Emma woke up on the later side the next morning. She tossed and turned most of the night thinking about Regina and what the sheriff should do. Emma knew that she should tell her parents about what has happened, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Emma knew that the moment she informed Mary Margaret and David about Regina's transformation, she couldn't protect the teen from what she was exposed to. Emma wasn't altogether sure why this thought bothered her so much, but she wanted to protect the teen.
She was different from the Regina she knew, but in so many ways, they were the same. Emma always pictured the Enchanted Forest version of Regina as an Evil dictator with not an ounce of humanity in her.
These thoughts made it easier for the blond to bite her tongue when people spoke bad about her son's mother. Emma wasn't sure she could do that so easily now. After being confronted with what Regina was like before everything went to hell, Emma was shocked into confusion and idleness.
She wanted to buy some more time, to hide her knowledge of Gold's intentions, even though she really didn't know much about what he was doing, or why. But she believed this young Regina when she said he wasn't planning on harming them.
The Sheriff was in a sort of trance as she went about her daily routine of getting herself and Henry up, fed and off to school. Emma then quickly made her way back to the mayor's mansion.
The blond raised her fist about to knock when the door was swung open.
"Come in" Regina called from deep inside somewhere. Emma guessed she used her magic to open it.
Emma found the girl sitting on the counter nearest to the coffee machine, a giant mug in her hands. She looked like she wanted to swim in the coffee mug.
"Rough night?" Emma chuckled coming closer to the teen who only nodded.
"Would you like some?" Regina asked reaching up into the cabinet closest to her head and maneuvering out another mug.
"Yeah, i would actually." Emma watched as Regina poured her a cup and handed it over.
"Regina!?" Emma choked putting down the mug and pulling Regina closer by her chin. "What happened to your neck?"
The girl allowed Emma to gently trace the hand print evident in the raised purple skin.
Regina knew she couldn't tell Emma the truth, Rumple would know, and then he would know that Regina and Emma had been visiting regularly.
Regina pulled away slightly and took another drink of coffee trying to buy herself some time.
"Don't bother lying to me" Emma scolded. "I ALWAYS know when someone is lying to me, especially you Regina."
"How do you do that?" Regina asked genuinely interested to know. That's a useful skill Regina could've used on several occasions already.
"Don't try to change the subject."
Regina huffed and then sunk down. "I can't tell you."
"Did Gold do this?" Emma snarled.
"No, not directly."
"What do you mean not directly? Someone did this, I'm pretty sure i could get print's off your throat right now."
Regina looked confused and was about to ask for Emma to explain what print meant, but Emma didn't give her the chance.
"Regina. Who did this?"
"It was a spell gone wrong." Regina worked out. It wasn't a complete lie. The potion hadn't worked.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I'm fine, it's not going to happen again, and no one was directly responsible."
"Why is that not exactly comforting." Emma said with a cocked eyebrow as she picked up her coffee mug again.
"How's your son?"
"Our son." Emma couldn't stop herself this time." and he's fine."
Regina sat there looking at Emma at a complete lost for what to say.
"He'd be a lot better off if he didn't have to worry about his mother being choked to death by some asshole."
"He doesn't have to know" Regina said in almost a whisper looking down at the coffee mug that seemed to big for her delicate hands.
Emma didn't know why she was doing this. She was trying to guilt the girl into more information inferring that Henry was the one worried about Regina, but really it was the blond herself. Henry had no idea what was going on and was happy as a clam.
"Cant' you.. "Emma motioned to the girl's neck." you know, heal that or something? Can you do that?"
"Yes" Regina said a little offended that Emma didn't think her capable of elementary magic. "I can."
"Then why don't you?"
Shit. Regina thought to herself. She kind of walked into that one.
"It'll remind me to stay on my toes." The teen recited.
"Is that what Gold said?" Emma growled.
"Miss Swan can you just stand there and drink your coffee. You've got to be the most chatty person I've ever met."
Emma was genuinely thrown off by this.
"No one has ever accused me of talking too much."
Regina rolled her eyes "Lies"
Emma smiled and sipped her coffee.
"I can do magic too you know"
"You can?" Regina sat down her coffee.
"Ya i used it getting back from... I just used it during a very stressful situation." Emma concluded not wanting to have to explain the whole situation.
"Very good. That's how is always manifests." Regina sat in deep thought. "That's the only time you've used it?"
"yep" Emma shrugged.
"You'll promise me something Miss Swan?"
"I will if you promise to call me Emma." She reasoned.
"Fine, Emma. Promise you won't go to Rumpelstiltskin to teach you how to use it." Regina looked at Emma with a pleading look she had never quite seen before. She looked scared.
"I promise. But i don't think i want to learn to use it."
Regina smiled a sad smile remembering feeling that way herself.
"That's what i said" She didn't say this with any doubt in the savior or accusingly, she said it as fact.
"But if i do, I'll ask you to teach me."
"Me?"
"Ya, you're good at this kind of stuff."
Regina nodded in thought. "I am"
"Ya i know you are. You have to be to do half the stuff you've done. Unfortunately, it hasn't been good stuff, but still pretty impressive."
"I could teach you how to do good stuff" Regina said hopefully. "I mean when you decide. If you decide."
"Besides i like you a lot more than that limping crook"
Regina smiled big at the idea of Emma liking her.
"It would always be useful to know a few things, especially around this town." Regina pointed out picking up her mug again.
"Like what?"
"Defensive spells, protection charms. To keep you safe." Regina was staring off in thought now mentally coming up with hypothetical lesson plans for the savior.
Emma shrugged "Ya i guess knowing things like that wouldn't hurt."
"I'm not pressuring you, just giving you the option. If you want it."
Emma thought for a moment taking in the girl in front of her.
"Knowing what Gold is up to, do you think it would be smart for me to lean a few spells or what ever?" She asked reluctant to go down this road at all, but something about this girl made her feel she could trust her. She thinks its the teens indifference to almost everything, even to what's happening to her.
"I think you should be ready for anything. Rumple can be very dangerous when desperate."
"Is he desperate?"
"Not yet."
"Can you please tell me what he's up to?" Emma begged.
"If i tell you he'll know I'm talking about him, and he'll know I'm talking to you."
"Does his plan involve me?"
"I can't say anymore about it." Regina hopped off the counter and walked over to place her mug in the sink.
Emma stepped closer and took the teen's arm. "Regina. You know, i wouldn't let Gold hurt you, right?"
Regina just stared at Emma taking in what she had said. Regina found it odd that Emma would consider herself a competent adversary for rumple. She was either really brave or really conceded. Regina knew it was the first one.
"I won't let him hurt you either" Regina said looking into the greenest eyes she'd ever seen. The girl wanted to believe that maybe Regina and Emma could save each other in some ways, but she also couldn't help but think that the savior really didn't need help from the likes of her.
Emma let go and placed her mug in the sink next to Regina's and turns voicing a tough decision. "Then i want you to teach me magic"
Regina smiled slightly but her stomach knotted up. Was she a capable teacher? She had to try.
Regina nodded. "Gods help us."
Emma chuckled and shook her head.
Emma told Regina she'd be back the next day so they could start their lessons, then she went on about actually being a sheriff.
She had a lot of paper work to get done and was glad she had David to help with some of the other stuff, like patrolling and cat's in trees.
The blond looked up when she heard her son's voice coming down the hallway. He was walking with Mary Margaret.
"Hey" Emma said glad for the distraction. "School out already?"
"Yep" Henry jumped up onto one of the other chairs and began spinning around.
"Have you been busy?" Mary Margaret asked brushing some stray curls out of Emma's face causing the blond to cringe inwardly." Ruby said she hasn't seen you all day. You know you have to eat."
"Ya, i know I've just been busy." Emma motioned to the paperwork. She was glad the lie detector super power was not an inherited trait.
"Well take a break every once in a while, alright?"
"Yes mother" Emma smarted off rolling her eyes at Henry who laughed still doing circles.
"So" Mary Margaret said a little quieter. "Have you heard from Regina?"
Emma's gaze snapped back to her mother now. "No, why?"
"Oh nothing serious." The teacher shrugged, "It's just that Ruby said that she saw her and some man walking arm and arm last night into the mansion."
"What man?" Emma said trying not to sound as concerned as she felt.
"She didn't know, She didn't get a good look at either of them, it was pretty late and Ruby was kind of drunk."
Emma snorted "Surprise surprise"
Mary Margaret smacked Emma's arms playfully.
"Well we'll get going, leave you to your work. Come on Henry."
Emma waved bye to both of them and promised to be home soon.
The blond tried to get some work done, but she kept thinking about her mother's statement.
Who was Regina with? Jefferson? Was he a part of Gold's plan? Was he the one that did that to her neck? Could Emma kill him and successfully hide the body?
On her way home that night, Emma had to talk herself out of returning to Regina's that night to interrogate the teen. She also had to talk herself out of staking out the mansion. The sheriff decided to wait until their magic lesson tomorrow to bring anything up. If the teen still continued to lie, or deflect, she would go from there. Emma felt like a nagging mother. She tried to calm down by reminding herself that she didn't have a mother when she was Regina's age and she turned out just… Emma almost slammed on the breaks and hauled ass to Reginas. That crazy son of a bitch was going to get Regina pregnant. Emma's anxiety was through the roof, so she blamed her fit of irrationality on this and continued home. It was going to be fine. Regina was smart, way smarter than Emma had been at that age. Probably way smarter than Emma was now. The savior just needed to calm down. Why was she so uptight about this. It was Regina.
Regina busied herself with different chores around the house. She made the bed and picked up clothes. She stared at the washer and dryer for about twenty minutes before throwing the worn clothes into the trash instead. The teen liked her house during the day, and she particularly liked the back yard. Today, since her magic was strong, she tended to the garden, saving what she could. It didn't look half bad once she was finished.
Ever since she had been regressed back to her teenage self, Rumple had periodically used the magic deep within Regina to strengthen his own. Sometimes he used so much she could do little afterwards, until it was replenished.
With magic in tact, she was also able to conjure up a good meal. Roasted chicken and vegetables that tasted more like heaven than poultry. She felt strong again, even though her night of drinking left her a little clumsy on her feet, she was getting her bearings back slowly but surely.
Regina went back inside when the sun went down and waited dressed in a pair of jeans, black boots, a white blouse with a black jacket over it. She braided her hair up, letting it fall in a straight ponytail that fell over her shoulder and reached almost her belly button. The brunette was ready for anything Rumple could throw at her. Or so she thought.
Tonight was going to be one of those bleak nights in which Rumple simply used Regina's power as a generator of sorts. He sucked the magic that manifested itself as a rich purple glow, out of her and channeled it into his own spells and incantations trying once more on a potion. Regina stood next to him until he had depleted so much that she could no longer stand. Even after the girl fell, slumped against his workbench he continued to drain her. During this time in which Rumple acted as the world's sassiest parasite, Regina let her mind travel back to her conversation with Emma. She was going to try to teach her some magic. To protect herself. Emma trusted Regina enough to let her try to instruct her. This meant a lot to the teen. She must not let her down.
When Rumple was finished for the night, he poofed Regina back home himself, and left her on the floor in the mansion's foyer. "You'll be able to get up soon." He stated before disappearing himself.
Jefferson walked up to Regina's house and he really wasn't sure why he was there. Sure he didn't have anywhere else to be, anyone else to be with, but this was the Evil Queen. This is the woman who ruined his life, and took him away from his daughter. But at the same time it wasn't. This was the girl that he tricked into hopelessness and despair. On nights where he's drunk enough to be honest with himself, he know's that he deserved everything she did to him.
Regina didn't know how long she was laying there before she was woken by the sound of someone rapping on the door.
"Regina"
It was Jefferson.
Regina tried to sit, and found she once again had full faculties of her limbs. She stood on shaky legs and made her way to the door. She stopped to look at her own reflection and quickly smoothed out her hair. She didn't look like she had just been sucked dry, so that was good. She sighed and opened the door.
"Good evening Jefferson" She winced. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy.
"Good evening" he bowed. "You've been to see Rumpelstiltskin tonight haven't you?" He guessed as she moved aside to let him in.
"I'm with him every night" She pointed out and led him into the sitting room they had occupied the night before.
"Ah, then you could use a drink?" He laughed.
Regina sat on the couch pulling her feet free from the boots and tucking them under her. "Not tonight" She said holding her stomach. "I had too much last night"
"Do you mind if i?"
"Go right ahead" She waved then ran her fingers through her long ponytail.
Jefferson walked over and poured him a glass of cider and returned to the couch. He sat back and let his arm stretch the length of the back of the couch behind the young queen.
"What did you do today?" Regina asked pulling her knee up so she could rest her chin on it.
"I had business to attend to." He said being vague.
"What kind of business?"
"Top secret kind"
Regina furrowed her brow. "Fine." She huffed reaching over and snatching the drink from him.
"Going to be like that are we?" he laughed lunging over and trying to take the glass back.
"Yes, like that" Regina chuckled straining to keep the glass out of reach.
"Fine" He said sitting back. "I was spying on Rumpelstiltskin."
"Why?" Regina asked pulling the glass to her lips on reflex then scrunching up her face when she got a whiff and handed it back to Jefferson.
" I'm working with someone who's very much interested in what the little bastard is up to. But don't tell him that"
Regina scoffed "He doesn't need any information from me"
"What exactly does he need from you?"
Regina thought for a moment. "Moral support"
Jefferson snorted. "You must be one hell of a cheerleader for him to go through all this trouble" He said motioning to Regina's teenaged form.
"What's a cheerleader?"
Jefferson laughed then took another drink. "Something you are not"
Regina just looked back at the fireplace and tried to light it but she couldn't even manage a spark.
"ahh" Jefferson said suddenly understanding. "He's not the great and powerful Dark One around these parts is he?"
Regina just shrugged and sat her chin back down on her knee.
Jefferson looked Regina over then sighed. He let his arm fall across her shoulders and pulled the brunette in close. Regina didn't even have the strength to act like she wanted to protest his proximity. The young queen just laid her head on his shoulder and rested a hand on his chest.
"He keeps you weak so you won't fight back."
"Don't" Regina begged. "Just…"
"You can't act surprised, he's been doing this since the moment he met you.."
Jefferson's rant was cut off by a sudden and unexpected kiss that was planted hard on his open lips. Jefferson wasn't still for long before he pulled Regina closer and began kissing her back.
Regina couldn't hear what Jefferson was going to say. It wasn't anything she didn't' already know deep down, but she couldn't bear to hear it tonight. Jefferson worked his hand's to Regina's waist and pushed her back on the couch so he was resting on top of her, a knee in the couch to keep all of his weight from impaling the girl. Regina turned her head as he went to work on her neck. She stared at the unlit fire and freed a hand from under Jefferson. She tried once more to light the damn thing, but nothing happened. Regina closed her eyes as she felt the tears collecting. There was no way she was going to be able to teach Emma how to do anything tomorrow. Jefferson pulled back and latched onto Regina's lips again working a brave tongue into the queen's mouth. Regina noticed how he tasted like the cider, it wasn't unpleasant at all. The mad hatter freed the brunette from her jacket then found the bottom of her shirt and rested a hand on her bare torso loving how soft and warm the brunette's skin felt against the palm of his hand.
"Jefferson" Regina breathed pulling away. "I can't."
Jefferson tried to keep the frustration off of his face but still huffed a little falling back on his heels and let her raise up on the couch. Regina straightened out her clothes then looked back at the fireplace.
"Please" she said softly to whoever was listening up there. She flicked her wrist again, and again nothing. She sighed deep then stood up.
"You can stay again, or you can go. It's up to you." She said the disappeared up the stairs.
"Will you rub my head again?" He asked hopefully bounding up after her.
"No" She answered shortly.
"i had to ask" He shrugged.
Jefferson once again took his place on the bed, taking off his shoes, jacket and button up. Regina walked back in wearing a pair of blue silk shorts that showed off her perfect legs, and a sheer t shirt. She turned off the light and climbed in next to the still erect Jefferson who had his hands folded behind his head. He knew he should have left. Whatever it was they were doing wasn't going to be good for either of them. Regina sighed next to him then turned and snuggled into his side.
He thought she was asleep already until her low voice sounded "Don't think I've forgotten about that foot massage."
"Of course not" He chuckled.
Regina couldn't help but smile as his laugh shook her body as well.
