charmings after all."
"Yes, they are, but then again, so am I. They should know better than to fight true love. We've fought through curses to come back together. We've used dream worlds to be together, Regina. They can't argue against that, can they?"
"You obviously don't know your mother very well, Dear?"
"She doesn't know me, then, or you for that matter."
"What do you plan on doing?" Regina asked her.
"I have no clue. I was hoping that you did. I just…I needed to know how you felt about me."
"I think that I have answered that question for you, Miss Swan."
"That you have. I'll look into the curse and Zelena with Dad. Why don't you spend some time with our son? I am sure that it would be fun for him to be given a tour with the mayor and some ice cream."
"Emma…"
"He is our son. You are just as much his mother as I am. He will remember you. Just spend some time with him. Maybe it will make him remember."
"It couldn't hurt."
"No, it won't."
"Bring him by tonight for dinner. I want you both to come. I'll make lasagna."
"Good, because no one does it like you," Emma stated.
"And, your parents?"
"I'll deal with them, Regina. They are going to have to learn to deal with it. I may be there daughter, but I am older than both of them now. Plus, they have enough to worry about with the baby on the way. I can assure you that you are the least of their worries right now," Emma told her.
