CHAPTER SUMMARY: The story continues in the diner where Emma and Hook have a discussion. Later at her office, Regina has a visitor.
Henry watched the pirate talk and wave his hooked hand as if he was pleading some sort of court case while his blonde mother, the new Dark One, was nonchalant to his request for her attentions. The young teen noticed that she was wearing more black than he had ever seen her wear before.
"Swan," Hook begged as Henry picked up another French fry and nibbled on it slowly pushing the morsel of potato over to the side of his mouth. He wondered suddenly if Hook was going to cry because the man's eyes appeared to be moist. Emma however picked up her teaspoon and stared into the back of it, holding it up to see if she could see Regina and Robin, who were just outside the door.
Henry shifted enough to the side to see Robin, agitated, waving his arms and his dark haired mother with her hands on her hips looking as if she might curse him at any minute.
All of a sudden Hook's palm made a loud crack as he slammed it down angrily on the table, making Henry and the diner's other customers jump. "Look at me, dammit!"
Emma, who was unfazed by it all, turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him. Uh oh. Henry became instantly nervous. He knew that look. It had never been directed at him with such blood-thirsty fierceness before, but he knew that look. It was the do not mess with me look or I will ground your ass 'til kingdom come, only he was sure Hook would get something more serious and painful than revoked video games, TV and smart phone privileges. Henry's eyes shifted to Killian who gulped and fidgeted in his seat, though his eyes never left Emma's.
Her jaw clenched as she leaned in slowly and snarled at him, "Do NOT provoke me, Killian." It sounded like a warning but Henry couldn't help but think it also a dare. Was his mother daring Hook to provoke her so that she would have a reason to… to what? What would Emma, or the Dark One, do to the pirate if he displeased her. The light in her eyes softened a fraction then and she leaned back and picked up her coffee and said, "You have been warned."
After she sipped from her mug she turned to Henry and the reassuring grin she gave him was so genuinely Emma that Henry returned it, feeling some relief.
"Look…" Emma offered, resting against the back of the booth and glancing at Hook, "You are owed a conversation about this and I will make this as painless as I possibly can." She sighed and Henry thought he detected a little sympathy. "It's over, Killian. My feelings have changed and I don't want this anymore." At Hook's audible gasp, Emma threw a rather clichéd excuse that Henry saw in movies and yet her delivery was almost comical, Henry noted. "It's not you," she shrugged, "…It's me."
The teen whipped his head to the pirate who slumped and lifted his narrowing eyes toward her. "But you said you loved me."
"That was then," the blonde gestured with a wave, "…this is now." The sheriff spun in her seat and eyed the couple outside the front window again and huffed impatiently, Henry suspected, waiting for Regina to return.
"That was two nights ago!" Hook argued.
Emma shook her head and shrugged, "Time is a funny thing."
Henry picked up his iced tea and rolled his eyes into it. This was not going the pirate captain's way and the frustration on Killian's face almost made Henry sympathize with him – almost. Quite honestly, Henry was hoping that his mom would have a change of heart and dump the guy sooner rather than later. Ever since they came back from their year in New York, even when Henry couldn't remember him, he had been leery of Hook. The young teen had gotten to decipher those men who were genuine from those who only wanted to get into Emma's pants. His "jerk alert" had been going off like crazy as soon as Hook stepped into their New York apartment and he disliked the man instantly. He had done a good job in pretending that he was okay with them dating and if Emma really liked him, there was little Henry could do. No man could replace Neal, his father, and he resented the way Hook tried to step in thinking if he got in good with Henry, then he would get in good with Emma. Henry had hoping that one day his mother would come to her senses.
Sucking remnants of potato from his teeth, he studied the scraggily bearded man, then Emma. Hook was staring at her beseechingly while she ignored him and forked Eggs Benedict into her mouth as if she had not eaten in weeks. When Emma took a pancake and piled some of her breakfast on it, Henry winced. She proceeded to add bacon, syrup and then wrapped it up like a taco. Being the Dark One must work up a killing hunger.
"Emma, please. I love you."
Without looking at him or swallowing, she nodded with a mouthful, the words barely understandable, "I know." She took one of Henry's fries, winked at Henry and shoved that into her mouth.
"Well?!" Hook demanded desperately, obviously upset with Emma's indifference to him and quite possibly her unusual breakfast choice. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"
Emma stopped suddenly, glanced at him and after her eyes darted from one thing to another, seeming to seriously consider it, she cocked her head to the side casually and then shook it. "No." Then she took another enormous bite of her eggs benedict-bacon-syrup-pancake concoction, as Henry sputtered into his ice tea in surprised amusement at her glib reply.
Hook was livid. The chair he was sitting on crashed to the floor roughly when he sprang to his feet. The muscles in his face worked furiously and if Henry didn't know any better he thought Hook might explode on the spot, leaving nasty pirate remains all over the place. Everyone turned to them and that seemed to gain Regina's attention outside as she came running up to the door leaving Robin clearly exasperated. His brunette mom swung the door open and stared in their direction and he wondered who she was more concerned about him or Emma. It was probably him and if you had asked him an hour and a half ago, that's what he would have said. However, watching his moms sitting close together, on the same side of the booth, had presented him with ideas that he had not had in a year or so. Suspicions he had once had long ago.
The pirate's menacing glare bore into Emma's face as he threatened, "I will avenge my love, Dark One. You've taken her and I will not rest until you pay."
The Dark One scoffed, "Like that worked so well for you last time." Emma picked up her coffee and halted it at her lips when he was still throwing daggers at her with his eyes.
"I promise you."
The blonde sheriff chewed slowly and sat up straighter, as if contemplating what he was saying. "You're serious aren't you?" It almost sounded like she was taunting him, not believing that he would make good on his threat and for the first time in minutes, Henry was really scared. Not for Hook, but for Emma. What would Hook do to Emma?
"I will destroy you, Dark One."
A maniacal glint sparkled in Emma's green eyes and Henry could have sworn that they changed for a brief moment. Then the pleasure of a battle seemed to take his mother over and she evilly sneered at the man. It looked like she would have torn him apart except she remembered herself and she turned her gaze to Henry. Her eyes floundered suddenly and her posture and expression relaxed. "Don't make promises that you can't keep, Killian," she retorted instead, pivoting back to her breakfast and Henry breathed a sigh of relief.
"Henry?" Regina sidled up to Hook, looking to Henry first and then to Emma. "Emma? Is everything okay?"
A light shown in Emma's countenance then and she tilted her head throwing Regina her most dazzling smile. "It is now, Regina." No one missed the flirtation in the blonde's voice, not even Henry, and Regina was caught off guard again by the raw interest for her in the sheriff's eyes. Hook saw it too and he bitterly glared at Regina before walking around her and stomping out of the restaurant.
The dark haired woman rolled her eyes upward and closed them on a sigh only to open them again when Emma scoffed into another weirdly unusual breakfast burrito, "I know. Fairytale Dudes, huh?" Her food was halfway to her mouth when she spied Henry and she winked again and smiled affectionately at him, "You lucked out, kid."
"Regina," Robin enunciated slowly seeming to test the waters as he drew nearer. "Um… We weren't done with our conversation." Henry noticed his older mother's jaw work impatiently and gathered that their conversation wasn't going well either. He mulled that over as he gobbled up two French fries at once. The prospect of both his mothers willingly giving up the loser men in their lives was a rather welcome idea. The former woodland thief directed his gaze at the blonde who was staring at her food and looking a little more irritated by the minute, Henry observed. "Emma…"
"Pinenuts." Henry snorted at Emma's greeting and quieted immediately after receiving a pointed stare from Regina.
The older woman whirled and raised an eyebrow down at the Dark One. She had never seen Emma Swan eat so much so fast before, and she knew the savior had a healthy appetite. With her signature haughtiness she peered down her nose at Emma, much like she had when they first met years ago and quipped sarcastically. "Are we hungry, Miss Swan?"
With a crisp strip of bacon in her hand, Emma held it to her lips and let her eyes roam indecently up and down Regina's body, making sure the mayor knew exactly that there wasn't an innocent thought about it. When her perusal reached Regina's eyes, Emma's smug grin was playful. Their eyes held and Emma said just one word and its sexual connotation was not lost on anyone. "Ravenous." The the snap and crunch of the bacon was heard accompanied by Regina's sharp intake of breath.
Robin's eyes darted in jealousy between Regina and Emma, while Henry's eyes moved curiously between all three.
"Now wait just a minute…" Robin raged. He came closer to Emma to stake his claim on Regina, but the brunette held her hands out stopping him before he could do something rash.
"Robin, don't be foolish."
"But…"
"I'd listen to her, Tree Stump." Emma casually threw an arm up against the back of the booth and eyed him holding her coffee mug. "You don't want to mess with the Dark One." For effect, the blonde added, waving her hands in pretend fear, "Oooooooh…"
Regina frowned incredulously and looked over her shoulder at Emma as if to say with her eyes, "Really?" While Henry bit his lip to keep from laughing.
"This is insane!" Robin threw his hands up in the air and said to Regina, "What is she going to do to me? She's not going to kill me or she would have done it already."
Emma shrugged offhandedly, "Eh, the day is still early."
"Emma."
"Ma."
Regina and Henry both spoke at the same time hoping that the blonde was just kidding. The Dark one leaned over her food again, grabbed a couple of Henry's fries and dipped it into the leftover hollandaise sauce from her breakfast. "Oh relax! I'm not going to kill him." She threw Robin a warning look, "But tempt me and I may give you four extra testicles. How would that be?" Regina gaped at Emma, Robin bristled and Henry's face twisted and he couldn't help but grab his own crotch uncomfortably at the thought. "Then that dopey painful expression you're always wearing will be warranted."
Emma reached a finger out and invitingly brushed it against the side of Regina's hand causing the woman to gasp at the touch and Robin's eyes to narrow.
"Listen, you," Robin seethed. "I've had just about enough."
The blonde rolled her eyes, while he blustered on, and mimicked Robin's hysteria to Henry with her hand opening and closing to the movement of the man's jabbering mouth and again Henry tried to stifle a laugh.
To get her attention, the former thief, propped his fists on the table, like some territorial gorilla, and leaned forward in an intimidating manner. "I'm not afraid of you, Swan. I have dealt with all manner of villainy," this earned him a reproachful, outraged look from Regina, "so I know how to deal with the likes of you."
Henry knew he was only thirteen but even he could see the stupidity in Robin's bravado. He saw Regina shaking her head in disapproval and rolling her eyes at his ill-advised, brainless actions. He expected Emma to be upset and angry, but she looked up at him like she wanted to laugh in his face. If Robin thought he could frighten Emma, even in the least bit, he had another think coming.
Emma leaned closer and with an evil chuckle said, "Don't bet on it," and then with a wave of her hand she cast some sort of spell. Or curse, Henry thought biting the inside of his cheek.
Regina frowned having sensed a small surge of magic in their vicinity. "Emma… What did you do?" Regina was more curious than alarmed while Robin now had the belated good sense to be worried.
Suddenly his body snapped up, ramrod straight, and his eyes goggled. He opened and closed his mouth in utter distress and looked from Emma to Regina, who inspected his form but could not detect anything amiss.
With a clamor he ran for the door and bolted from Granny's, running like a madman down the street.
Emma was grinning from ear to ear and shaking her head. She wiped her mouth with her napkin and exited the booth, placing a hand on Regina's lower back and keeping it there, Regina noticed.
"Come on, Henry, you're going to be late for school."
"What did you do, Miss Swan?!"
Henry exited the booth and joined his two moms. Emma put an arm around his shoulder and kept the other hand on Regina's back. The sheriff smiled and made both their jaws drop by saying, "Let's just say, he's no longer constipated."
[X]
Regina stood by her office window, tapping the back of her Montblanc pen against an open palm and peered out at the town. Today looked like any other ordinary day. There was Archie with Pongo, walking alongside him. Three minutes later, Miss Lucas ran by, surely on her way to the docks, getting a morning jog in before she had to start her shift at Granny's Diner. Moe's flower truck drove by to make its morning deliveries. Regina lifted an eyebrow as she saw two of Storybrooke's newest residents, Maleficent and her daughter, Lily, walking close to one another, talking and strolling. To the naked eye, nothing would seem amiss about this slightly overcast morning.
However, today was vastly different from a few days ago. Walking to her desk, she picked up her telephone and opened her photos folder and thumbed through the files to the secret image, an image no one knew she had of Emma Swan. Henry had showed it to her some months ago. The blonde looked happy gazing at their son, her eyes sparkled and her dimples winked. In her mind, she could see the animation even though the photo remained still. When her son was busy elsewhere, she had quickly grabbed his phone and sent the image to herself via sms and then erased all evidence. Every now and then she would steal a peek at Miss Swan; during her lunch break, while in a boring meeting, carefully at the diner so no one knew. Sometimes even at home while in bed at night, after having just worked on some documents, her phone would sit on her side table and she would reach over, take it into her hands and study the image of the woman she shared a son with. Then she would put the phone down with unexplained exasperation, pinch the bridge of her nose, extinguish the lamp and drift off to sleep, thinking of grey tank tops, bantering blondes and grilled cheese sandwiches.
"Regina." The soft voice came from her door and Regina quickly activated sleep mode on her phone. Mary Margaret's head had poked through it and when she saw the room empty she came in and forlornly sat on the sofa.
"Mary Margaret, why aren't you working?"
"They called a substitute in." An incredulous short burst of laughter came from the younger woman and Regina sat on the chair facing her. "They told me to go home. Spend time with my family. Grieve." The woman seemed lost in her own sadness but then whipped her head up angrily at Regina. "Grieve?! They're treating this like a fucking bereavement!"
Regina's head jerked back in surprise to hear the woman swear. As far back as she could remember she had never heard Mary Margaret curse. Not even Snow White, come to think of it. Regina frowned and leaned forward, whether in helpfulness or helplessness she couldn't tell. She was just certain that she didn't know what to do about this sorry situation. Regina didn't really have much experience for being Snow White's pillar of support anyway.
"My daughter is not dead!"
"Of course she's not!" Regina frowned, a line cutting into her forehead and added, "I just spent the morning with her and believe me, I know a dead person when I see one."
"You saw Emma?"
The mayor rolled her eyes. "I believe that's what I just said."
"Regina, how did she look?"
"Hungry." Regina smiled inwardly at the memory of watching Emma eat with such gusto. "You eat like a child." Yes, there were some things the darkness hadn't been able to change. The older brunette suddenly took a little comfort from that.
"David sent me a message this morning when she walked into the station saying that she looks pretty much the same… except all in black. He sent me another message a minute ago frustrated because he's been trying to get her to button a few buttons on her blouse and she's told him to get used to it."
A small smile threatened to creep across Regina's face again and she bit on the inside of her cheek to keep it from spreading. The mayor had noticed the deep-v of the savior's blouse earlier as well and was sure their son did too, but a lot was happening during breakfast with more pressing matters to deal with. Besides, she thought, as the former Evil Queen, who was she to lecture anyone about cleavage.
"What are we going to do, Regina?"
Ordinarily, the older woman would wipe her hands clean of the problem and let the Charmings deal with their own trouble, but then of course later get involved anyway. This was different though. This was Emma. This was Henry's other mother. With a sigh, Regina thought, this was the woman who repeatedly, and irritatingly, saved her life on several occasions. It's not that Regina wasn't grateful, but exactly why did the woman continue to sacrifice herself for her?
"I don't know, Snow." Regina only used Mary Margaret's real name in this world under the utmost urgency. She really had no answer for the young woman and she watched her shoulders slump and after she sighed, Mary Margaret looked to just remember something.
"So you were at Granny's today when Emma broke up with Hook?"
"She broke up with him?" Regina knew there was tension between the pirate and the Dark One, but she had not had the chance to interrogate Henry on what had happened. She could very well see how they might have broken up, what with Emma's flirtations toward her and Hook's death glare in her direction. And she thought that possibly, nowadays, she wouldn't have to deal with such menacing glances thrown her way. Not that she cared. She couldn't care less what Killian Jones thought of her. She, quite frankly, hated the man. He was a repulsive cretin and not deserving of Miss Swan.
"That's what the town grapevine is reporting. She told him that she didn't love him and that she didn't want him anymore." Mary Margaret shook her head in disapproval. "Ouch."
"And what do you think about the break-up?" Regina had never come out and actually asked Mary Margaret what her feelings were on her daughter's love life. The woman volunteered information before: that she was happy that Emma was just starting to find love, and that she wanted the best for her daughter.
"Honestly?"
Regina waited a beat and uttered, "Mm…" urging the woman to continue.
Mary Margaret leaned against the back of the couch and with a quick inhale admitted, "I'm relieved…" When Regina's lips parted in surprise and she pointedly stared at the woman, her former step-daughter continued, "I never really felt comfortable with her being with him. I mean why him of all people? Neal was such a good man…" Regina's brow furrowed doubtfully. "Besides the whole calling the cops on her and leaving her in prison."
"And David? Did he like Hook?"
"Are you kidding? He wanted to murder Hook in Neverland. Then Killian saved his life and he felt obligated. However, Killian courting Emma never sat right with him either. But who are we to say anything?" Mary Margaret looked down at her folded hands and twiddled her fingers. "Emma's our daughter and yet… she's not." She looked up to Regina with a melancholy grin. "She's her own person." She chuckled, "Surprise! You're parents to a 28 year old woman!"
The older woman's eyes darted off to the side so as not to express her amazement at this new bit of information. She had always thought that the pirate had the Charming Seal of Approval.
At that moment, her mobile phone on the table vibrated and upon picking it up and recognizing the Caller ID, she activated the call. "Hello?"
"She's there isn't she?" Regina's eyes shot to Mary Margaret who was staring down at the sofa table rather despondently. The usually cheerful school teacher looked to herself then and picked a piece of thread off her sweater. The mayor opened her mouth to answer and as soon as a sound came out, barely even a syllable, Emma stated quickly, "Don't tell her it's me."
Regina immediately fell silent and gripped the phone tighter and willed her eyes not to widen in front of Mary Margaret at Emma's abrupt request.
"Okay." That one word answered Emma's question and her wish that her identity not be revealed. However, her tone also displayed slight disapproval and Emma picked up on it and sighed.
"Look, I know she's worried and it's not that I don't want to see her, Regina, but the last thing I need is Mary Margaret coming down here and mother-hen-ing me to death!" She could hear the frustration in the blonde sheriff's voice. "I've already got one parent chasing me around the office trying to get me to button my clothes."
Refraining from rolling her eyes, Regina let curiosity win over. "How can I be of service today?"
After a long pause and with a tone of innuendo, the savior naughtily replied, "Do you really want me to answer that?"
The mayor shifted in her seat, lips parting and heart racing. Just what, exactly, was Emma Swan trying to pull? Because ever since the savior, the Dark One, the savior had pinned her up against the bookcase in her study, the woman had done nothing but outwardly flirt with her and it was causing quite a stir of feelings inside Regina.
"This could be fun," the sheriff's voice took on a sexy timbre. "Shall I whisper sinful favors from you in your ear while my mother is in the room?" Then at Regina's choked sound, "I know exactly how you can service me with that very royal, regal mouth of yours."
She clutched the phone impossibly tighter wondering how the plastic casing had not been crushed under her grip. She found Mary Margaret looking at her then mouthing "Is everything ok?"
Regina stared at the woman for a moment while she kept sudden thoughts of her mouth anywhere on her daughter's body at bay. The blonde picked that moment to further taunt, "Shall I tell you of all the things I want to do to you, Your Majesty?"
Her thighs clenched and rubbed together suddenly as a rush of lust coursed through her system. What the hell is going on here?
Her voice cracked and sounded husky to her ears when she tried for a prim reply, "That won't be necessary." She soothed her office visitor's deepening frown with a palm up and a shake of her head, letting Mary Margaret know that concern wasn't needed and that seemed to appease the woman for she relaxed again. She also heard the the savior give a hearty chuckle.
"Believe it or not, this wasn't why I called." Regina breathed a sigh of relief and Emma wasted no more time. "I want to invite you and Henry to the Lair tomorrow night. That's what I'm calling my place on the East Mountain." The mayor blinked at the invitation and Emma went on, "It's no castle with a dungeon but it works for me."
Regina raised a quizzical eyebrow at the mention of her castle in the Enchanted Forest and became curious of the blonde's new home.
"That sounds fine."
"Excellent. Is there anything special you and the kid want on the menu?"
"I'll leave that up to you."
"Very well. I'll pick you and Henry up at 6:30 at your place." There was excitement evident in the woman's voice and before she ended the call, the sheriff's voice lustfully deepened. "I'm looking forward to it, Regina."
The woman didn't say her name any differently so why was it having such a profoundly different effect on her now?
"Understood. Yes. Thank you for calling."
"See you tomorrow, Regina." There was her name again. Regina disconnected the call before she could do something silly like uncharacteristically whimper into the phone.
She needed to go to her vault immediately; needed to see what answers her magic books might hold for her about this. All she knew was that she was feeling pursued by Emma, who was also the Dark One, and she liked to be prepared for whatever outcome that could include.
