Chapter 10.

Emma went from one extreme to the other; she had been speechless for minutes on end and then burst into a rant, all of her thoughts rushing out of her mouth too quickly for her to edit, "That's not possible," she started, "I've never been to this Enchanted Forest, I'm not a part of this fairy tale world, Regina. You know I was coming from Boston, I just got here, how can I be her daughter? She's hardly any older than me – "

"Do you know your biological mother?" Regina asked quietly, already sure of the answer.

Emma stopped talking, she shook her head, "But that doesn't mean I'm Snow White's daughter. I was abandoned on the side of a highway," she shrugged, "They never found my real parents, but that happens with heaps of abandoned kids, I bet."

"Emma – " Regina tried to speak calmly, but Emma was reaching levels of hysteria now as she stood up.

"No, don't. Just stop," she said loudly, her hands shaking, "You messed with my memories, you took my heart, I didn't care. I let you get away with all that, but this? You can't…" she shook her head, trying to clear her head, "This is too much," she tried to take a deep breath and swallowed hard, "You can't… I'm not from your world. Why do you need me to be? I thought we were okay."

Regina's shoulders dropped as her eyes closed, "I don't need you to be, not at all. But twenty eight years ago I cast this curse… and your parents, they put you in this magical wardrobe to send you away, to keep you safe. That's how you ended up on the side of the highway, that's why nobody could find your parents. It makes sense."

"No," Emma said steadily, "That does not make sense. Are you listening to yourself? This is…" she continued to shake her head, "I'm going for a walk, this is just ridiculous."

Regina's voice was higher than she meant it to be in panic, "Emma, please, stay, let me explain this – "

"No. I've lived my whole life knowing my parents didn't want me, you can't just come in and say…" she trailed off, "Just no. I'm leaving, I'll…come back later, when I'm ready."

And with that she left a dejected looking Regina and walked out the door, arms crossed as she power walked down the street. She didn't even know where to go in this stupid town, she thought angrily, was there even a bar here? Did fairy tale characters drink? All of a sudden, this whole thing was too much. Why did Regina have to bring her parents into it?

She'd accepted a long time ago that her parents had abandoned her and never tried to track her down, that she was unwanted and that was just fine by her. Or at least, she had buried the pain deep enough to pretend it was. She didn't need some crazy explanation to why her parents had sent her away, and a fucking fairy tale? Snow White? Maybe she was going insane and this was all some facet of her mind. Maybe Regina wasn't even real, she felt a pang in her heart when she thought that the woman she had these deep, if confusing, feelings for was just a figment of her imagination.

She was so lost in her own thoughts she wasn't even looking where she was going, and if she had been her eyes would have been so blurred from the tears she wouldn't have seen the woman before she crashed into her anyway.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, blinking quickly, frustrated that a couple of tears had snuck their way out of her eyes.

"That's okay, I was texting, my fault," the brunette from the diner smiled at her shyly, pocketing her phone.

Emma nodded and made to move on.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at the face Emma was obviously trying to hide.

Emma nodded, wiping her face quickly, "I'm fine. It's um Belle, right?"

Belle looked surprised, "Yeah, that's right. I saw you around town today, you're new to town, right?"

The blonde nodded, "Yeah, I'm staying with Regina."

"Oh," Belle sounded surprised, "That's nice," she went on, "I don't think I've ever known her to have a visitor before, are you family?"

"Oh, no. We just met recently," that was a simplified rendition of things, Emma thought.

Belle nodded, "Do you like it here?"

Emma could have laughed, not knowing how to answer that, "It's quite nice," was what she went with, "Is there a bar around?"

Belle smiled understandingly, "Well of course, that's where I'm heading to meet my friend, Ruby. You should come along if you like. It's a pretty low key kind of place but it's nice."

Emma considered; she should return to Regina… but a couple of drinks wouldn't hurt, "Um, sure. I won't stay long, I should get back and I wouldn't want to intrude."

Belle beamed, "You're not intruding, we like new people. We never get anyone pass through town, so you can tell us all your adventures out in… Where are you from?"

"Well, I just came from Boston," Emma replied as the two began walking through the town.

Regina put her head in her hands, had she just ruined everything? Emma had looked so…upset, confused, hurt. The mayor knew she was right but maybe she should have just let sleeping dogs lie, but how could she claim to love Emma and keep such a huge secret from her?

Everybody deserved to know their family, and Emma's were right across town. It just had to be her, it made sense. It had been twenty eight years, and Emma was one of the very few people to cross the town line. Snow and Charming had sent their baby away to return twenty eight years later and break the evil queen's curse; everybody knew that.

It made perfect sense. Now she just needed a way to prove that to Emma, now that she had opened this can of worms. And then what? She couldn't think about that right now, she took a long and shaky breath, one step at a time, she thought, or this would just become way too overwhelming.

She looked at the clock, it was getting dark and Emma was still out. Should she go and look for her? Maybe she should give the woman her space. What if she ran away and didn't come back? It was that thought that had Regina grab her car keys and head out the door.

"Bail bonds… Like a bounty hunter? That sounds fun," Ruby said enthusiastically.

Emma shrugged, "It's okay, I guess."

"So how did you end up in Storybrooke?" Belle asked as she set some more drinks down on the table, "It's a pretty far cry from the street's of Boston, I bet."

The blonde nodded, "I was just…passing through but I decided I'd stay a while…but now… I don't know, I may leave soon."

"Oh," Belle nodded, "Small town, it must feel pretty lacklustre compared to the city."

"Well, it's not that. It's actually quite refreshing, I like it here," she took another long drink before shrugging, "I wish I could stay," she muttered causing Ruby and Belle to exchange simultaneous frowns.

"Why can't you? Do you have someone waiting for you in Boston?" Ruby guessed with a wolfish grin, though from the sullen expression on the other woman's face she was guessing it was something more serious.

Emma shrugged as she stood up, "Refills?" she asked, ignoring the question.

Belle shook her head, holding up her half-full glass, "No…thanks," she replied as Ruby held up her glass too, shaking her head as Emma walked over to the bar.

"What do you think?" Ruby asked, tilting her head with a slight frown on her face.

Belle pulled a face, "I don't know, I guess it isn't really our business Rubes," but she couldn't pretend she wasn't curious, or concerned too but then her attention was bought to the mayor who had just walked through the doors, scanning the bar for Emma.

"Emma," a quiet voice sounded behind her as she felt a brush on her arm and turned around.

"Regina," she sighed, "What are you doing here?" she questioned as she took an unsteady step away from the bar.

Regina frowned, "You're drunk," she stated as she rubbed her temples.

"A little tipsy," Emma shrugged, "I'm fine, I just needed to…" she trailed off.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I should have…I don't know, told you a little more sensitively…" Regina started, losing her confidence mid-sentence.

"It's not how you told me, Regina, it's what you told me," Emma took a sip of her drink but Regina pulled it away from her, "What are you – "

"Please, this is the truth, Emma. I wouldn't tell you this if I didn't believe it," Regina realised she was pleading, something so unlike her, but she needed the younger woman to look at her the way she did before she'd ever mentioned this whole thing, "Please, Emma. I can show you."

"Show me?" Emma echoed, her scepticism wavering; she didn't like fighting with Regina but this idea…it still seemed ridiculous to me.

Regina nodded, "I know how I can show you, I just need you to give me a chance," she whispered.

Emma closed her eyes, thinking for a moment, "Okay…Okay, let's just go home, I need to sleep anyway," she muttered.

Regina placed a hand on the other woman's cheek, forgetting that Ruby and Belle, not to mention the rest of the bar had been watching them curiously and not at all discreetly, "Yes, you do," she smiled a little, "Your eyes are all droopy, dear," she paused, "It's kind of cute though," she whispered as she took Emma's hand and led her home.