It wasn't the best dinner she'd had, but the villains cooked as well as her parents did. Cruella and Granny argued throughout, and their levels of disdain for each other were amusing, and exhausting. Henry and Ruby had been watching a film together when Granny left, and he sounded like he was enjoying his visit. Emma ate mechanically as they talked, because she knew she needed the food. Regina was worse; she half-fell asleep at the table three times before Emma gave up on her finishing all of her spaghetti and suggested they head to bed. Cruella and Granny shared a look, and perhaps their only agreement of the evening in a silent discussion, as Emma and Regina left together.
Emma didn't care; she belonged with Regina, and she followed her all the way up to Regina's bedroom. She knew logically that she should grab her bag and head for the living room, or Henry's room, but she picked up the bag and took a step after Regina before she made herself halt.
"I'll go-" Emma started, but the words were a lie, and they knew it. She wasn't going anywhere, even though she should, she should leave Regina alone, except-
Regina saved her with a shy, sleepy smile. "You'll stay," she said, waving Emma in to the master bedroom.
"It's not weird if I do?" Emma asked, even as she dropped her bag in the corner and started to unpack.
"You belong here," Regina said, "and you know it just as much as I do." This time her hand rested on Emma's back, and that connection was everything right with the world. Regina's touch held truth and the promise of belonging the way nothing else ever had.
"Isn't that strange?" Emma asked, even as she turned into Regina's arms, staring at her lips. "Too fast? I don't want to push you."
Regina's warm stomach pressed against hers. "You can push me a little," she said, taking a step back towards the bed. "I like it when you do." She leaned back, just a little, and Emma took a step, then another, and they were so close to the bed.
"You meet me," Emma said, moving her head closer. "You push back."
Nodding, Regina licked her lips and smiled, promising only to surrender if Emma made it worth her while. They were both so tired, and spent, and they'd already been in this bed once today, yet they needed to be there again. She had to touch Regina sober, to memorise her skin while her fingers were under her control, not burning.
"Did you want this?" Emma whispered, stroking Regina's cheek, then touching her lips. Without makeup, Regina's lips were less red than usual, but still full of promise. There was something precious about her vulnerability, and how little there was between them that they hadn't shared.
"Yes," Regina answered, her voice strong and sure. "Emma, yes."
"You want me?" She asked and the burning desire for Regina's skin against hers swelled in her belly. She almost couldn't believe it, because Regina was too beautiful, too extraordinary to be with her, yet she was.
Regina tugged Emma's shirt in response, pulling her back until Regina's legs hit the bed behind them. "I want you," she teased. Regina kissed her, reminding Emma what fire tasted like, then pulled away before Emma could lose herself in the sensation of her lips. "I wanted the dragon fire, I wanted you then, and I want you now." She sank onto the bed, pulling her purple t-shirt over her head and exposing her lacy bra as an invitation.
Taking a step forward, Emma sank between Regina's legs. She took a deep breath, breathing in the scent of her as she nuzzled her bare stomach. Regina shivered, running her hands through Emma's hair and urging her closer. Emma kissed her stomach, then brought her hands to the metal button of Regina's jeans. She unfastened them, sliding down the zipper, then forced herself to stop, to look at Regina's rich brown eyes.
"It was you before, and me, but not us?"
Regina lay back, letting Emma crawl up onto the bed on top of her. Emma balanced on her arms, then let her weight rest on Regina. Her thigh slipped between Regina's legs, making her sigh.
"It was us, in a way. Maleficent was always like that, alien, intense," Regina said, staring up at Emma with absolute trust. "I needed that then. I didn't know what I wanted, what felt good. I'd never-" she broke off and Emma kissed her cheek, then her chin, finally her lips and their tongues met, slow and hungry. "Snow's father and I, we weren't compatible. I had a duty, and I tried to do it, but it-"
"It hurts," Emma finished for her, resting her hand on Regina's chest, between the perfect curves of her breasts. She would have given anything to take the regret from her. "If you're afraid, if the person you're with isn't someone you want, it hurts." She left a trail of kisses from Regina's mouth to her shoulder, then worked her way back up. "I'm sorry."
"Maleficent never hurt me," Regina promised, reaching up to hold Emma's cheek. "She guided me, let me discover feelings, sensations-" Regina paused, taking a desperate breath as she stared up at Emma, "-I didn't know it could be like that."
Emma kissed her, again and again, because she'd had Neal, and he'd been soft and gentle and listened to her. He'd let her explore, and encouraged her, and he'd been kind and warm, but Regina hadn't been touched like that until a dragon took her. A monster flew her away from what was supposed to be her family and helped her find pleasure, and love. Emma wondered if her mother knew what Regina had suffered under the same roof. Had they talked about it? Was having sex be like that simply part of what was expected? Cora hadn't had a heart, so she must not have cared. She wouldn't have warned Regina, or protected her.
The heat of her dragon-fire fuelled desire to protect flared like a geyser, but it wasn't just magic. It was Emma too, because she knew what happened to people when they got in bad relationships. She'd seen them in foster care, on the streets, and a few times she'd been close, but never trapped like Regina and unable to leave. Emma left when she couldn't handle a situation, and she'd always been able to escape.
"Are you okay?" Emma asked, running her hand over Regina's breast and the cool fabric of her bra.
Regina squirmed beneath her, pressing upward against Emma's body. She smiled, and warmth filled her eyes. "Yes."
She knew then that she could take Regina however she wished, and Regina welcomed her, not just her hands, but her mouth, and the burning emotional connection that insisted this was what must happen, what must be right.
Emma slid off the bed and stepped out of her jeans, because they were tight, and hot, and she wanted to feel Regina's flesh against hers. Regina sat up just a little, and Emma reached around to undo her bra as they kissed. Regina's breath sped up, just like Emma's, and the more they touched, the more they needed to stay in contact. Emma remembered Regina's skin like a familiar stretch of road. She knew where the marks were, where the tiny dark spots made constellations on her olive skin. Regina's silky bra slipped from her chest and fell to the bed. Emma tugged her tank top up and off, then dropped down to kiss Regina's bare breasts.
A piece at a time, the rest of their clothing fell to the edge of the bed, then slid off, forgotten as they found more ways to touch each other. The more Emma felt, the more she wanted, the more she had to have, and she could have listened to Regina's soft moans of pleasure for the rest of eternity. Sometimes she knew where to move her hand before Regina asked, before the whispered instructions of 'harder, deeper, more' slipped into her ears. She took Regina first, using her mouth and her hands to work her past gasping into the desperate surprise of orgasm. While Regina trembled beneath her, Emma held her close, stroking sweaty hair off of her neck.
"You just know, don't you?" Regina asked, as they lay together, half beneath the sheets. "I don't know how to describe it, there are moments where I feel you, like you're in me,and then I just-"
"I was in you," Emma said, smirking and rolling off to give Regina time to catch her breath. Regina followed her, resting on her chest and looking up at her face, satiated and calm. Her skin glowed, and passion, need, and desire all seemed to have melted together in her deep brown eyes.
"Not like that," Regina replied, shaking her head. "In here," she said, tapping her chest. "I feel you, I guess I always feel you, but when we're close-"
"Naked," Emma interrupted.
"Together," Regina corrected, rolling her eyes just a little. "You feel it, don't you?"
"I feel you," Emma said, and Regina nipped at her neck. Smirking, Emma ran her hands over Regina's damp thighs. "You mean something else, something magical?"
"Yes," Regina said, sitting up and staring down at Emma. "Like a thread."
"More like a cable," Emma replied, teasing Regina with the lightest of fingers. "Something made of molten metal that connects us."
Regina shivered and tilted her hips back, still sensitive after her orgasm. "It's my turn," she reminded Emma, then kissed her, deep and searching. When her hands, and mouth, worked their way down Emma's body, she started to understand what Regina had felt. Whatever was between them pulsed, growing in strength the more they touched, and Regina's hands couldn't be on her, within her, enough. She'd had good sex before, the kind where the sheets were all sweaty and breath seemed impossible to get enough of, but this was beyond. This was in her head, in her heart, within her to a level she didn't think she could share with anyone.
And Regina- Regina was a blinding goddess with her mouth, then a demon. She sucked, nipped and brought Emma to the brink of the deadly kind of orgasm that seemed to stop her heart. From her toes to her ears, her body tingled, and she trembled against Regina, wrapping her arms around her to keep her close, warm and safe. Emma stroked her stomach, then her thigh, needing to keep her hands moving over Regina's gorgeous skin.
"What?" she wondered, when Regina's eyes rested on her in the darkness.
"We were gentle," Regina said, almost blushing. "I thought, well, the first time, we made such a mess."
"Do you want me to growl next time?" Emma teased, and she could still feel the dragon inside of her, echoing the desire to possess Regina completely, because she was her mate, and that was everything.
"Not every time," Regina answered, taking the moment to kiss Emma again, and again, their lips almost sore from use. She left Emma alone in the bed to brush her teeth, and Emma stared up at the ceiling, half-watching Regina's beautiful naked body in the weak light of the master bathroom.
"But sometimes, you'd like it to be rough?" Emma wondered, intrigued by the prospect. Maybe they could remember the magic that levitated them off of the bed, because that had been kind of incredible and would be worth doing again.
Regina spat out her toothpaste and smirked at Emma over a towel. "Maybe I do."
Reluctantly dragging herself out of bed, Emma brushed her teeth while Regina washed her face and put some kind of sweet smelling cream around her eyes, and all the little things she did before really going to bed, because she was refined.
Emma was pretty proud of herself for getting up to brush her teeth and splashing some water onto her face. Standing next to Regina in the little master bathroom was so domestic, so right, that Emma left her toothbrush in the holder next to Regina's and realised it was going to stay there. That was its new home, as Regina's bed was hers and when Regina curled around her to sleep, warm against the cool sheets, Emma's heart filled with peace. She belonged her, with Regina. Henry would be home in a few days, and Maleficent was safe, and even the nagging unease about her parents couldn't take that away.
By the time Henry came to check on his mothers a few days later, Gepetto had measured the front door for a replacement and had begun the repair work. The hole where the door had been was covered in plastic and the walls around it had been repaired. Ursula and Cruella had taken her car to Granny's so they could return with dinner (and probably have a drink while they were there), and Maleficent was asleep. She slept easier now, not like a dead thing, but she still was rarely awake and her coughing spells chilled Emma's stomach.
Henry had a million questions when he returned to the mess and the chaos in his house, and Emma started answering them as soon as she got her hug. Maleficent had been exposed to dark magic, and she was ill, she'd be staying with them for awhile while she healed. It wasn't anything that would spread. Emma and Regina were both fine, just exhausted because it had been a long few days and it had taken a lot of magic to help Maleficent recover. When Regina came downstairs, she hugged Henry and made sure he had his after school snack, then the subject of Emma being there slipped into the conversation. Regina had needed Emma's magic to heal Maleficent, because the latter was part dragon and healing her was much harder than healing an ordinary human.
"And no," Regina insisted. "She won't be turning into a dragon around you, at least not for several weeks. She's very ill, Henry."
"Was it something from the book?" Henry asked, studying both of their faces over his toast and peanut butter. "Did she find something dark the author left behind?"
"It was the town line," Regina explained. She reached for Emma's hand beneath the table and they shared their strength through their fingers. It was funny how easily Emma had become addicted to Regina's touch. They needed to tell him about the abrupt change in their relationship because they'd screw up eventually, and it was time Henry knew everything.
"Why can't she cross the town line?" Henry asked.
Regina sighed, and Emma shifted closer to her, needing to be nearer. "Maleficent wasn't affected by the Dark Curse the way everyone else was. I kept her under the library, in dragon form. After Emma killed her, she was trapped as a wraith, then as ashes, until Cruella and Ursula brought her back. Crossing the town line stripped her of her magic and exposed her to its full strength, considering how powerful she is, being without her magic left quite a void for the Dark Curse to seep into. She's lucky to be alive."
"So you saved her, together?" Henry set down his glass of milk and looked between both of them, so proud of his moms. "That's great."
"Yeah," Emma said, grinning suggestively at Regina. "It was pretty great."
Regina blushed and nudged Emma under the table. Henry had no idea what Emma was referring to, so she ignored the nudge and looked at Regina. Regina squirmed, searching for words. Her grip on Emma's hand tightened and when she started to fidget with her other hand, Emma grabbed that one too. That was on top of the table and Henry stared at them both, surprised but not upset. He was a smart kid, after all.
"Henry," Regina started. She twitched her hands even within Emma's, then sighed, and met his eyes. "There's something I have to tell you."
He nodded and smiled, as if he already knew what she was going to say. He beamed at both of them, then reached over and placed his hand on top of theirs. "It's okay if you're dating, I think that's pretty great. You'll be really happy together."
"Thanks, kid," Emma said, trying not to laugh. Of course, he already had them figured out.
Regina took a breath, centring herself before she smiled at their son. "I suppose that's true, and we appreciate your support, but that's not what I have to tell you."
Drawing his hand back, Henry studied Regina's concerned face and his easy smile faded. "What is it, Mom?"
"I only just found out, Henry, and I don't want you to think I've been keeping this a secret from you," Regina paused and turned to Emma again, still searching for words. "Maleficent and I, well, we had a relationship before, in the Enchanted Forest. It's fairly complicated and I don't want to bore you with the magical details-"
"It's okay," Henry said, urging her to finish. "Just tell me."
"Maleficent and I, we were involved for some time, and her magic is very powerful. I was different then, darker, and she didn't tell me because I couldn't have been reasoned with. I wouldn't have listened," Regina paused again, struggling to find the words she wanted.
Emma leaned closer, so she touched her shoulder, smiling gently and wishing she could make this easier.
"Listened to what?" Henry asked, giving his mothers his full attention. "What didn't she tell you?"
Glancing down at their entwined hands, Regina swallowed. "Maleficent and I have a child, and she's missing. I didn't know about her, not until a few days ago when Maleficent told me."
"You have a child?" Henry repeated, obviously trying to fit the idea into what he knew of magic. "How is that- I mean- is that possible? Why isn't your baby in the book? Is it a dragon?"
Regina continued to stare at the table, not looking up at Henry. She fidgeted with Emma's fingers, and eventually Emma had to let go of her hand and wrap an arm around her waist, just to steady her. "It's complicated. I didn't know much about magic then, and it was a surprise for Mal, too. I like to think that it would have been different, if I'd known, but I didn't, and when she discovered she was pregnant, she didn't tell me."
"Mom," Henry started, then he slid off his chair and circled the table to hug Regina tight. "It's okay. You're different now. You know that. Emma and I know that," he said, trying to ease Regina's guilt. "So where's your baby? How do you get her back?"
"We don't know," Emma said, after Regina let the question hang unanswered. "We're trying to find her. She's not in Storybrooke, so she might be in the outside world, which means we can't use magic to find her."
"But you find people," Henry said, turning his hope to Emma. "You'll find her, right?"
"We'll do the best we can," Emma promised. She hugged him too, sharing the embrace with Regina. "We're all getting good at research, and we'll find her for your mom, and Maleficent, okay?"
Henry let himself be hugged a moment longer than he normally would, and Regina took a few sharp breaths, keeping back tears. Emma wished she could hold her close and make everything okay, but that would have to wait.
"So you and Maleficent used to be together?" Henry asked, heading back to his chair and his toast. "What was that like?"
Regina's soft smile was one of the sweetest things Emma had ever seen; a glimpse of the Regina beneath her armour. "We went flying together often, and being on a dragon is a wonderful thing. Maybe when she's feeling better, you can try it."
"Really?" Henry's eyes went wide, and Emma had to look at Regina because letting a teenager go flying on a dragon really didn't seem to be the kind of parenting choice Regina would usually make.
"We'll see," Regina said. She leaned into Emma, just a little, and Emma rested her chin on her shoulder. "Do you have homework?"
Henry nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to head to the library and help Belle for awhile, then I'll do it there. It's quiet, and there's a desk I can use without bothering anyone."
"You don't bother us," Regina insisted.
"It's okay," he promised. "It's a good system. Belle likes the company." He finished his milk and the last bite of his toast. "I'm glad you told me, about you guys, and about the baby, my sister-" he stopped, as if trying to wrap his head around the idea. Poor kid already had an uncle younger than him, and he might have a sister the same age as his mother. "I hope you find her."
"Thank you," Regina answered.
He grinned at them both, grabbed his backpack and left. It was probably for the best, Cruella and Ursula would be back soon and Emma wasn't sure what kind of influence they'd be on a teenager (probably bad) and her parents would inevitably get involved, and be concerned that Maleficent was still staying in Regina's house, let alone Regina and Emma dating.
Emma smiled at Henry's retreating figure then wrapped both arms around Regina, just for the moment. "See, he's okay," she promised, smiling and hoping some of Henry's optimism would wear off on Regina. "He's fine with you and me, and his sister, wherever she is."
"He says that now," Regina said. She sighed, shutting her eyes before they betrayed her.
"Hey, he's okay, I promise," Emma said, kissing her forehead. "He's a good kid. The best, really."
"It's just a lot for him to take in."
"And he's fine," Emma promised. "He's totally fine. Having a half-sister is much less traumatic than knowing your grandfather is the Dark One, or being kidnapped by Peter Pan, or any of the things that have happened to the poor kid. He's fine with having his moms date, which is pretty modern of him."
Regina shifted on her chair, turning closer to Emma so that she could rest her forehead against Emma's. "He is a good kid."
"The best," Emma repeated. "He's absolutely the best."
Kissing Emma's cheek, Regina met her eyes and managed to smile; it was the kind that tore at Emma's heart and turned it to mush. "Thank you."
"We'll find your child," Emma promised. "For you and the dragon lady upstairs."
"She's really not so bad," Regina said, "just takes some getting used to."
Emma shrugged and didn't say that she'd probably accept just about anything Regina needed her to do. Maybe part of the dragon fire was still in her, burning away her concern. Regina's ex was a dragon, and she was staying in the house. Emma had to remind herself that it wasn't her house, but she was fairly certain that she wouldn't be going back to the sofa at the loft any time soon. Which was quick, maybe too quick for a relationship that she hadn't even contemplated yesterday, unless she had. Part of her obviously had, because as soon as her inhibitions were gone, all she wanted was Regina.
With her work spread over the kitchen table, Regina sighed and reached again for the coffee pot. She poured what was left in the pot into her mug and set it back down. She drank it black, because she needed the caffeine more than she had any opinion on the taste. She finished reading the plans for the upgrade of the telephone lines and signed off on the work order to repair the latest damage to the clocktower that the Chernobog had caused. Setting those aside in a pile with everything else she'd finished, she took a moment to rub at the growing ache just behind her temples. Coffee was not a substitute for sleep, no matter how much she drank, because with it came the irritability and jitters she couldn't shake after the fourth cup.
Checking her watch, she listened upstairs and heard nothing that made her worry, which eased the knot in her stomach for the moment. Cruella had left on some task she'd been reticent to discuss, leaving Regina alone with Ursula and their invalid dragon. Maleficent slept much of the time; the fragments of dark magic that filled her lungs had settled into something like a bad case of pneumonia. Three times now Ursula had used water magic to clear the liquid mess out of Mal's lungs that made it so hard for her to breathe. Each time Ursula had pulled remnants of the dark curse, blood and fluid out, Mal's lungs just filled up again later. She'd finally started to respond as if it was an illness, running a fever, and potentially starting to fight off the darkness that had taken hold within her on her own body, like an infection.
Emma and Henry had gone to the library on the foggy Saturday morning, researching with Belle what they could find about the remnants of curses, magical illnesses and dragons. Regina wasn't sure what they'd find; she'd been through Mal's spellbook twice looking for answers and found nothing that could help. Mal hadn't kept a journal, or any friends close enough to ask for help. Her fever had spiked in the early morning and now she was only lucid for short periods of time. The delirium was the worst, because she was completely unreachable at times, lost in painful memories that Regina couldn't understand or rescue her from. Emma had even gone to Aurora for help yesterday, wondering if she remembering anything that she'd even been told about dragons. Rumplestiltskin perhaps might have known something, but there was no way to contact him, and Regina wasn't sure if they would have risked it.
Setting aside the town's paperwork for her deputy mayor to collect later that day, Regina took up her mother's spellbook and tried not to shudder at the familiar scent of the pages. Cora had written hundreds of pages on magic, but nothing about healing. If there was anything in here, Regina would have to reverse her way back from a curse, perhaps something one about drowning, or suffocating. She paged through, forcing herself to read through her steadily growing headache. They'd risked too much, spent too much magic to lose Mal now, and even though she had gotten no worse, Regina worried that she would need still more from them to heal fully. She was missing something, and she wouldn't let her mother keep it from her.
"Regina!" Ursula called down from upstairs, her voice sharp and worried.
Dropping the Cora's spellbook onto the table, Regina teleported instead of running up the staris, saving the time.
Mal lay curled on her side, her hair damp with sweat around her face, and her eyes glazed and unfocused. She mumbled, speaking to herself in a language Regina wasn't sure she'd recognise even if Mal was cognisant. Her breathing rasped, and something in her chest gurgled. Ursula already had the mixing bowl out, and her face was tight with concentration.
"It took most of a day this time," Ursula said, wiping the frothy brown liquid from Mal's pale lips. "Her lungs are filling slower, and the gunk that comes out is less cursed."
"Dragon fire should have burned it out," Regina said, shaking her head. "It should have worked. Very few things can withstand pure dragon fire."
"I guess the Dark Curse is one of them," Ursula sighed, stroking Mal's shoulder. She leant down to whisper to her, even though Mal probably wouldn't understand what she said, or remember. "Honey, this is going to hurt, and I'm sorry, but it'll be better when it's over."
Regina took Maleficent's burning hands and held them in her own. She focused her energy, freeing her magic to support Maleficent's healing and her struggle for breath. When Emma returned they could bolster her together, because the two of them were strong enough to push the curse back, for awhile. Doing so left them both exhausted, but they could ease Mal's suffering, so they did, as often as they could. It was taking its toll on both of them. Even Emma, her indomitable Emma, drank too much coffee to keep herself awake, ate too many terrible sugary covered donuts, and slept like the dead when she could. Thinking of Emma, beautiful, stubborn, precious Emma, made her magic flow faster, easier, and the draining was less severe.
Ursula's spell drew the liquid out of Mal's lungs once again, and it was paler, less black than it had been. The Sea Bitch smiled wearily, stroking Mal's forehead as her breathing eased. Regina thought of Emma, filling her heart with warmth to overcome her concern.
"It's all right," Ursula said, repeating it until Mal's breathing was slower, calmer. "You're safe. We've got you, Regina's here. We're going to find your baby, wherever she is."
Regina poured her magic into Maleficent, easing her pain, healing the abused tissues of her lungs, concentrating on the difficult process of rebuilding her strength, until her own head swam. Tiny sparkles filled her vision, and one of Ursula's tentacles slithered up to steady her around the shoulders.
"Careful, you don't have much left. Don't you pass out on me too."
Coming back to herself, Regina took a tentative breath, then another, trying to calm the roiling of her stomach. "Sorry."
"She's getting better," Ursula said, her tentacle still supporting Regina's back. "But hey, don't make me call the saviour to put you back together."
Regina shut her eyes; she should have been more careful, but it had been so hard to watch Maleficent's illness. It took much longer for her head to stop swimming, and for a moment, her stomach rose into her throat. She was suddenly tender, fragile, because she had given too much.
When Regina opened her eyes again, Ursula sat watching them both. She tilted her head towards Maleficent, lowering her tentacle back down now that she trusted Regina to remain conscious. "She heals slowly, but she's tough. You know, she was weak for a long time after the baby came. Kept talking about you."
Reaching for Mal's hand, Regina wrapped it in hers, protecting her how she could. "About me?"
Ursula shifted to the chair, sitting back with her hands in her lap and her eyes wide in surprise. "She didn't tell you?"
"She didn't tell me many things," Regina answered. Mal's eyelids were still, which was more comforting than the way they twitched wildly when she was out of her mind with fever.
Ursula turned her gaze out the window, peering through the trees as she remembered. "Cruella and I, neither of us ever wanted a family, and Mal never seemed too, then, she was pregnant and Mal wanted that baby. Didn't tell us you were involved until she went into labour. Then all she did was talk about you, her evil queen. We thought she'd go dragon, try to make it easier on herself, but she didn't. Had that baby the messy, human way." She turned back from the window, smiling down at Mal with a mix of revulsion and genuine affection. "Still don't know why, and then she was so happy with that little thing. Never thought I'd feel that way watching someone else, but Mal, she got to me, Cruella too. The three us of us could have retired, looked after that baby and stayed out of the fairy tales and the whole mess of everything that the heroes make, then they took her."
Regina hadn't expected the pain in Ursula's voice, or the naked regret written across her face. She didn't know what to say, or how to respond. She'd been so consumed with revenge back then that she hadn't even known about the existence of her child before the very people she'd spent so much time hating had taken that child from the mother who wanted her so badly.
"We tried to find her, to get her back, but it was old magic, deep stuff that can't be resisted. We were banished here, separated, in a world without magic," Ursula stopped and shook her head. "I don't know how Mal kept herself together long to be swept up in your curse." She reached over to smooth Mal's hair, not bothering to hide her concern. "Of course, having lived in the world without magic, I almost envy Mal, being a dragon, then dead, not having to deal with idiotic landlords that you can't strangle or cell phone providers, and bills. Whomever invented bills really should be considered a far more devious villain than any of us."
Regina couldn't help smiling a little. She hadn't minded the complications of the new age and its detailed economy, but then she'd always had enough money, and running a kingdom had been one of the few joys in her previous life. "I think you'll find Belle a much kinder landlord than any you had out there."
"That little maid inherited all of Gold's property when he was banished, didn't she?" Ursula asked, swaying a tentacle in amusement. "Well now, that is more interesting than smarmy bastard who called my hole in the wall an apartment and charged for it like a palace."
They talked for a while longer, Ursula speaking of nothing important, while Mal slept. Regina had few conversations like this, even though she was more comfortable around the town than she'd ever been, everyone out there was someone that she'd cursed, that had known her as evil. Ursula didn't care about that, and for all her own darkness, talking to her was easier. She had nothing to judge. Cruella the sociopath was her best friend, and the injured dragon sleeping beside them was family. She'd never heard how they met Mal, but the three of them were still close, like they'd been in the old days. Regina had thought them both as washed up, simple villains who only wanted to kill puppies and torment pirates, but they cared about Mal. They'd looked after her while Regina disappeared into her own darkness.
They'd been there for Mal, been her family, while Regina destroyed and burned and hated. No wonder Mal had lost when she'd come to take the Dark Curse. She'd already been pregnant and hadn't wanted to risk the fight. Regina should have noticed that she moved differently, that she fought back with so little malice. Perhaps that little black unicorn had been meant for their daughter, when she came, or maybe Mal had given in to her emotions and had used the unicorn's horn to see visions of their child. Did she remember those little glimpses? Maybe there were clues, because there had to be, somewhere. Their daughter couldn't just disappear. Everyone else had found a way to Storybrooke: Emma, Henry, August, Neal, even the Snow Queen. Their daughter belonged here, with them, with the mother who'd lost so much, and risked so much to see her again. Emma would find her, because finding people was what Emma did, and Regina believed that with her whole heart.
Ursula smiled at her, with that knowing look that everyone in Regina's house seemed to have lately. "I know what you're thinking. Your Emma will find the kid, and maybe, we'll all turn over a new leaf, stop being villains, at least, most of the time."
Regina returned her smile, staring down at Mal. Would she fit in to the town? She'd always lived apart, but with Regina, Emma and Henry as her family, and the town changing, developing into a community Regina was truly proud of, perhaps Mal would be willing to find a place here. She had been lonely for such a long time that she'd forgotten what it was to be cared for. Regina had reminded her once, and this time she had help. She had Emma, and Emma loved the way so few did, with her whole heart, so carefully, then all at once, and Henry... He already had an abundance of family, some of them more heroic than others, but he'd get along with Mal. He'd love her stories, once she was well enough to tell them, and Regina wanted him to fly. To know that freedom, as she had.
"What do you think you'd like to do?" Regina asked, curious about what Ursula and Cruella intended to do now that they were here. There was no reason for Ursula and Cruella to isolate themselves, there must be something they liked to do. Even if it was take over that sleazy little dive bar and improve the quality of the gin.
Ursula pondered the question, and never got to answer, because magic swirled downstairs. Regina felt it grow, then burst before ebbing away. Emma was down there, but something was wrong, itching in the corners of her mind like crawling insects. She released Mal's limp hand and started for the doorway. "Emma's back."
Ursula's eyes widened but she didn't move to follow. "And?"
"Something's wrong." Regina left her and Maleficent there, half-jogging to the top of the stairs. She saw Emma once she was half-way down, and she simply stood there, arms at her sides, as stiff as if she were petrified, like August. "Emma?"
Her eyes were red-rimmed, wet and shining with unshed tears. Emma looked up slowly, her betrayal naked on her face, then retreated to the bottom stair and sat. Regina hurried down, sitting next to her without touching her, even though she wanted more than anything to wrap her arms around her.
"My parents lied to me," Emma said, her voice as rough as sandpaper. "They took- they took Maleficent's baby, your baby. They took her and sent her away to the land without magic, with no one, not even a kid like August to look after her." She didn't turn her head; couldn't look at Regina. "They lied."
"Emma, I'm sorry."
Emma stared straight ahead. "They thought I would be dark, evil. So they took her baby, your baby, to make her evil instead." She turned her head to Regina, her body as rigid as stone. "They stole a baby because they thought I'd be evil."
"You're not," Regina said softly, wishing she could do something, anything to soften Emma's betrayal.
"Of course not," Emma muttered in a voice full of self-loathing, "I can't be. They didn't give me the choice."
"Emma-"
"They took your daughter, Maleficent's daughter. Stole her from her bed. Mal nearly died looking for her. That baby- girl- woman- grew up alone, without her mothers because of my parents, because-" Emma stopped, staring at the floor between her feet. "Because they didn't trust me to be good."
"They were afraid," Regina began to defend them out of habit; she was the evil one. "I was threatening to destroy their happiness."
"No, Regina," Emma stopped her, her hand floating just over Regina's thigh without making contact. "This isn't your fault."
"I persecuted them both, chased the Dark Curse to the ends of the earth-"
"But that had nothing to do with me. You didn't threaten to turn me into a villain. You, did nothing to me. You would have cursed me to live in Storybrooke, and I don't know, maybe that wouldn't have been so bad."
Regina wanted to hold her, to wrap her arms around her tight and cling to her until the pain started to fade, but she resisted, because Emma's body language was so furious and apart.
"They put an innocent at risk to protect me from the chance of me being evil. They treated a baby as expendable, your baby. Maleficent's baby," Emma said, her voice so tight that it stung Regina's chest. "And they lied. They said Ursula and Cruella brought Maleficent back because they were villains, because they wanted to hurt everyone, but, what have they done since they got here? Broke your door down to save their friend, cooked dinner, drank your wine- how does any of that compare to taking a child from her mother?" She shoved herself off the stair and paced in front of Regina, her boots thudding on the floor. "And they say they did it for me, because they loved me so much that they'd take a baby."
"Love is complicated, Emma," Regina said, leaving the stair with her hand on the wall. Perhaps her concern had made the dizziness worse, or she'd just stood up too fast, but the little twinkling lights were back in the sides of her vision and when she took a step towards Emma, she stumbled.
"Hey-" Emma grabbed Regina's arms, moving so fast that the room spun around her. "What's wrong?"
Grateful for Emma's stabilising presence, Regina tried to shake it off. "I'm fine."
"You're dead white."
She swallowed, then licked her lips, trying to pull herself back. "I, I healed Mal, put too much into it, I guess. It'll be-"
Emma's eyes hardened, anger burning fierce within her, and she rested her forehead against Regina's. Magic rose in Emma, then flowed between them. Her dizziness immediately began to fade, replaced with the warmth and vibrancy of Emma's magic, coursing through her like a transfusion of heat. Holding her a moment longer, Emma vanished as soon as Regina was stable. Regina didn't know where she was, and panic rose in her chest, hot and horrid, before she felt Emma again and realised she had gone only upstairs.
Running up the stairs, hand on the banister to steady herself, Regina hurried into the guest room. Emma knelt on the bed, her legs over Maleficent's; her posture possessive, as if Mal was in danger from something that could come in the door.
"What's she doing?" Ursula asked, her tentacles already up to stop Emma if she needed to.
Regina shook her head. "I don't know. She won't hurt her. Emma wouldn't-"
Bright white light, bright enough to hurt Regina's eyes, grew in Emma's hands. She held it over Maleficent's chest, forming it into a sphere that crackled like a fireball of hot phosphorous or something equally dangerous. Emma drew her hands back, then forced that ball of light into Maleficent's chest. For a moment, nothing happened, and the silence hung over them like a shroud, then something dark, evil in a way that made the back of Regina's neck sting, rose from Mal's body to take the ball of light's place. It reached outward, hungry, wanting, with lashes of sick blackness that stole light.
Emma held that thing, whatever it was, in her hands, staring down at it in disgust, frustration and all the hurt from her parents' betrayal, etched on her face. She held that ball of remnants of dark curse, then crushed it between her hands, forcing it out of existence with a shift in pressure that made Regina's ears pop and her sinuses ache.
The sudden absence of such powerful magic made the air sweet and light, as if a thunderstorm had passed. Emma sank down over Mal's chest, lying over her almost as if they were lovers. Ursula hurried closer, reaching for Mal's arm to take her pulse, to check her breathing, to make sure she was okay, then Mal proved it for them.
She wrapped her arms around Emma's shoulders, stroking Emma's blonde hair. She whispered something to Emma that neither Regina or Ursula could hear, then Emma rolled off, panting on the other side of the bed. Ursula rushed to Maleficent's side, and Regina ran to Emma. For some strange, incredibly Emma reason, the saviour smiled up at Regina, lazy and content, as if she hadn't just completed a magic ritual that Regina didn't understand and didn't think was possible.
"Hey," Emma said, reaching up for Regina's hand. She sat up and Regina wanted to push her back down, to make sure she was safe, but Emma was fine. She'd insist she was, and Regina didn't want to believe her, but she radiated health and power. Just being near her felt like the reflection of the sun. "Sorry about that."
"What did you do?"
"Destroyed the remnants dark curse still within me," Maleficent explained, coughing once, but she smiled, and it was one of the rare smiles that Regina had no trouble believing. "Thank you."
"But how did you-?" Regina demanded. Emma sat up, pulling Regina down, wrapping her arms around her and holding her as they sat together on the side of the bed. With Emma's hands on her stomach, her curiosity seemed less important.
Shrugging, Emma rested her head on Regina's shoulder. "I don't know, I just- I mean- I was so angry, and then I knew how the curse worked and how to pull it out of her."
"You shouldn't know that," Ursula said, and Regina had to agree.
"I don't even know how to do that."
Mal smirked and rolled to her side so she could get a better look at Emma. "I thought it might be possible, but I doubted anyone had the power to do it all at once."
"You knew?" Regina demanded.
Mal blinked and the slow, almost painful movement of her eyelids reminded Regina how close she'd been to death. She still managed to look far too pleased with herself. "I suspected. You and Ursula would have gotten it all out eventually, it just-" and she yawned, reaching sleepily towards Regina and Emma. "Would have taken awhile."
"And you didn't think that was something we needed to know?" Regina demanded, trying to fight down her anger as she held Emma's arms tight against her.
Ursula had to help Mal finish turning over, because even though she seemed to be back with them, she was still incredibly weak.
"Didn't want you to try and hurt yourselves," Mal said, and there was a hint of truth in that. It was more likely that she'd feared they would fail and hadn't wanted to risk the attempt, but Regina's relief was so intense that she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. "And when Emma tried what she did a moment ago, I was hardly in a position to stop her."
"I still don't understand," Emma said, turning her head to nuzzle Regina's cheek, because she needed that to be calm. "I was so angry at my parents, I still am, how could that make me know something that I don't know?"
"You're connected to the Dark Curse, sweet saviour," Mal answered, and the way she smiled at Emma was so proud that it reminded Regina of an older time, when she'd been on the receiving side of that smile.
"But Snow White cast this version of the curse," Regina interrupted, trying to make sense of it. "It doesn't have a saviour, and what did Emma replace it with, what was she doing to you?"
Mal's soft eyelashes fluttered, then she moved her hand closer and Emma took it. Their fingers wound together tentatively, and Regina trusted them both to look after each other, to be her family. "The Dark Curse moved into the void being stripped of magic left in me, Emma chased it out and replaced it."
Regina still couldn't make sense of it. "With what?"
"Anger," Mal said simply, and her eyes closed again.
Regina still had so many questions, but Mal's eyes stayed closed, and they'd have to wait until she could explain more.
Emma let herself be held a moment longer, then she pulled away, still hurt and even more confused. "I don't understand how that would have worked."
"The Dark Curse is a hungry magic, it needs to be fed to survive," Regina said, already missing the warmth of Emma's body against hers. "It must have been trying to feed on Maleficent, like a disease, and you chased it out."
"But if I put my anger into her-" Emma began, then stopped, stuffing her hands into her jeans pockets as if they were weapons she needed to keep away from others.
"She's a dragon," Ursula remind them, settling the blankets around Maleficent's shoulders. "Fire and anger are related, so taking that in is easy for her. She'll be fine, probably even smug because it worked out the way she thought it would."
Regina stroked her empty palms with her fingers, acutely aware of how anger turned to fire. She touched Mal's forehead, and she was comfortably warm, not burning, or sweating as she'd been before. There was even a little pink in her lips and she finally seemed to be herself again.
"But how did I know what to do?" Emma asked, staring from Ursula to Regina with a desperate concern that made Regina want to hold her all the more. "What if I made a mistake? I could have made her worse."
"It seems that was a risk Mal was willing to take," Ursula answered, shaking her head. "She's always been reckless."
"Emma, you did a good thing," Regina said, taking a step towards her and hoping she wouldn't flee. "It's all right."
"Just as long as anger doesn't lead me to the dark side, right?" It sounded like a joke, but Emma had no mirth in her voice. She left the room, retreating with her hurt and confusion.
Ursula had Mal, so she didn't need to worry, and for the first time since she'd been brought to Regina's, Mal seemed better, like something had been lifted from her. She followed Emma back downstairs, then out into the backyard, where Emma stood, leaning against the apple tree that she'd once attacked with a chainsaw. The tree had recovered, and much like Emma's initially intrusive presence, Regina had grown used to it missing that branch.
"You are right to be angry," Regina said, wishing she had better comfort to offer. "I know how easy it is to get swept up in something irrational, but this- this is something to be angry with your parents for, and me-" she paused, hating that she had to continue, "because I didn't tell you, and I knew."
Emma rested her hand on the bark of the tree, staring off into the distance, her back still to Regina. "Maleficent told you."
"Your mother-" Regina started, and it hurt her chest to continue, but she had to, because this was Emma, her Emma, and she deserved the truth. "She wanted to protect you from that kind of truth so she asked me not to say. I didn't know how awful the truth of it was until Mal told me. Emma, I'm so sorry."
Shrugging, Emma picked at the bark of the tree. "It's all right. You wanted to protect me, and this whole mess involves you too. My mother took your baby." She turned, staring at Regina with pain bright in her eyes.
Regina took a step towards her, her bare feet cold in the damp grass. "I didn't know about her."
"Neal didn't know about Henry, because I never got to tell him, and I think about what Maleficent must have gone through, knowing you were out there and that she couldn't tell you, and then losing her baby, not giving her away so her life would be better, but having her taken." Emma balled her hands into fists and leaned against the tree for support. "How could they do that? How can they say it was for me?"
"They thought they were protecting you," she insisted, wishing she could believe it wholeheartedly. She didn't know what they were thinking and how they'd possibly justified taking a baby to themselves. Staring at Emma, hot tears started to run down her cheeks. "And they should have protected you, because they were afraid, because I- and I want to blame myself, Emma, I wish I could, because I caused so much pain, but then I think, and I can't stop thinking it: your mother's held my daughter, and I haven't."
Emma left the tree and caught her, holding her tight against her chest. "You know, you're so angry with you that I can't be," she whispered. She wrapped her arms around Regina's shoulders, holding her tightly enough that the knot her her stomach started to dissolve. "We're going to find your baby, you and me, because I owe it to both of you."
"Emma-"
"Let me do this," Emma said, stroking Regina's tears away before kissing her forehead. "We'll bring her back, together. Then you can hold her, because I know what it's like to see the child you never thought you wanted to see, and trust me, it's worth it."
Regina nodded, hugging Emma as tight as she could, because she did want to see her baby, and hold her, and see her be with Mal, because she'd already lost so much time. They trembled together, out in the cold, wrapped in each other because they were each other's strength, even when Emma was angry and Regina couldn't fight the memories of who she'd once been, they had each other.