The low light from the downstairs crept up the steps, stopping at the threshold of the loft with Emma and observing the mostly darkened room. She could make out the irregular lump of Henry sleeping soundly on an air mattress at the foot of her bed. She desperately wished that she could climb into it, cover herself from the rest of the world, and sleep until everything made sense again. But she knew Mary Margret and David waited downstairs for her; she had heard them come into the apartment a bit ago speaking to each other in hushed, urgent voices.
Still, she could afford herself a few more moments of peace listening to her son's rhythmic breathing after the chaos that ensued from her announcement about the curse-breaking kiss. The uproar that followed startled her and definitely frightened Henry. She could she him visibly jump at the numerous loud voices rising up in denial or outrage. He suddenly looked so small and defenseless surrounded by the adults, his wide eyes trained on her.
She called to him. "Henry, come here."
The boy leapt out of his seat to her side, her arm slipped over his shoulders to keep him near, and Graham shifted closer to them. Emma wondered if they would have to make a break for it, when Snow White's voice trumpeted over the noise. "Enough!"
The room obeyed, a silent spell cast and she continued incredulously. "What do you mean you kissed? How?"
"We just kissed." Emma prickled defensively. "How everything happened is between me and Regina."
David asked, "And you're sure that kiss broke the curse?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Emma, it can't be true. It had to happen some other way. The only way the curse would break is if it was True Love's kiss."
"I know." Emma sighed.
Mary Margret heavily dropped back into her seat as if dealt a physical blow, covering her mouth with her hand the other finding David's to grasp tightly on the tabletop. The appeared like statues frozen in a state of grief. The celebratory bubble in the diner had popped and Emma was the one holding the needle.
She cleared her throat. "Look, it doesn't matter. I'm taking Henry back to the apartment. I'll see you there."
Whether her statement was acknowledged or not, Emma did not stick around to find out. She lead Henry out into the night, the sky now a swath of black flecked with stars and the streetlamps hummed their orange glow onto the darkened streets. Graham had followed them out, wordlessly escorting them the few blocks to Mary Margret's home. The trio paused at the door to the white brick building.
"Do you want to come up?" Emma asked.
He shook his head, "No, I think I'll stay out here tonight."
He was looking off down the street and Emma saw a great white wolf sitting patiently at the end of the road, waiting for Graham. She nodded. "Right. I don't think your place was ever emptied out. Your stuff should still be there."
She glanced down at his flimsy attire though he seemed unaffected by the pervasive cold. He made a distracted sound of acknowledgement then looked back at her. "Will you need me tomorrow?"
"I- Yes. Meet at the sheriff's station in the morning?"
"I'll be there." Without a goodbye, he started off down the road.
"Graham." Her voice halted his movement as her turned back. She went on softly. "Thank you. Just thank you."
He made a little bow and continued his trek into the night. Now just she and Henry climbed the two flights of stairs, walking into the cerulean cast of the unlit apartment. Emma flicked on the switch; the light bulbs sparkled to life and dispelled the dark, cool tones to reveal the cozy, warm rooms. She observed her unusually quiet son, "Are you hungry?"
He thought a moment. "Not really."
It was getting past 7 o'clock and he probably hadn't eaten since lunch. She moved to the kitchen. "Have some cereal with me anyways."
Henry compliantly climbed up onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar, sliding his backpack off and draping his coat over the back of the chair while Emma poured to two bowls of Fruit Loops for them. She stood across from where he sat, leaning over the counter tiredly and half-heartedly spooning the sugary cereal into her mouth. Their muffled crunching was the only sound between them until Henry finally spoke up. "My mom would never let me have cereal for dinner."
"Well this won't be an all the time thing." She smiled jokingly, trying to inject her normal teasing nature with him. "I had to slay a dragon today. Give me a break."
"You really killed a dragon?" He allowed himself the moment of reprieve and she could see his shiny excitement coming back to the surface. "Was it cool?"
"Yeah, I did." Emma added more seriously. "But I couldn't have done it without your Mom."
"She helped you?" He stirred the colorful rings in the milk.
"Yeah, Regina used her magic to protect me." She thought of the dark eyes with the blazing amber centers turning to her after having miraculously appeared next to her, the unbearable heat that had just encapsulated them and the hazy purple force field that kept it at bay. The gossamer shield had felt silk rolling over her skin, a summer breeze, and Regina caressing her cheek. So when the brunette implored her with 'trust me' she confidently stole a kiss and charged toward danger, the feeling of invincibility pumping through her veins.
"Emma… How could the Evil Queen be your True Love?" His young mind struggled with the possibility.
"Henry, there is a lot your mom and I need to discuss. I- I can't answer all your questions right now. But once, I talk with Regina, I promise I will tell you everything I can. Deal?"
He nodded. "Deal."
After a beat Emma asked, "Are you tired?"
She thought he might whine and beg to stay up as it was hardly his usual bedtime but he yawned, "Yeah, a bit."
"You finish up. I'll set up a place for you to sleep."
The air mattress was blown up, blankets and a spare toothbrush found in the back of a closet. Emma snuck in a quick shower, the water running brown from the ash and red from her untended knees. Her ruined tights had been crusted stuck to her skin, when she pulled them off to throw right into the trash she had started bleeding again. Crudely taping gauze around them, she put on leggings, the bandages creating odd bulges in the garment, along a gray-knit sweater, feeling slightly better now that she was clean and in comfortable clothes. As she rejoined Henry he was getting on the makeshift bed in his undershirt and boxers. "You have everything you need kid?"
"Yeah." His eyes shifted around the room uneasily and it occurred to her he may have never slept away from his home before.
Emma stepped forward awkwardly. "Can I sit with you? Until you fall asleep?"
"Yeah, that sounds good." He attempted a casual tone but the undercurrent of relief was obvious as he lay down to settle in for the night. She clicked of the bedside lamp and took a seat on the ground, leaning against the bottom of her bed next to Henry's head. She rested her head back, "Goodnight."
He turned onto his side and mimicked back, "Goodnight."
The radiator thrummed its rattling lullaby for a moment. Then Henry's voice came from the dark, thin and frail. "Emma?"
"Yes?"
"I don't want anything bad to happen to my mom."
"Oh Henry." Her hand reached out tentatively, pushing against his soft umber hair and pushing the boundaries of their relationship. Their physical interactions were usually limited to her playfully rubbing his head and exuberant half-hugs on Henry's part. But this felt like the first motherly gesture toward her son, something she'd seen Regina do. "I promise I'll do everything I can to keep your mom safe."
She bent down and brushed a shy kiss on his forehead. A small thank you issued from him, his eyes slipping shut as Emma kept stroking his hair. As his breathing evened out, she allowed her head to fall back, her own eyes shut with the weight of the last 24 hours. Her head filled with the blissful blackness of sleep for what felt like a solitary second. Then she started awake to the sound of the door clacking shut and boots scuffing against the hardwood.
Emma had bit off a frustrated groan and stood, though it felt as if she were pulling through tar to get to her feet. Then she became stuck at the top of the steps, where she still remained, trying in vain to ignore the couple's mumbled conversation. She had known about her parents for only a few hours and she was already disappointing them Emma thought ruefully. Her heart throbbed uncomfortably, pumping too-hot blood through her veins. Her emotions spun around like a maddening carousel; elated to have found her parents but also so very angry with them, and angry with Regina, but still longing for the other woman, then scared, then happy again as she thought of kissing Regina, and then hurt and back to angry. Everything whirled into a confusing blur, so it was as if she didn't feel anything at all.
Exhaling slowly, Emma finally hobbled down the stairs, peering down at the pair seated at the dining table, their heads bent close together in serious discussion. She caught the last thing David said before they realized she was approaching. It sounded like a warning, "Don't push it Snow."
"Hey." Emma greeted in a low voice. "Henry is asleep."
"We need to talk." Mary Margret said, matching Emma's muted volume but managing to sound sharp. "I don't understand how this could have happened."
"You and me both." Emma bypassed them for the kitchen, rummaging about for a wine glass and the pinot grigio in the refrigerator; their heads swiveled after her.
"I'm serious Emma. What? Regina just kissed you out of the blue? She tripped and fell onto you lips?"
The blonde took a few healthy gulps of her newly acquired wine, the liquid crisp and sweet like green apples and honey burned down her throat. She looked into her parents inquiring gaze as she topped off her glass. Emma spoke deliberately as she braced herself, "She didn't just kiss me. Regina and I have been... had been seeing each other for a while."
"Seeing each other?"
"Sleeping together."
"Uh- For how long?"
"A few months. It ended abruptly right before you were arrested for Kathryn's disappearance."
"A few months?" Her roommate was aghast. "Emma we talked. We talked about things we probably shouldn't have talked about as mother and daughter. One night stands and the like-"
"One night stands?" David asked, his eyebrows climbed his forehead.
"Whale." She tried to quickly glaze over.
But David boomed dubiously, "Whale?"
"Sh!" Emma shot a look at the steps indicating for them to keep their voices down.
David ducked his head, properly chastised, but reiterated with a quieter but still shocked, "Whale?"
"We were cursed. That is neither here nor there. The point is, Emma, we talked and you never said anything." Her eyes filled with hurt.
"I couldn't exactly announce it. You and Regina never got along and she is technically my boss. We never really had the chance to get serious." Emma sighed. '"And it all just… happened so fast."
"Why didn't the curse break earlier then?" David wondered.
Emma felt her cheeks warm, "Well, what we were doing didn't necessarily require kissing."
She was met with silence. David's face turned a little pink and his wife turned impossibly paler. Then Mary Margret began flatly, "The Evil Queen cast some sort of love spell. You're just cursed and we have to figure out how to break it and then-"
The other woman was picking up steam. Emma drained her wine before interrupting, "I'm not under a spell. There was no magic in Storybrooke for Regina to have cast a spell until after the curse was broken."
The logic the brunette started to build toppled over, and her shoulders sagged with defeat. Mary Margret ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair as she spoke sounding distraught, "We're together… We're finally together. And you just seem so unhappy about it."
"Of course I'm happy." Emma said exasperated. "But, see- here's the thing. No matter what the circumstances, for 28 years I only knew one thing, that my parents sent me away."
Her mother smiled serenely like she had the easiest explanation in the world. "We did that to give you your best chance."
"You did it for everyone because that is who you are; leaders and heroes, princes and princess." Emma understood that they had truly believed that it was the only way to save her; she was even a little proud. But they hadn't given anything thought to where the little baby would end up. At least with Henry when she had given him up, she knew he would be adopted. That had been an absolute when arranging it with children services. She knew he wouldn't end up in a hollowed tree or viciously cycled through the foster care system. When it came down to it, her parents had been acting nobly, making a sacrifice for their kingdom, but it definitely had not been her best chance at being loved. "And that's great and amazing and wonderful but that doesn't change the fact that for my entire life I've been alone."
She tried to soften the blow but Mary Margret looked crushed. She shook her head and tried to explain again, like perhaps maybe Emma had just not understood her. "But if we hadn't sent you away you'd have been cursed too."
"But we would have been together. Which curse is worse?" From the looks on their faces Emma may as well have ripped their hearts from their chests.