Love, Fate And Magic

Chapter 20- The Truth Hurts

Several days past and Emma barely left her room. After the strange night with Regina and the less than pleasant conversation with Lucas, Emma had begun to pull away from society. She had spent a few nights with Regina, all of which had been sleepless and unpleasant. However hard she had tried to remain normal around Regina, Emma had found it increasingly harder to push through her ever burning questions about the past.

Regina had been keeping so much from Emma, and the blonde didn't think she could stay quiet any longer. From what she could tell, Regina hadn't caught onto Emma's suspicion about her and the past, but she could tell Regina knew something was up.

Emma glared at the wall, her eyes locked on the gently smiling face of Regina, the identical eyes staring right back at her. The blonde had taken to analysing every piece of information she had on the past, trying to put together the memories she had gotten back and place them with the items she had.

Though it proved very difficult to do, Emma had settled on the idea that she was around the age of seventeen or eighteen in the memories of her and Regina. And while it wasn't much to go on, it made questions about Henry's parentage arise whenever she tried to put past events onto a time line.

Lucas had been very absent since his last meeting with Emma, which had been very unhelpful to the blonde. It was clear he understood something about this that she didn't, and his choice to withhold information was something Emma believed to be a well thought out decision but yet she could not help the constant anger that arose whenever she thought of the aggravating man.

Emma sighed and flopped back on the bed, letting her head fall back to hang upside down, staring at the clock. It was early morning, and it wasn't long till she was due to go to work. Mary Margaret was bustling around downstairs, singing a song to herself as she did. Emma sat up and stretched before she slipped off of the bed.

Collecting up her clothes, the blonde sluggishly pulled them, frowning when Mary Margaret's raised voice travelled up to her room. Emma stopped trying to make out the other voice mixing with Mary Margaret's.

"I don't think now is a good time!" Mary Margaret snapped.

"Well it's a good thing I didn't come here for what you think!" Regina's said over the teacher angrily. Emma sighed, not wishing to deal with Regina right now.

"Madame Mayor you need to leave!" Mary Margaret ordered.

"Or what?!" Regina challenged.

"Enough!" Emma yelled, interrupting the two women. She came charging down the stairs, glaring at them both.

"Emma." They said in unison.

"Mary Margaret its fine, I'll deal with this." Emma said gently, placing her hand on the teachers shoulder and lightly squeezing. The blonde noticed the jealous look that flashed in Regina's eyes and sighed, removing her hand and turning to the other brunette. "What's going on Regina?"

"I want to talk to you." She said shortly, crossing her arms.

"Can't this wait? I'm getting ready for work." Emma replied, gesturing to her state of undress. Chocolate orbs darted down to Emma's body, lingering there briefly before connecting with emerald eyes once more.

"No it can't."

"Fine." The blonde grumbled, turning away to climb back up the stairs, Regina hot on her trail. They entered Emma's room, the blonde returning to getting dressed while Regina continued to shadow here. Emma bent down to grab her skinny jeans but tensed when delicate hands glided across her waist and arms enveloped her in a warm embrace. "Must you?"

"I haven't seen you since the other day." Regina husked into her ear, lightly kissing it. Emma wriggled from her embrace and turned to face the pouting woman.

"I've been busy with work." Emma said coldly, pulling on her jeans while Regina frowned at her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, reaching for Emma.

"I'm fine, but I need to get ready." Regina looked over at the clock then back to Emma who was pulling on her jacket and grabbing her keys.

"You aren't due for work for another forty five minutes darling." The brunette said slowly and Emma paused. Regina stepped forward and gently took a hold of Emma's cheek bringing their eyes to meet. "Talk to me Emma, what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong Regina." Emma jerked her face away from Regina's hand, but the brunette simply held her face with two hands, stopping Emma from breaking eye contact.

"You've been acting strange for days, something is bothering you and instead of talking to me you're pulling away." Regina moved forward to try and kiss the blonde but Emma dodged her lips and pulled away from her grasp. Regina growled and grabbed Emma's arm, yanking her back into the brunette. "Do not walk away from me."

"Back off Regina." Emma hissed. "I need to leave, and so should you."

"Emma." The brunette said in a warning voice.

"Now." The two women stared at each other intensely before Emma broke the connection and walked down the stairs. She didn't look back when her name was called by both Mary Margaret and Regina. She threw open the front door and disappeared down the stairs.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Regina flinched at the load bang of the door, her anger melting away when realised Emma wasn't coming back. She shifted awkwardly, turning her head to see Mary Margaret gaping at the door. She slowly closed her mouth and looked at Regina, a disappointed look on her face.

"I told you." She said coldly.

"Don't." Regina snapped, charging over to the door and quickly leaving the apartment.

The brunette rushed down the stairs, but found no signs of Emma outside the apartment or anywhere nearby. Regina took a shuddering breath in as she tried to take control of her emotions once more.

"It's happening again." She thought miserably as painfully memories filled her head.

Flashback

"I'm going to bed." The Princess tried to speed out of the hall, but stopped when Regina collided with her, making Emma stumble.

"Wait!"

"Regina what the hell?!" she turned to face the Queen who pulled their bodies together tightly.

"Stop shutting me out! Talk to me!" Emma couldn't look into Regina's eyes, knowing she would crumble easily if she did.

"I'm just tired Regina." She muttered, focusing on the Queen's lips as they moved to form words.

"Then why are you blocking me out?" Emma mumbled something incoherent making Regina frown.

"Good night Regina." Emma said softly.

"I love you." The Queen whispered.

"I know."

Flashback End

Regina squeezed her eyes shut tightly, willing the tears not to fall. Despite everything, history was repeating itself. She was going to lose again, lose Emma and maybe even Henry. The stakes had risen even higher this time round than before. She needed an ally, someone who understood her situation.

Reluctantly, Regina pulled out her phone, a delicate thumb gliding over the screen until it found the contact she was searching for. She took a deep breath in before lifting the phone to her ear, listening to the dial tone apprehensively.

"Hello?" Answered an amused voice on the other end.

"Gold." She greeted coldly. "I need your assistance."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emma chewed absentmindedly on her bear claw, feet up on the desk and eyes vacant as she swung back and forth, deep in thought. Morgan shuffled around the main part of the station, glancing over at Emma every so often, a concerned look in his eyes.

The blonde could see his hesitant behaviour out of the corner of her eye and huffed loudly, bored of people walking on egg shells around her.

"If you have something to say, just say it Morgan." She snapped, not looking over at him. Morgan jumped at her harsh tone, his head jerking around to look directly in her direction. His black hair fell across his face, distorting Emma's view of his expression. She frowned; he very rarely wore his hair down.

"You just seem a little off that's all." He shrugged, clearly trying to act casual though the nervous look on his face betrayed his attempt. "You okay?"

"It's been a rough couple of days." Emma replied, finally turning to look fully at him.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked empathically.

"I get that whatever Lucas is hiding is probably for the best and he is, though poorly, trying to protect me." Emma began, dropping her feet from the desk while Morgan took a seat across from her. "But how does he know keeping me in the dark isn't causing more damage?"

"It's a cross road I guess." Morgan concluded causing Emma to frown.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, by not knowing, you can carry on your life as the new person you are, unburdened by past mistakes. Or you can learn the truth and risk discovering some great horror you wish you'd never learned at all." He explained softly. "Either way you risk great unhappiness. Whatever path you choose, you can't avoid that pain; you can only find a way to get past it."

"I hadn't really thought of it that way." Emma muttered, leaning back heavily in her chair.

"Which would you rather have?" Morgan asked.

Emma went to reply but snapped her mouth shut at the sound of a voice down the hall.

"Emma?" Lucas's voice drifted into her office and the blonde quickly leapt up to find the other man.

"Lucas, what are you doing here?" She asked, emerald eyes finding a rather dishevelled looking Lucas. His face was unshaven and hair scruffy, he looked as if he hadn't slept an awful lot recently.

"I was hoping we could talk?" He asked nervously, eyes darting over to Morgan who was already grabbing his jacket.

"I'll do a coffee run." He chirped, brushing past the other two and promptly leaving. Emma watched him silently, waiting patiently for him to be completely gone before addressing Lucas once more.

"I know our last encounter was less than pleasant." He began, regaining Emma's attention. She scoffed.

"You could say that." She snipped, turning to walk back to her office, Lucas quick to follow.

"I want to make up for that." Emma looked back at him, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm listening." She replied curiously, dropping back down into the office chair and retrieving the abandoned bear claw.

"I know things have been difficult between you and Regina recently because of your past and if you want to know about it, I'll tell you to the best of my knowledge."

"I'd really like that." Emma said eagerly, briefly thinking about what Morgan had mentioned before. This was the right path.

"You met her when you were eighteen, not long after your birthday actually. You weren't the best of friends to begin with; she warmed up to you a lot faster than you did her." He chuckled, moving to sit down in an empty chair. "But even if it is true love, it doesn't always happen straight away."

"True love? You believe in that stuff?" Emma asked mockingly though Lucas appeared very seriously.

"Completely, yes." He confirmed. "You both loved it each other very much but your relationship was still dysfunctional."

"How do you mean?"

"Regina had some trust issues…often she was quite possessive. She has a darker side, one you had difficulty adjusting too. It went on for some time, lots of lies and actions behind each other's backs. For two people so in love, the pair of you kept more secrets from each than was healthy. Eventually it took its toll on Regina and you couldn't be around her anymore. So you ran. The night of your…car crash was the night you left Regina."

"What did she do to make me run?" Emma asked, her voice quavering slightly.

"Your parents were pretty against the whole relationship and waged a pretty big battle against the pair of you. Regina resorted to rather dastardly actions to ensure the two of you stayed together." Lucas explained.

"My parents? Aren't they yours too?" Emma asked in confusion. Lucas's smile faltered slightly.

"No, you adopted me as your family. Sadly, we don't share…blood." The blonde saw the great sadness at the confession. Maybe that's why he withheld their family history; did he fear she would reject him if they held no biological ties?

"This is a lot to take in." Emma muttered. Lucas opened his mouth to speak again but stopped when his phone suddenly screamed in his pocket.

"Oh I forgot." He mumbled, frowning down at the phone. "I need to run, but I hope we can talk more later?"

"Yeah absolutely." Emma nodded, smiling at him. Lucas flashed a small smile before getting up to leave. She watched him go, wanting to say something but unsure of what to say.

What now?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Henry lurked at the back of the dusty library, his eyes fixed on the door. A mobile phone was clutched in his small hand, while the storybook was tucked underneath his arm safely. The back door of the library suddenly creaked open and Lucas slipped inside, looking around for signs of his nephew.

"Henry?" He called out.

"Here." The small boy emerged from the shadows, running over to tightly hug Lucas. The older man seemed taken aback by the affection, but hugged Henry tightly none the less.

"I got your text, what's so urgent?" Lucas asked, kneeling to be at Henry's height.

"I saw it!" Henry exclaimed excitedly.

"Saw what?"

"Emma's heart! My mum has it hidden somewhere in her room." Lucas's eyes widened dramatically before his face cracked into a huge smile.

"Do you think you can find it?!" Henry nodded.

"Yeah, as soon as my mum is out of the house long enough I can find it." The small boy confirmed.

"Henry do you know what this means?! We can finally bring back Emma's memories! Everyone is going to be saved."

A/N: Hello again everyone! I can't apologies enough for the length of time you have all had to wait for this chapter, I am truly sorry. Please forgive me XD Lucas and Henry are so close to finding Emma's heart, do you think they will manage to bring back her memories? What will happen between Emma and Regina now that Lucas had confirmed Emma's suspicions? And what is Regina planning with Gold? Please review and tell me what you think, I love everything you have to say! Till next time Kids.