With David assured his daughter was in no danger they said their goodbyes and Regina pulled into the driveway at 108 Mifflin Street.
She hadn't intended on bringing Emma home and when she turned the vehicle off she remembered how angry henry was.
"I hadn't exactly thought this through." she admitted.
Emma's brow crinkled in worry, she's changed her mind. How stupid of you to think she could separate you from what your body did to her! Of course she won't want you in her home! Emma thought to herself and started to voice her acknowledgement. "I get it Regina." her voice cracked and her eyes watered up and just as she was about to tell the woman she would find her own way home Regina said, "I haven't had a chance to talk to Henry, he was angry and afraid and didn't understand. About you. About what happened. How it wasn't you. I'm certain he will not be happy about you being here. Now. He may not understand but," Regina reached over and took the blonde's pinky in her own, "It is our job as his parents to make him understand." the brunette smiled tightly. "If you would like me to lead, and you follow, I am more than happy to do that."
Emma nodded remembering how she felt when Henry screamed at her a few weeks prior. She wasn't sure she could handle his anger in her current emotional state, but she would be strong for Regina. Emma tightened her grasp on the older woman's finger. "Are you sure this is okay? I mean me being here. With you ."
"Do you not feel confident enough to protect us Emma?"
"I… uh," she felt the rush of adrenaline at the thought of someone harming this woman, and their shared child. My family. "Yeah. I mean I do. I mean I can."
"Do you not wish to protect us?"
"NO! I do! I mean, I want.. To protect you Regina. I just… I don't want to cause anyone any more harm… I don't know how you can even look at me, let alone ask me to stay at your house."
Regina nodded knowingly, "It wasn't you. You would never hurt me."
Emma nodded in agreement. "Never." she whispered as a tear escaped the brim of her eyelash.
"Okay then, let's go face the wrath of our 11 year old together." a tight smile from the former mayor gave Emma the strength she needed and with her free hand she wiped away at her cheek. "I'm certain he will not be pleased with me for bringing you home with me. So at least there's that." She said with a strangled chuckle and Emma tightened her own hold on the brunette in support. Brown eyes met green and an appreciative smile pulled on thick red lips.
Regina felt a little nauseas seeing Emma in the foyer. It was all really fresh in her mind still. She had yet to fix the dents in the pristine white of the walls, they were currently pink, stained with the queen's blood. Regina hadn't thought to warn Emma, not exactly forgetting about the incident, just not thinking it would have an effect on the blonde. Emma's wide green eyes told the former mayor she had been wrong and when the blonde backed away from the scene in horror and broke down in the hallway, Regina rushed to her side and took her into her arms turning her away from the sight. "I'll fix this as soon as I get my magic back." she whispered with an unsteady voice, "I'm sorry Emma, I didn't think how you would feel about it. I forget that the assault didn't just happen to me, it happen to you too." Emma curled herself in the embrace of the queen and shook her head and let herself feel the warmth of the woman who held her.
"I can't remember any of it. There are just these things," Emma pulled back away from the brunette and touched her cool pale fingertips over the queen's cheekbone, "that are now a permanent part of the world that are reminders that it happened." Emma traced her thumb over the bridge of the queen's nose and around her eye socket. "Things I could never fathom doing to you. Things I don't remember."
Brown eyes darken and dark eyelashes flutter as she closed her lids basking in the gentle caresses of the savior. "Consider yourself fortunate that you don't remember, Miss Swan."
Emma tried to apologize and Regina broke their embrace and took a deep breath.
"This is it." she snapped with finality. "This is the last time you apologize for something that was beyond your control. You have 30 seconds, so make it good because after this, you don't get to apologize again."
She looked down at her watch and waited.
"25 seconds Miss Swan."
Emma fish gaped and blurted out, "I'm sorry Regina! I'm sorry this happened to you! I'm sorry there wasn't anything I could do! I would never hurt you and it is killing me inside that you have memories of me hitting you…" she gulped, "Of me forcing you…" Emma didn't hold back her tears this time. "I would never touch you without your permission. We were getting so… close and this is going to change us… it has already changed us… I'm not sorry because I feel responsible, I'm sorry this happened to you! I'm sorry that when you think about it, it is my face you see and I'm sorry that this is going to screw up our family, or what family we could have been!"
"And time."
Regina waltzed back over to Emma and put her hands on the woman's shoulders. "Do you feel better?"
Emma grumbled, "No."
"Well that's too bad. I don't want to hear anymore of this 'I'm sorry' nonsense. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes R'gina…" Emma replied feeling very much like a scolded child.
Henry came down stairs because he heard voices from the kitchen. He skidded to a stop before Emma and fell backwards. He scrambled up and ran behind Regina and coward into his mother's flank.
Emma for the first time since she had known the kid saw fear in his eyes and she looked up at Regina and said, "This was a bad idea."
"Darling we need to have a talk okay?" he shook his head no.
"Why is she here?" he demanded the answer from his adoptive mother.
"What happened to us… someone made her do those things. It wasn't her Henry."
He looked up at her with disbelief then back towards Emma warily.
"She would never harm us Henry." Regina said and stroked the boy's head soothingly.
"But she…" his chin started to tremble and his little body started to shake.
"I know darling, but it wasn't her . She would never hurt us. She would never hurt you."
"I didn't bring you here to hurt my mom!" he shouted, completely ignoring his mother's words. "You hurt her really bad!" tears started to stream in his anguish and guilt. "How could you?"
Emma's heart stood still in her chest and she shook her head in silent denial of his vicious accusations. He isn't understanding. She looked up toward Regina trying to convey that he wasn't getting it and Regina nodded in agreement. Regina rounded him to face her and knelt down to his level. In the softest of mom voices she said, "Henry, you know there is magic here in Storybrooke now right?"
He nodded, still crying, tracing his little boy fingers over her damaged cheek just as his mother had done not 5 moments before.
"Someone used magic to make Miss Swan hurt us."
He looked over toward his blonde mother who was no longer trying to stifle her sorrow. "But why? Was it Mr Gold?"
"We don't know why baby boy. We don't believe Mr Gold did this. He is trying to help us find out who did this to our family." Brown eyes met green looking for acceptance at her choice of wording. Acceptance she received by way of a silent nod.
"Until we do find out who hurt us darling, your mom is going to stay with us for a little while, okay?" Henry was now looking back at Emma, mulling over his fear and anxiety about the prospect of his blonde mother living under the same roof as him and his mom.
"Is that okay with you?" Regina repeated snapping him out of his internal debate.
"She is going to stay here? Why?" he returned his attention to his brunette mother and pleaded with his eyes. He wasn't happy about this decision at all.
"She is going to stay here so if something happens, she can protect us. I'm going to help her do that by teaching her magic, is that okay?"
"You're going to teach her mom?"
Regina smiled tightly. "Yes darling. So we can protect each other from the person who harmed us."
He took it in, he wasn't entirely sure he was okay with the living situation. "Why can't she go stay with Mary Margaret and David?" he asked a little more whiny than Regina would normally allow.
Emma flinched as the boy had adopted the 'grandma and grandpa' titles for her parents since the curse broke and it was as if he wasn't just disowning her, but her entire lineage.
Emma knelt down and sat back on her haunches, not getting any closer to the boy who still held fear in his eyes and looked up at Henry and said, "Henry, if you would feel more comfortable with me not staying here, I won't. But if I'm not here and the person who has tried to hurt your mom comes back, I won't be able to protect her. I want to protect her Henry. She's your mom, she is my friend." Emma looked at the brunette in question, "I will do everything in my power to make sure no one hurts her ever again."
"Whoever did this, hurt Emma as well Henry and we need to make sure she is safe too." Regina broke the intense gaze from piercing green eyes to focus on a set that were confused and frightened.
Henry crinkled up his nose. "How did they hurt her?"
Emma spoke up to answer for the brunette. "The fact that both you and your mom have memories of me hurting you, that hurts me very much Henry. Every time you look at me, for the rest of our lives, you're going to remember that. Mom is going to remember that. It is going to change our relationship." Emma let the tight grip around her emotions go, something she never did with anyone, but something she couldn't help around her son and her son's mother. Her lip trembled as she spoke, "It was terrible what happened to your Mom and… and… the fact that she will forever associate me with that pain, kills me inside." she took a deep breath and openly wept, "I can't tell you how badly that hurts me Henry." She wiped her cheeks and asked, "You don't feel safe, do you kid?"
He instantly shook his head no.
"They hurt me, by hurting my family ."
His eyes got big, "They made you hurt Mary Margaret and David?!"
She gave him a tight little pirate smile, "No buddy, they hurt you and your mom."
"You think mom's your family?"
"Of course she is." Emma's gaze returned to the raw open face of Regina Mills. "She raised my kid." Emma said offering Regina a warm smile. "And she did such a good job." she broke eye contact when she felt her throat tighten with emotion. "I only even had you because of her and I am so so grateful to your mom. You are such a great kid, Henry. I couldn't have asked for a better son, I can't imagine my life without you in it, and I have your mom to thank for that. I love you kid."
"So you see Henry, they hurt all of us." Regina gathered her senses and wiped tears from her cheeks. "So we need to stick together and protect one another. Is it okay if Emma stays?"
He nodded his head slowly and hugged his arms around Regina's neck. She held him as he cried and looked to Emma and offered her hand to support the blonde. Emma took the offer and latched her pinky around the tiny matching digit and cried in both her relief and sorrow for the situation they found themselves in. They sat, and for the first time in over a week they all felt a little more normal, a little less confused. As if the world that had gone terribly skewed just a week prior had suddenly righted itself and each of them felt lighter and safer once again being a family unit.
"Alright then. Have you finished your homework?" Regina finally asked the boy who had fully relaxed in her arms.
"No I still have my english essay to finish." he mumbled with a dry croaky voice.
"Alright go on. I'll call you down when dinner is ready alright?" she patted his back encouraging movement. He looked over to his blonde mother and saw how both of his parents were holding hands then pulled away from one embrace and tentatively climbed into a new one. Emma's arm wrapped around her son and her face crumbled in her emotion. She felt the pinky she held onto like a lifeline tighten and she met the gaze of the woman who was supporting her.
"I'm sorry they hurt you too mom."
Emma chuckled through her tears. "We are all safe and we are going to be okay." she assured him, not entirely certain she could make that promise but made it anyway because she would be god damned if she let anyone hurt her family again.
Once Henry was upstairs Emma let out a huff and stood up. "Okay. That was really hard." she offered a hand to the queen who was still kneeling on the kitchen floor.
"How did you deal with it when he was all evil queen this and evil queen that?" Emma felt uncomfortable and started to bumble her way through another string of apologies. "I'm so sorry that all happened the way it did. I'm sorry I didn't do more to prevent it, I just… it's awful and I'm sorry."
"No more apologies Miss Swan." the queen scolded.
"I'm apologizing for something different! It doesn't count!"
"My house, my rules." the former mayor replied flippantly.
"That's not fair!" Emma whined with mirth.
"Take it up with the queen." Regina chuckled and then winked.
Emma noticed a twitch in her pants when Regina smiled at her and she swallowed hard and blushed. Her new appendage had been mostly hard for the last several days, but being around Regina had made it completely hard, and totally unbearable. It was sensitive and the sweat pants she was wearing was rubbing against it and it was raw and painful.
"Now," Regina exclaimed pulling Emma's attention away from her little problem. "Will you please take this bracelet off?"
Emma smiled warmly and approached the brunette. She took Regina's hand in her own and gently unsnapped the piece that looked an awful lot like gaudy costume jewelry and set it down on the kitchen counter. Emma absently rubbed her fingers over the area the bracelet had been and watched as Regina breathed in flexing her power. The woman's normally onyx eyes shown purple with her magic and it practically hypnotized the savior. Regina rubbed her hands together and swooped them around herself enveloping herself in a airy purple cloud. When the cloud dissipated Emma saw she had completely changed her wardrobe. A stifled groan escaped Emma's throat as her eyes raked in the sight before her. Low cut and tight and nothing at all like the mayor's mom clothes. Emma felt her member twitch as if it was trying to get closer to the stunning woman before her.
"We'll start magic lessons tomorrow." Regina sighed a satisfied breath. "But first, take off your sweatshirt."
Emma's eyes grew wide. "What? Why?"
A perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose in challenge. "Now Miss Swan." was Emma's only answer. The blonde of course complied, holding the sweatshirt over her crotch area hiding the erection she had. She pulled down the white undershirt that had ridden up with the removal of the sweatshirt and stood expectantly.
Regina held her hand over the savior's chest and looked into uncertain green eyes. "This is going to be painful Miss Swan, but only for a moment." with that the woman pressed the palm of her hand against the breastplate of the savior and Emma hissed out and doubled over in pain. Her entire chest felt like a thousand cuts had sliced into her all at once.
"What the hell Regina!? What the hell was that?" just as the brunette had promised, the pain had quickly subsided and she was able to take in a breath.
"A very permanent protection spell."
"Protection? It didn't feel like protection!"
"Well I had to carve the spell into your ribcage," she continued ignoring Emma's flabbergasted look, "but no one will ever be able to accost your body ever again."
"Oh." Emma mindlessly rubbed her sternum. "Uh, thanks."
"Come on Miss Swan I'll show you to your room." Regina spun around and Emma followed her up the stairs. Regina opened the door to the guest bedroom and ushered the blonde inside. "There is a community shower across the hall, but this room has it's own personal bathroom." Regina said and noticed Emma was limping a little and walking strange. "Are you alright dear?" the brunette inquired.
"Yeah. Everything is great." the blonde said with a wide smile. A little too wide. Regina raised an eyebrow as a silent question but Emma broke her gaze and sat down on the bed. Regina noticed the girl seemed out of sorts, and didn't seem to want to discuss it so she decided to give her her first lesson in magic instead.
"Alright dear I need to practice a little before we start your training tomorrow and I'd like to get a sense of your strength." Regina said with authority. "What would you like to bring from your home?"
"I'll just need my clothes I guess." Emma shrugged her shoulders
"Anything other than your clothes?"
"I don't really need much else."
"Emma, I'm not asking you to move in here, I'm simply suggesting you may bring any items you have that will make your stay here more comfortable."
"No, I mean I don't really have much else. Honestly." Emma replied and dropped her gaze. She was embarrassed and realized she still lived her nomadic lifestyle. She hadn't changed much in the year she'd lived there. She may have found the people who gave her life, but she hadn't felt they were her home. She learned early on to pack light for a quick dash, and that was a habit she never really grew out of.
Regina noticed Emma was embarrassed and decided to drop it and said, "Alright, well I can do your clothing Miss Swan. Since I've only been in your bedroom once, take me through a tour of your room verbally."
Emma cleared her throat and started at the bottom of the stairs and using her words painted her bedroom layout and described in great detail where her clothing was within her dresser drawers. When Emma was finished Regina opened her eyes and cast the summoning spell and a dark purple cloud enveloped the dresser. Regina held out a hand for Emma to check them and the blonde opened one of the drawers to find her items just as unfolded as they were in the drawers at her mother's house.
"Perfect." the blonde exclaimed with amused surprise.
Regina noticed immediately that they were wrinkled and disarrayed and cast another spell and folded everything neatly.
"Really?" she looked at Regina shaking her head with a wide smile.
"Yes. I need practice Miss Swan." the queen lied with a smirk.
"Sure sure." Emma chuckled.
"Alright now you try."
Emma's eyes bulged with surprise. "How?"
"Close your eyes and think about where your toothbrush is in your bathroom at home. Think about its exact location. Think about what it looks like, how heavy it feels in your hand. How smooth it is. Focus on every detail of your toothbrush Emma. Have you got it in your mind's eye?"
Emma nodded, eyes closed, her brow pulled down in concentration and her bottom lip secured between her teeth.
"Now hold out your hand. Imagine what it would look like if it were to just appear in your hand right this instant. Imagine it's weight, it's feel, it's color."
Emma tightened her brow trying to imagine her toothbrush. She wanted to summon her toothbrush. She had never wanted anything more, to prove that she could, to make Regina proud of her. To do something positive.
A milky white cloud whirled around above her hand and she felt the cool plastic of the toothbrush rest in her palm. Emma opened her eyes and saw Regina's proud smirk and she broke out into a wide smile. "I did it!" the blonde exclaimed with astonishment.
"Yes you did dear. Great job. Now, bring over your toothpaste."