"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Emma says to her parents the moment they settle down on the sofa. Her parents look at her in surprise, not expecting that type of response to their unannounced visit. They actually thought that their daughter would be happy to see them, maybe a little stunned at their unexpected visit, but still happy nonetheless. They stare up at their daughter, completely slack-jawed, while she stares at them with hard eyes and an angry expression. "Well? Are you going to answer me or are you going to stay silent the whole time you're here? If that's the case, then get out. You have no real reason to be here." Emma says angrily. Her father snaps out of his stupor and puts on a stern expression.
"Emma, we are still your parents, so you do not have the right to talk to us that way." King James says in the authoritative tone he scarcely ever used on his daughter. When Emma was younger and would do something wrong, he would use that tone of voice to make her feel guilty. In response to hearing her father use the authoritative tone, she would gulp nervously and quickly apologize for her wrong-doings. But now? That tone of voice doesn't affect her in the slightest.
"Actually, I do. I no longer consider you two my parents, so I will talk to you however I want. You forced me into a marriage and, not once, did you ever ask me how I felt about it. Not once did you ever apologize for marrying me to my worst enemy and then shipping me off into the middle of nowhere to be with them. Did you ever feel any remorse for doing that to me?" Emma asks them in a quiet voice. James and Snow look at each other and release heavy sighs before they look back at their daughter.
"Marrying you to Regina was for the good of the land, Emma. A war would have inevitably broken out and so many of our people would have been killed if we didn't form this truce with the Mills Kingdom. We were only doing what we thought was best for our people." Snow said calmly, hoping Emma would understand.
"What about what was best for me? Or what was best for Regina? Neither of us deserved to be in the middle of your petty fight. Why couldn't you just write up a truce and have both kingdoms sign it? Did you ever think of doing that or did that never cross your mind? You two think that you are the fairest in the land, but really, you two are the most selfish people I have ever met and I am ashamed to call you my parents." Emma says without emotion, her eyes hardening as she takes in her parent's shameful expressions.
"Emma, baby, please forgive us." Snow says quietly, locking eyes with her daughter, pleading with her for forgiveness.
"No. I don't think I can forgive you…at least not anytime soon. I'm going to go take a walk. Don't follow me." Emma says to them as she slips on her sandals by the front door. Before she exits the cottage, she looks back at the closed bedroom door where Regina is currently talking to her parents. Emma hesitates by the door, debating on whether or not she should invite Regina to come with her, but after a while, she decides against it and walks out into the cool night air. She closes the cottage door behind her and walks aimlessly around the tiny dirt road. As she continues to walk without a particular destination in mind, her mind strays to Regina and what the brunette must be enduring at the moment.
"You are so ungrateful!" Cora spits at Regina. Regina looks up at her mom with a bored expression.
"Thank you. Are you done now? Because all of this pointless yelling is becoming tedious and quite frankly, I am done listening to anything you two have to say." Regina says in a deadpan tone, focusing all of her attention on her cuticles. She hears her mother release, what she assumes, is supposed to be a menacing growl, and maybe a month ago she would have felt intimidated by it, but now, she just doesn't care.
"What insolence! You will look at me while I am speaking to you, Regina!" Cora exclaims in a shrill voice. Regina lets out a bored sigh and looks up at her mother. She takes in the sight of the woman's dark, blazing eyes, the vein in her forehead protruding out of her skin grossly, and her olive skin turning a deep shade of purple. Regina can't seem to stop the amused smirk that begins forming on her face, nor can she stop the laugh that escapes her throat at her mother's livid appearance. "How dare you have the audacity to laugh? Henry, please smack some sense into your delinquent daughter." Cora says tiredly, looking to Henry for assistance. Regina turns her face towards her father and quirks an eyebrow at the man.
"Yes, father, please do smack some sense into me." Regina goads. Her father looks at her with tired expression and shakes his head in defeat. Regina shakes her head too, but in amusement. She turns her attention back to her mother and locks eyes with the, once, intimidating woman. "Look, mother, I don't understand what it is you expected to achieve with this little surprise visit, but whatever it is you were expecting, you're obviously not going to get it. Why don't you just save us all some time and go back to your precious kingdom. You know? The kingdom that was obviously more important to you than I ever was. So if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go out for a walk and I'd appreciate it if you didn't follow me." Regina says dismissively, already making her way out of the room. She makes her way to the front door to put on her sandals and notices that Emma's are no longer there.
Regina turns her head to look into the living room, only to see Emma's parents sitting down on the sofa, guilty expressions on their faces. Regina scoffs at their little private pity part and walks out of the cottage. She makes her way down the dirt road and continues walking for a few minutes, until she reaches the stables. The moment she enters, she sees Emma lying on a stack of hay, her arm covering her eyes. Regina closes the stable door once she enters, causing Emma to jerk up briefly. The moment she realizes that it's just Regina entering, she exhales a breath of relief and lays back down.
"Your parents were as annoying as mine, I take it?" Emma asks Regina without sitting back up. The brunette releases a sigh and walks over to Emma, taking a seat on the stack of hay and then lying back so she is now laying at Emma's side. Emma lifts up her arm from her eyes to peek at Regina for a moment but then places it back.
"I'm pretty sure mine were worse. My mother called me ungrateful and a delinquent and all of these other things, while my father did what he does best: stay silent. He's never defended me in front of my mother….like ever. He wouldn't dare talk back to her or tell her when she's being rash or cruel. Your parents looked pretty guilty when I passed them on my way out. What did you say to them?" Regina asks Emma. Emma turns on her side and props her head up on her hand. Regina follows suit and turns to her side as well, also propping her head up onto her hand. The two girls stare into each other's eyes for a few silent moments before Emma clears her throat, remembering that Regina asked her a question.
"I told them that they were selfish and that while they were thinking about the kingdom, they should have been thinking about me and my feelings. I told them that they could have just written a truce or found some other way to form an alliance between our kingdoms. And then I left. Just looking at either of them makes me sick. My parents who I have loved for my whole life, make me feel sick. I never thought that would be possible…" Emma says with sad eyes, a tear slipping down her cheek. Without thinking, Regina lifts her hand up and tenderly brushes away the stray tear off of the blonde's cheek. Emma looks up at her and they hold each other's gazes, wordlessly.
Emma lifts her free hand and rests it atop the hand Regina, still, has on her cheek. She begins to softly caress the hand, causing the brunette's breath to hitch. Regina breaks out of her daze and snatches back her hand as if she were burned. She then proceeds to roll onto her back again, scooting away to distance herself from Emma. The blonde releases a long sigh and rolls onto her back as well.
"So…" Emma says, trying to break the tension of the moment that just occurred.
"So….." Regina mutters shakily, trying to figure out what just happened, or better yet, what might have happened if she were to keep her hand on the blonde's face. She is pretty sure that something would have happened between them, though she is not sure what that something would have been.
"Are we going to sleep in here tonight or should we head back and kick our parents out?" Emma asks. Regina just shrugs at her.
"Whatever you want to do, princess. I shall follow your lead for tonight."
"Why don't you try to see Daniel tonight or something? I thought for sure that if you stormed out of the house, you'd search for him and not me." Emma says quietly, a tint of sadness in her voice, although Regina wasn't quite sure why. Once again, the brunette shrugs her answer and turns to face Emma.
"I'll see him the next time he tries to contact me. I came looking for you because, as much as I like Daniel's company, he has no clue how I feel or what I'm going through, but you do because you are in the same exact situation. So, of course you were the obvious choice to follow. Also, I wanted to make sure you were okay…" Regina says the last part in a whisper, avoiding Emma's piercing gaze.
"You came to check on me? Why?" The blonde asks in shock. Regina lets out a sigh.
"Because… as much as you annoy me, I don't want to see you hurt. We're sort of friends now, right?" Regina says to the stunned blonde, her brown eyes searching the green ones, questioningly. Emma smiles to herself and shakes her head amusedly.
"You care about me." Emma says in a teasing voice causing Regina to huff in annoyance and cross her arms over her chest. Emma turns so she is laying on her side and pokes Regina in the cheek. "You care about me a lot, admit it." She says, continuing to playfully tease the brunette. "Regina, just admit it, you know you want to." Regina lets out a frustrated breath and turns on her side to face Emma.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. All I know is that I don't hate you anymore and that I don't want to see you hurt."
"I'm pretty sure that means you care for me." Emma says teasingly. Regina's cheeks take on a pink tint and she clears her throat uncomfortably.
"Let's head back to the cottage. I'm suddenly feeling very tired and all I want to do is get the sleep that I desperately crave. Let's go kick out our parents." Regina says, getting up from the pile of hay and lending out a helping hand to her blonde companion. Emma takes her hand and is pulled to her feet. But just like earlier that morning, the touching of their hands causes an electric jolt to course through their bodies. They quickly snatch their hands back from each other, staring into each other's eyes in bewilderment. Without another word, Regina heads out of the stables and storms back towards their cottage, leaving Emma scrambling to catch up to her.
As both girls get to their cottage, they see their parent's carriage still waiting outside. With frustrated sighs escaping both of their lips, they storm into the cottage to find all 4 people sitting on the sofa, helping themselves to some tea. The two girls look at each other and simultaneously roll their eyes at the scene, before turning their attention to the adults before them.
"Out." Regina says venomously. All four parents look up at her in bewilderment.
"Excuse me?" Cora says dangerously. Regina rolls her eyes at her mother.
"Get out. Go back to wherever you came from. It's been a really long day and Emma and I are exhausted. All we want to do is sleep. You all had the nerve to come over here unannounced and in the middle of the night. If you cared for us or respected us at all, you would either have sent us a letter ahead of time to tell us of your arrival or you would have surprised us at a date and time, when we weren't exhausted. So I will ask again nicely, can you please leave?" Regina asks in a sickeningly sweet voice, batting her dark eyelashes at all 4 adults. All of them get up wordlessly and walk to the cottage front door.
"You're right, Regina. This wasn't a good time to come, though we all hope to come back again tomorrow, seeing as neither of you have any lessons planned. Maybe we all can talk then?" James asks the girls, hope reflected in his eyes. Both girls stare at each other and shrug.
"Maybe. But for now, please let us rest."
"Of course. Goodnight girls." Snow says to them, trying to catch her daughter's eye. Emma avoids her and just walks back into her and Regina's bedroom. Cora and Henry don't bother looking at Regina as they exit the cottage. Snow and James sigh in defeat as they walk away as well, entering their carriage. Soon after, the carriage begins to move and then, finally, disappears out of sight. Regina sighs in relief and turns around to enter the bedroom where she sees Emma already lying down, her back facing the door.
"They're finally gone."
"About damn time."
Regina gets into bed and lies down, her back facing Emma. "Goodnight, Miss White." She hears the blonde sigh from behind her and then the creaking of the bed. As Regina peeks behind her, she sees Emma move closer to her, the blonde's head now resting atop the brunette's pillow. Instead of berating the girl for getting into her personal space, Regina releases a sigh, suddenly feeling too tired for any more arguments. She's sure she'd enough arguments to last for the rest of the week.
"Goodnight, Regina." Emma whispers.
As Regina begins to doze off into a deep slumber, she feels Emma's head rest on her back. Instead of feeling annoyed at the girl's lack of personal boundaries, Regina finds herself sleepily smiling at the contact. Despite all of the events that had taken place that day/night, both girls manage to fall asleep with smiles on their faces.