New chapter for those who still read the story! Enjoy that!
Beta by Satan's baby
I exit the closet and walk over to Henry's bed. The boy is lying there with the wires connected to him. He has a mask on his face that gives him oxygen.
I sense Regina is near me and I say, "I-I can't do it."
"You can, Emma."
The tenderness in her voice is a surprise. It is taking aback as I look between her and the kid. She is still crying from our encounter in the closet but somehow she manages to recover.
I, on the other hand, can't. The anger inside of me has terrifying amount that it scares me. I might flip any second. My heart is still racing and I feel like my head is going to explode.
Everything Henry was ranting about past this half year is true. His adoptive mother has cursed an entire land of people and trapped them here. She is the Evil Queen. She has kill people and ripped hearts out. I am the child of Snow White and Prince Charming who go here as Mary Margaret and David. I have parents. All my life...I wanted to meet them just to see where I come from. I have never wanted to get to know them and now I'm best friend with my mother. This is all too much for me. I wanna run. Yes, running seems a good idea now.
Standing there in the middle of the room where my boy is fighting for his life...No that isn't what is happening. He is not dead, nor is his life in danger. He is under the Sleeping Curse. Thankfully the person who can wake him up is here. He is not in danger.
But he is in this condition because of me. Reina made the poisonous turnover to put Rumplestiltskin under the curse. In the moment Emma decided to come and say her goodbye with me and from there...Everything went down the spiral. Henry heard her and pleaded her to stay. Reina popped out from the kitchen with the turnover in hands. Who in their right minds would do such thing? That thing should be kept safe from anyone's eyes. Not waving around. And of course every sane person would ask about it. Knowing our son it doesn't surprise me that he just grabbed the turnover to prove his point. I guess this is a trade he gets from Emma. Act according to what his heart is telling. Logic will have to wait.
And here he is lying on the bed lifeless. Sleeping like a little prince. Well, he is real prince.
Emma is on his right still shaking with rage. Her lips tremble though her eyes remain locked on the boy. I know she is still mad at me. For treating her like that and most of all for being the Evil Queen from Henry's book.
"Does it...matter where the kiss will be?" she looks at me and asks.
"No," I whisper.
She approaches me hesitant and invades my space. Her smell takes over my senses and I have to remind myself that we are in a hospital. It takes all my willpower not to kiss her. I swear she wants to because her eyes are glued on my lips. I lick them slowly teasing her and it works. She narrows her eyes and purses her lips. Her breathing is uneven and that makes harder for me. Oh, God, this woman will be the death of me.
I gulp audibly and step backwards creating distance between me and Regina. For a moment there I forgot who she was... and I almost...No. I shake my head and spin to face Henry. He is the one I should love and wake up with my kiss. Though my body is craving for someone else...But that is...No.
I brush his head away from his forehead. He is so pale and calm.
It was hard for me to let him go that night in the prison. I held him for good ten minutes and then I just thrust him into the child care woman that came to get him. She promised that he will be in good hands with his new family. At that time I didn't know and didn't want to know about where he will go. All I cared about is that he is safe and away from me and my street life.
Regina said that I love him. She is right. I love him. If I didn't I wouldn't stay here. He is the second reason I stayed. He is so amazing that I can't believe he is my kid. What he is now...It is all because of Regina. The other reason I stayed here.
A sharp pain rips through my heart and fills my eyes with tears. I lean forward hovering over our boy.
"I love you, Henry," I utter between sobs as my tears fall on his face.
My lips connect with his forehead and something amazing happens. It's like the beat from my heart causes a wave of powerful energy to explode from the red muscle spreading all around us. I gasp and pull back.
Henry inhales deeply and his eyes shot open.
He looks at me and says with a smile on his face, "I love you too. You saved me."
I chuckle and put my hand on his head.
"You did it." Soft words come from behind me and I know it is Regina.
I turn and see a huge smile on her face. I just broke her curse and she smiles. Why? She has just lost.
Her eyes go back and forth between me and Henry. She wasn't talking about the curse. She was talking about me saving Henry. Well, that makes sense. She loves the kid.
I look around and everyone looks like they have just been awakened. Like they were deeply asleep up until now. They smile and survey their surroundings. They are trying to figure out why they are here.
My eyes fall on Regina again. She is looking straight at me with a question written all over her face.
"What is happening?" Henry's voice stops our staring contest.
I snap back to the reality. My harsh and crushing reality. I'm in a town where according my son's book live all the characters. Like the Evil Queen is his adoptive mother, Snow White is mine...Wait. I...My mother is alive and I have met her. I have talked with her. I know her. I have parents here.
"The curse. I think you broke it," Henry's cheering voice sounds from somewhere in the back of my mind.
I survey the room taking in everyone's shocked faces. Except Dr. Whale's. He seems to know because he is looking at Regina with gloat flickering in his eyes.
I turn to Regina for conformation and I get it. She nods at me and her eyes meet the floor. She stands in the middle of the room like she is punished. Her hands wrap around her body. She needs protection.
Something inside of me warms at the sight. Something, my heart to be precise, twitches at the possibility of her being hurt. Why?
"I..." the words die somewhere in the back of her throat. What she can possible say? Sorry for ripping you out of your parents. Sorry for being the reason you grew up alone.
She knows that won't work.
"That is..." I start but her sister bursts in the room calling for her and wearing something that resembles a guitar case.
She stops suddenly taking a moment to realize what has happened.
"If I were you, your Majesty, I'd find a place to hide." Dr. Whale says with a gloat in his voice.
Regina spins herself to face him. "You...you have no right to talk to me." She advances on him with every step. She looks larger than life and possessed by invisible force. Her body is straightened, anger flashes through her eyes. Her steps are confident, her voice – deep throated promising danger. "You have talked and done enough damage to me."
The doctor looks at her stunned like he doesn't know what she is talking about. Reina stays close to the door while the two nurses leave quietly.
Regina stops just a breath away from him. "You think I don't know what you did in the tent with Daniel's body?"
I swear his eyes are about to pop out. I'm sure mine too. I feel Henry grabbing my hand and squeezing it.
"Regina, now it not the time." Reina interrupts the tense moment.
"Mom," Henry's voice is what makes the difference.
Regina's features soften and she takes step back. There is that vulnerable woman I made out and had dinner with.
"Henry." Her voice is barely a whisper as she reaches out and grabs his free hand. "No matter what they say I do love you."
"They? Who?" The kid asks.
"Now is not really the time for sentimentalities. We have some work to do." Reina stops the warm exchange between mother and son.
"What?" I ask sounding more tired that I was.
"We need to get to the magic before Rumplestiltskin," she answers me.
"Who?"
"He is mister Gold, right?" Henry says proud that he can participate in the conversation with more than one word unlike me.
"Yes," the brunette nods at the boy and turns to her sister. "Is the library still locked?"
"It is. The keys are in my office. But without the sword..."
Reina raises her hand to stop her sister from talking. Before everyone's dazzled looks she squats next to the case she entered with. She opens it and places it in front of us. There is a shiny sword lying on red velvet.
"I stole it from Rumple when Henry fainted. He can't get his hands on the portion. But now Emma needs to take the portion from Mal."
"Whoa. Hold up. Henry has just woken up from the..." I wave my hand as to explain the whatever he was under. Curse? Still feels strange on my lips. "Can we talk about this?"
"No. Sorry but we don't have time." Reina almost barks at me.
"Reina, please." Regina walks over to her sister and mumbles something at her that I can hear.
All I know is that Reina leaves the room.
"Can you leave us alone?" She turns to the doctor who is more than happy to leave this place.
After few second we are finally alone. I let a deep sigh.
"So...Everything in the book was true?" Henry asks beaming.
"Well not all of it. It's complicated." I sense that the admission is half-heartily.
"What is complicated?" I snap at her. I just can't help myself. "Did you do all of these things or not?"
"Not all of them."
Silence. Few beats later still silence. I have definitely not expected that answer.
"Reina did some of them." Finally she gives in the tension.
"Like that is making it all better." I fire at her although I know it will hurt her and judging by her face I did it.
She shakes her head and rubs her temples.
"What was that portion your sister was talking about?" I change the subject and the tension goes away...sort of.
"True Love portion. If someone drops it in the Wishing Well near the city's outskirts magic will arrive in this world." Regina explains.
"And why you want to do it? Why you don't want R-Gold to do it?"
"Because whoever does it will have control over the city."
"Are you sure you don't want control over Storybrooke?"
"No. I wanted to come to a land without magic. I don't what magic." She admits without missing a beat leaving me dumbfound once again.
What? If she is the Evil Queen from Henry's book she isn't supposed to act like that? Right? She has to want the win at any price. She is built for that. She has to want everything from everyone and if she can get it she will just kill. That's it. Simple as this. Or is it?
Because the Regina before me looks like beaten and defeated version of the Queen I saw in the book. A version tired of fighting.
"Okay. But we have to..."
And in that moment Mary Margaret and David come into the room. God, can I have some piece any time soon?
"Emma," my roommate/mother launches at me wrapping her hands around my upper arms followed closely by David.
Great. Sandwich hug. I hate them. I hate hugs when I try to get use to the idea that everyone here is character from a book.
"I can't breathe," I say finally when the need for airs becomes a problem.
They get the hint and release me. MM is looking at me with the biggest smile I have seen on her face and tears in her eyes. She is my mom, my mind says.
"So you..." I point at her.
"God. Yes, Emma. I am your mother and David is your father."
"But he is married to Kathryn," I say and turn to Regina for help but she shakes her head negatively.
"That's Regina's fault." Mary Margaret hiss at the brunette. "She made the curse's false identities."
"Actually it wasn't me." Regina says after a while. "It was Reina. She created the curse."
"And that makes it so much better, doesn't it?" Mary says just like I did.
It is all too much. My roommate/mother is arguing with the woman I feel a pull towards who happens to be the reason I grew up alone. I feel my head throbbing from all the questions I have in my mind and all the confused feeling dancing in my heart. I need to get out of here. The air is filled with tight tension and I need air or I'll explode.
"Stop. Both of you," I yell startling everyone. "Mary and David, can you watch Henry? I need to get something from someone called Mal," I say as my eyes, quite on their own accord drift to Regina's again.
David and Mary looks at me like I have three heads.
"We need to bring magic here before Rumplestiltskin does it." Regina helps me.
"We?" the short-haired woman wonders.
"Yes. Emma needs to get the magic portion from..."
"She doesn't need to do anything." David cuts in protectively and moves to stand between me and Regina.
But I can't let him stand between us. My legs move on their own accord and I stand next to her.
"I'll help coz...I..." I look at Henry for a moment and he give me an encouraging smile. "We need to protect Henry. Besides Regina and Reina could have gone and get it by herself. Instead they come here and ask me to help them. They clearly want to work with us not with Gold."
That doesn't sound very logical to me but it's all I can think of now. It is not a good reason why I should do this. But for now it has to be enough for them.
"You really want to help her. After all she has done. Do you realize that she is the reason why we were separated from you? Do you realize that you have been alone all your life because of her?" Snow shoots a death glare at Regina who tries very hard to hold her head high.
A sharp pain cuts through my heart at the exchange. This is so very wrong. Why I feel this way towards the woman who hurt me?
"Of course I do." I admit. Taking a deep breath I continue. "I want her to pay for what she has done to me, to you and to everyone else here but..."
"No. No, you can't talk like that. She is my mother." Henry yells drawing all the attention to him.
"Oh, really? Just an hour ago you were insisting that she is the Evil Queen and I need to stop her. Now you want to protect her?"
"I..." he lowers his head and plays with the blanket that still covers him.
"It doesn't work this way, kid. You can't have your mother into save and still insist that she has done bad things and deserves to be punished. It's either way. And right now I am working with her. You are staying here with..." I reach out to my parents. "Snow and Charming."
I chuckle when I pronounce the names. It feels weird and unbelievable.
"Emma, are you sure?" Snow asks me with a different tone that usually use. Is that the mother tone?
And again my eyes fall over Regina and the softness of her features melts my heart. Am I sure that I want this woman like no one before? Hell yeah. Am I sure that I should trust her? No, but my heart says I should. So I will do what I usually do. Follow my heart and the hell with consequences.
"Yes, I am." I nod and look over to Henry. "You are staying here with them. When we get back we'll talk more."
I hug the boy and make room for Regina to do the same. She stands awkwardly next to me unsure whether she should go. Her eyes show fear of rejection. I know that look very well. I looked exactly the same way when I was in a new foster home.
I nudge Henry in a secret way that no one can see and he invites her to hug him too by spreading his arms. She launches at him the same way Snow did to me just a while ago. Although Regina looks much more vulnerable and beautiful than Snow.
"We'll be back, Henry." The way she says 'we' gives me hope that her reactions to me weren't all a game for her. Maybe there is some truth behind those hazel eyes.
Thoughts? Predictions?