apologies for the extra time this chapter took. huge thanks again to wapwani and race, they make this so much better and make writing it such a lovely experience.
there is a scene with descriptions of vomiting in this chapter.
Regina shifted beneath the unfamiliar blankets, slipping onto Emma's side of the bed where the sheets were cooler, already losing Emma's warmth, even though she'd gotten up just a few minutes ago, talking about breakfast. The hotel had waffles and Emma, like a five year old, had been excited by the promise of them since they'd checked in. She'd teased Emma before about eating like a child but the chiding held no heat. Regina actually found it incredibly endearing and though Emma had never mentioned liking waffles before, Regina could already tell it was likely to become a common breakfast occurrence. It was embarrassing really, how quickly she had become a person who wanted to make Emma Swan smile and yet, she thought of Emma and Henry, sitting at the kitchen counter, bickering over syrup and toppings and second helpings and it warmed something inside her, as if she were already standing in the kitchen, the scent of cooking batter and home all around them already.
Unfortunately, thinking about the actual food made Regina's stomach twist and she grimaced. The strange, half-cramps she'd had since before she left Storybrooke were back. The discomfort - it wasn't quite pain - crept into her consciousness, bringing her fully into waking with less pleasant thoughts than Emma and Henry across the breakfast table from her. She started to sit up and her stomach swam, twisting as it rose into her throat, making her promptly lay back down, breathing slowly as she waited for it to still, her mind now churning as fast as her stomach. What was it? Was she ill? Was it the lack of magic? Emma seemed fine. She'd had magic for less time, maybe she was less accustomed to it. Regina rolled to her side and saw the little orange bottle of iron supplements that Dr. Whale had prescribed her. Nausea and abdominal pain were both listed in the side effects. She shut her eyes and listened to the cars on the road outside the hotel while she waited for her stomach to settle. And it would settle, she told herself silent, firmly. It was the side effects of the iron supplements and it would pass. Anything else was unacceptable.
She must have drifted to sleep again because the next thing she knew, Emma was back, sitting beside her on the bed carefully..
"Hi sleepyhead," Emma murmured, running gentle fingers through Regina's hair. "Morning."
"'Morning," Regina replied, voice sleep-rough and gravelly.
"I brought waffles," Emma said, gesturing to the plate on the table. "And coffee and slightly questionable orange juice that's probably from concentrate, but isn't that bad. The waffles smell good anyway."
Now that she mentioned them, Regina could smell them: sweet and buttery, and just like that the nausea was back and worse than ever. Shutting her eyes, she took slow, deep breaths, forcing her gorge down.
"Hey-" Emma stroked her cheek. "I'm sorry. Didn't know you hated waffles."
When Regina managed to open her eyes again, it was to Emma's guilty expression and shoulders slumping ever so slightly. Reaching out a hand still clumsy from sleep, she touched Emma's leg, trying to reassure her.
"I don't," Regina said, rolling to her back, sighing softly in frustration. A lifetime of training made it so hard to admit to weakness and yet...this was Emma and Emma was safe. Emma was safe and she deserved to understand and somehow, that made telling the truth about the mess of her stomach somehow acceptable. "It's my stomach, I think it's the iron supplements."
The little bottle rattled as Emma picked it up and read the information printed on it. "They bothered your stomach yesterday too, didn't they?"
She nodded, and even though it was just a little motion of her chin, Emma understood. Her warm mouth pressed against Regina's forehead.
"I'll get you some toast, okay?"
"Emma-" Regina started to protest that she should stay, eat her waffles while they were warm, but the door had already shut behind Emma. Dragging herself up so she leaned back against the headboard, Regina pulled up her knees and hugged them to her chest. On the table sat the plate of waffles Emma had brought up, covered in berries, butter and syrup. She knew it all smelt good, but the thought of eating seemed to be crosswired in her brain. She couldn't, not the way her stomach was.
Emma was back before she'd had time to do much more than sip the orange juice, which was far too sweet.
"Here," Emma offered, passing over a plate of dry toast. "I brought you some tea too, but start with the toast."
"Thank you," she replied, staring at the plate in her lap. The plain, browned bread didn't seem too difficult to swallow.
"Iron supplements can be awful," Emma said, watching Regina lift her toast with a sympathetic smile. "And being without magic probably doesn't help."
"No." Forcing herself to take a bite, Regina chewed. Emma, apparently wasn't going to stop watching her until she managed to swallow, so she did. "You should eat, they're already cold."
Emma shrugged as if it wasn't an issue but Regina had seen her eying the plate and she nodded again when Emma looked at her, urging her to start. Waiting until Emma had grabbed her plate and attacked her breakfast, with an appetite Regina could only envy, she attempted another bite of toast. "We'll be near Chicago tonight," Emma said around bites. "If your stomach's better, we can get real deep dish, or barbeque, both are great there."
Taking a tentative sip of her tea, Regina nodded without really listening. Emma's memories of different cities were usually of the food, of the weather, never of people or things that she'd done. She'd seen so much of this vast realm without magic, yet she remained in Storybrooke, in a tiny little town that had none of the food she found so exciting, that was so far from the places in her memories. She must have missed this big, bustling world of late night talk shows, freeways and drive through donut shops.
"What is it?" Emma asked, setting down her fork on her half-empty plate.
Regina toyed with the crust of her toast, then looked up, almost more curious than concerned about what Emma might say. "Do you miss being out here?"
To her surprise, Emma was quiet for a moment. Regina had expected her to brush off the question but then maybe she wasn't giving Emma, or their bond, enough credit. She'd been able to admit to Emma she felt sick, it seemed, Emma felt some of the same comfort. When she did finally answer her voice was soft. "Sometimes I miss the space. Sometimes Storybrooke can feel pretty small you know?" And Regina was silent but oh, she knew. But Emma continued, "Missing this world it's like...it's like most people miss fairytales," she grinned wryly. "I miss the idea of it sometimes but the reality? The reality was sleeping in hotels, eating in cheap restaurants every night. It was living in my car, because I couldn't afford rent for a couple years and filling out paperwork. Living here was listening to people - sometimes bad people sometimes just sick people who needed help and didn't get it - lie to themselves and the people who loved them that they'd do better this time. And it was being alone. All the time." Emma shook her head as if to dispel the memories and stole another bite of waffle. "Whatever else Storybrooke is, it's home."
The light that came into her eyes with the last word eased the tension Regina didn't realise had joined the churning of her stomach. This world they traveled now was Emma's old life; Storybrooke, Henry and her family, that was home.
"Tell me, what has your grandfather told you about dragons?" Maleficent asked him, stopping beside a pine to listen to the woods around them.
Henry shrugged. "Not much. There's a story of him killing one in the book. His twin brother, James, whom he replaced-"
She waved her hand and nodded, because she knew that story. "How funny that King George thought he could just replace one offspring with another."
"James wasn't his son either," Henry reminded her, stopping at her side. "My grandfather has no noble blood. He and his brother were both born shepherds. James just grew up as a prince."
"A lovely upbringing, I'm sure," she mused. Pointing at the centre of the clearing in front of him, she changed the subject. "What do you see?"
"Wood?" Henry guessed, then took a step forward.
She smelt the bones before she saw them, but his nose wasn't as keen. He'd have to use his eyes, and his eyes were only human. For a human boy, though, he had a good mind behind those eyes. It pleased Maleficent. Regina's son was a pleasant child and intelligent. She'd raised him well. She'd been able to raise him. Maleficent forced her thoughts in another direction. She had to trust that Regina and the S...and Emma would find Lily. Oddly, she found it not so difficult to believe these days.
Henry looked where she suggested, then nodded, seeing the white bones, stripped clean of flesh.
"Bones," Henry corrected himself. "What was it?"
They advanced on the little skeleton, surrounded by a halo of grey fur. The bones shone white in the sun, completely picked clean of flesh. "I think it was a squirrel," she said, tracing one of the ribs with her finger. "Perhaps a rabbit."
Henry stared at the bones, then up at her. "So what ate it? We have wolves, but, they'd be messier, right? There's no blood."
Mal wrinkled her nose, because she couldn't pick up the telltale traces of a predator, rather the rich, pungent scent of magic. The hint of rot beneath magic's sweetness suggested this was dark, darker than anything she'd smelt for a long time.
"Do you smell that?"
Henry shook his head. "I don't have any magic, and I'm human. Our noses aren't that good."
Raising one eyebrow, Maleficent looked at the boy in approval, merely nodding at his reply. "I thought as much, but sometimes its difficult to separate magical senses from physical." Tilting her head to look at the carcass, she frowned. "I think our beetles have become interested in live prey."
Henry asked, raising his eyebrows. "Squirrels?"
"Probably anything they can bring down," she said, resting her hands on her hips. "When your mothers protected the town, they took away the easy food sources. When the beetles grew hungry enough, they found other things to eat."
"So until we run out of squirrels, we're okay?" His tone was light but there was a seriousness about his eyes, something in the set of his face that reminded Maleficent of his mothers and told her he understood the situation was not so easy.
"They'll eat until they're satiated, and because they were created through magic, that will never happen." She touched his shoulder, drawing him nearer to her. "If I need to change, you get on my shoulders and stay there."
For a second, his eyes widened in excitement, then twinkled and that expression...that expression was wholly Regina. "Shouldn't be hard, I've ridden horses a little."
She gave him a scathing look and he chuckled.
"Sorry." But he smiled and Maleficent found her lips wanting to twitch upward as well. Cheeky boy.
Muttering about being compared to horses like she were the property of some peasant, Maleficent followed the lingering stench of the beetles and the dark magic that powered them.
"Why did you ask about my grandfather?" Henry asked, when he'd deemed it safe to speak again.
"He's famous for slaying a dragon. Not exactly something I consider a mark in his favour." The reek of dark magic grew as they walked, filling the air.
Eventually, even Henry must have smelt it, judging by his frown. "How do you know that's dark magic? It just smells weird."
"Dark magic starts seductive, powerful, makes you want more of it, but it's twisted, hungry. It'll take everything."
Henry was quiet for a while and Maleficent could almost feel his brain working. She wasn't surprised at his next words. In truth she had been expecting a question like this for some time. Regina had told her much of what had happened between them, this boy who she had adopted and herself, and what she hadn't spoken of, Maleficent had experienced in Regina's memories. She still remembered the longing, the aching emptiness, the dark days when Henry pulled away from her and though they happened to Regina and not her, Maleficent felt the ache as if it were her own. In part because she would always love Regina, and in part because the magic they had shared lately created an incredibly deep connection that was fading only slowly. And, Maleficent admitted to herself, being separated from one's child was an agony Maleficent understood all too well.
"Were you ever like my mom? Did…" He paused as if searching for the right words and Maleficent waited. "Did magic make you hurt people?"
Maleficent fidgeted with her coat button, running through her very long memory and deciding how to answer Regina's son. The boy deserved the truth, but she also knew from Regina's memories that the other woman had struggled to protect her boy from what she had suffered. Her wicked deeds might have been laid bare by the infamous Storybook Mal had yet to see, but she knew Regina's heart, she knew her mind, and she knew how Regina felt about what she perceived as weakness. It was a quality that Maleficent greatly admired but also, sometimes, made her incredibly frustrated. Regina would let her son think her evil and deny too much of the pain she'd suffered at the hands of others just so he would be protected from the knowledge that she could - and had been - hurt.
As a human, Maleficent understood some of Regina's motivations but as a dragon, as one who had loved (and maybe still did) Regina deeply, Maleficent could not bring herself to shield Henry quite the way his mother had. In most cultures, he would be considered nearly a man. Maybe it wasn't her place, but Maleficent owed a debt to Regina, the debt of a child. Maybe here was an opportunity to repay that debt, at least in some tiny way.
"Your mother has extraordinary talent, especially for a human, and she studied hard to become as good with magic as she is. Magic is complex and difficult, and she's learned more about it than most humans could ever hope to know." She hadn't answered his question and his eyes stayed on her until she sighed. "No, magic and I had a different relationship than she did with hers. I was taught by my mother, and my grandmother. I learned magic slowly, from creatures who had been using magic for centuries, for whom it was as natural as breathing."
He smiled a little, but sorrow stayed in his eyes. "You mean dragons."
"Magic is different if you're born with it. I learned magic as I learned to walk and fly. It was just another part of me that I had to master. Humans, like your mother, learn it later, and her teacher was the Dark One. He engineered much of her path to ensure that she cast the Dark Curse and brought us from our realm to this strange place. If your mother had learned magic from a different teacher-" she let the thought trail off. She should have fought harder to keep Regina with her, tried to keep her away from Rumplestiltskin and his plotting.
Mal reached for his shoulder and squeezed it. He'd seen much for someone who'd lived such a tiny span of time and she could tell him little to ease his concerns. "Regina fought her way back from a very dark place, and I admire her greatly for that. She even brought me back to myself once, when I'd given up and turned my anger inward instead of outward, as she did. I lost someone I cared for, deeply, and I started numbing myself with a watered-down sleeping curse, just to make the years pass until it hurt less, and it never did. I don't know how long it would have taken me to dig out of that cold little hell, if I ever would have, were it not for your mother."
He digested that idea, and let her hand remain on his shoulder as they walked. "Is that how you met? When you were-" he paused, trying to be kind.
She finished for him, saving Henry the trouble. "When I was hiding from the world. Your mother just appeared one day, in my castle, shy yet full of determination at the same time. I'd become so despondent that I'd become trapped in this body. I lost the dragon's fire, and without that-" She shrugged, trying not to dwell too deeply on that stretch of time where she'd buried herself so far from everything. "Your mother helped me get it back. Insisted that I change into a dragon again. Even risked herself, just to force me to shift and scorch the foolish knights that had captured us."
"Who captured you?" he asked. "Aurora's parents?"
"Yes, King Stefan the square-jawed," she answered with a hint of a growl. "He and his equally unimaginative knights caught your mother and I when I failed to shift into a dragon. She tried to fight them off, but her fireballs were still unreliable, those of a student, and I was useless." Mal knelt, checking the trail of broken undergrowth.
"You were useless?" Henry pressed, curious but gentle. "How?"
"Your mother grew more powerful when she was lost, I grew less," she answered, then rubbed her hands together, trying to sense the dark power that these damn beetles carried with them. It had been here, they'd been here so recently that she felt them. She and Henry were getting closer. "If we find them, you get behind me and stay there."
Nodding, he met her eyes, his face still but fearless. He took after both of his mothers that way, willing to strive headlong forward, no matter the danger. "Okay."
Emma fiddled with the radio, pulling the music station that had kept her company for the last fifty miles back from static. She settled back in her seat, following the well-lit freeway west, towards the inky blue sky. The sun had set awhile back, and she'd meant to stop and start looking for her favourite little barbecue shop, if it was still around, but Regina had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, and there was no point in waking her on the flimsy promise of some restaurant that was probably gone.
So she'd kept driving, listening to old songs and letting her thoughts drift unheeded. Regina must have needed the sleep, because even Emma's slightly tuneless singing hadn't woken her. She'd tried so hard not to let her nausea be a problem, or even a subject of discussion, and Emma suspected that if it had been a few months ago, she would have been lucky to even know that Regina felt sick. Knowing she was ill, discussing it with her, that was a privilege, a kind of trust that felt right even through the newness.
Even so, Regina had driven for more than an hour that afternoon before she'd admitted (though Emma had wondered when she was going to say something) that her head hurt and staring at the lines ahead of them on the road just made her stomach churn, so they'd stopped. Sitting in the sun at a rest area in the middle of nowhere, watching everyone else hurry by, Emma could almost feel their magic stirring between them. She knew better, because they had no connection like that here, but yet... Maybe it was a different kind of magic, one that had no boundaries.
Emma didn't mind driving, she'd driven all over the country by herself, so she'd taken over, and they'd talked, first about Emma's experiences, then about nothing, then Henry, and when they'd slipped into comfortable silence, Regina had fallen asleep.
And she remained that way, even as the big black darkness that was Lake Michigan grew up ahead, and Emma glanced over at Regina again before she took the exit for the smaller road, leaving the freeway to follow the shore for awhile and cut through Chicago that way. She'd given up on stopping, because she wasn't tired and Regina might as well sleep until Emma found a good hotel. It would mean less to drive tomorrow and maybe they could stop for pizza on the way back. They'd probably end up in some little guest house with overly kitschy artwork in Wisconsin, but Emma liked finding the quieter paths. They still had a long way to go and the smaller roads had better scenery, even if it was sand dunes and trees all around the moonlit water after the bright lights of Chicago died away. Lake Michigan wasn't the sea, of course, but there was a majesty to it all the same.
For a long time it was just Emma, the radio and the moon over the water, then Regina's cell rang, splitting the softness of music. Regina stirred and moaned, pulling herself out of sleep to answer. Emma smiled at her sympathetically as Regina forced herself awake. She was really cute, her dark hair falling into her eyes as she pushed it back.
"Hello?" She listened for a moment then turned to Emma, still half asleep. "It's Henry." Regina shut off the radio and put her phone on speaker, holding it between them as Emma drove.
Henry's voice was full of excitement. He'd been in the woods with Maleficent all day, tracking the devouring beetles, which had apparently taken to devouring living things, not just boxes of cornflakes.
"We found the bones of a deer just before we made camp," he finished. "They stripped it bare."
Emma smiled at the hint of wonder in his voice. Of course, he was fascinated by whatever was happening to their town. Mal was probably teaching him all kind of things.
"A deer?" Regina asked, trying unsuccessfully to hide her yawn. "I thought they didn't feed on anything living."
A voice muttered in the background, female, and it must have been Mal. Henry waited for her to finish, then explained what she'd said. "Mal thinks that all the protection spells around the houses and the town must have made them desperate for food. They must have swarmed all over whatever they could catch, lots of squirrels, and the deer. They ate all but the fur and the bones, those were so clean that they're white."
Suppressing a shudder, Emma caught the shift in expression on Regina's face, as Henry's words banished the last of her comfortable sleepiness. They had a problem; Emma could see it in the tightness of Regina's forehead.
"What are you doing now? Is Mal keeping you safe?"
Emma could almost picture Maleficent rolling her eyes and the look she'd share with Henry. He was probably as safe as he'd be without them there to protect him. Emma knew where she'd bet on the great dragon versus beetles standoff.
"We're fine," he promised. "There's a ring of dragon fire around the campsite and trust me, nothing's getting through that. The protection spells around the town are holding. Granny and Ursula are watching them. Everyone's safe."
"For now," Regina muttered, her voice so low that only Emma heard.
"We're completely safe, Mom," Henry promised, the firmness in his tone ending that discussion as efficiently as Regina would. "Tell me about your drive, where are you guys now?"
Regina looked at Emma, lifting her free hand for help. She had no idea where they were and she wasn't going to admit to Henry that she'd been asleep.
"We just crossed into Wisconsin," Emma said, looking away from Regina before she was the recipient of a chastising look. "I took the scenic route through Chicago and now we're on the shore of Lake Michigan. It's not the sea, but it's pretty. Lots of sand dunes." They talked awhile longer, Henry curious about the states he hadn't seen, and Emma explaining that all freeways kind of looked the same after awhile. They took turns wishing Henry and Mal good luck (and safety) on their bug hunt and they reminded Henry how much they loved him. His reply had a hint of that teenage sense of embarrassment, but only a little. They promised to call in the morning, then Regina hung up.
Emma kept her eyes straight ahead, wondering when Regina would realise that she'd let her sleep through Chicago. Regina would have wanted her to stop, even if she was asleep because she knew how much Emma wanted real deep dish pizza. Emma didn't know how to explain that she wanted pizza with Regina, not just pizza, and waking her up just for dinner when she was obviously so tired seemed heartless. The few quick looks that Emma stole in Regina's direction suggested that she was going to get a lecture as soon as Regina found the right words. They drove in that silence for awhile, without even the radio to break it. At least, Emma thought Regina was disappointed, or angry, the way she stared ahead, her hand braced on the dashboard.
When she finally spoke, Regina wasn't upset at all, and the urgency of her voice sent Emma's heart into her stomach. "Emma-"
"What is it?"
"Stop the car." Regina swallowed hard and Emma knew what that painful, gulping sound had to be. She slowed the car, pulling onto the shoulder on the quiet road. When the Bug stopped, she turned off the engine and circled to other side of the car just in time to catch her shoulder when Regina stumbled out of the car. Emma led her the few steps to the ditch, and held her steady as she threw up. Whispering stupid things, like how it was okay, Emma held Regina's thick hair out of the way and watched steam rise from the damp grass in the ditch.
Regina had one moment to breathe, then her stomach emptied the rest of its contents. Something dark marred her lips, and Emma immediately thought of Maleficent, and whatever black stuff had been inside of her. Was this the same? Had whatever dark power the Chernobog left in the town line gotten into Regina? What could Emma do to help her without magic? Was it going to get worse before she got Regina back to Storybrooke where she could heal her?
Retching twice more before her stomach settled, Regina caught Emma's arm and held her tight, while she got her breath again. "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Emma repeated, surprised. "Are you okay? Do you feel any better?" She rested her free hand on Regina's forehead, staring into her eyes, then led her back to the car. Regina leaned against the Bug, using it for balance. Emma grabbed one of their water bottles from the back, opened the cap and held it up for Regina. "Here, drink this and spit it out."
For once, Regina did as Emma suggested, and they stood there in the Bug's hazard lights, flashing yellow in the darkness. Standing next to her, Emma tried not to be a helpless wreck, but she was, because without magic she couldn't do anything other than wait for Regina to tell her she was okay, and though she looked a little better, she was still so pale. Regina's skin was too warm, even though vomiting had put a sheen of cool sweat over her skin, she was still warm beneath that.
"Tell me you're okay," Emma repeated, wishing she could do anything at all to help. Regina's left hand found Emma's and squeezed it. She even tried to smile, and Emma's heart clenched harder because Regina was trying to make her feel better, which was completely backwards.
"I think I'm just carsick."
"You don't get carsick," Emma argued, still vibrating with concern as she turned to get a better look at Regina's face. She brushed something dark off the corner of Regina's mouth and winced. "Vomit's not supposed to be black."
"I took those damn iron supplements Whale gave me before I fell asleep," Regina remind her, her breathing slowing now that her stomach was empty. "I should have waited until we stopped for dinner. It was stupid of me."
"Regina," Emma protested as Regina washed her mouth out again. "Maleficent was full of that dark gunk for days after she crossed the town line and it nearly killed her. This could be the same thing, delayed because we're out here, or something. We don't-"
Stroking Emma's arm, Regina leaned closer, letting her head rest against Emma's shoulder, calm in a way Emma couldn't be. "Those vicious little pills have made me feel sick since the first time I took them. I think it was just because I was in the car all day, and I-" she paused, lifting her head to look at Emma. "I'm all right."
Emma touched Regina's shoulder, smiling even though she thought she'd almost rather cry. "You threw up in a ditch and you're trying to make me feel better."
"Maybe you look worse than I feel," Regina teased. Her warm fingers stroked Emma's cheek. "I'm fine."
Her fingers were warmer than they should have been, and Emma worried, even though that was the last thing Regina wanted her to do. Emma nodded, trying to force herself to agree.
"What happened to Chicago?" Regina asked after they stood awhile in silence. She kept the water down after she drank it, and the knot of worry in Emma's stomach started to settle. "You were so excited about pizza."
Emma tilted her head. "You were asleep."
Her tiny smile in response was so gentle that Emma started to blush. "I don't mind it if you wake me up. It seems I need to make more of an effort to eat regularly to offset whatever those vile pills are doing to my stomach. You have my permission to wake me," Regina said, smiling more. "I'm sorry you missed your chance for pizza."
Shrugging, Emma toyed with the cap of the water bottle in her fingers. "We still have the whole drive back," she replied, her cheeks still warm. "I was more excited to have pizza with you anyway. I know it's not something you normally like-"
"I like pizza," Regina interrupted, nudging Emma with her elbow. "More importantly, I like spending time with you, which includes eating special Chicago pizza. I know it's been a strange, stressful trip because we don't know what's happening with the beetles back home and we're not sure what's going to happen when we find Lily, yet I've enjoyed it." She took another sip of water and glanced at the ditch. "Most of it, anyway. I've barely been out of Storybrooke, and I've never seen this world with someone who's lived in it. I've always had to be so careful that I didn't give anything away, or say something wrong, but it's safe with you. You understand this place."
Looking down as she smiled, Emma cheered up a little because this was a nearly empty road in the middle of nowhere, which was an odd thing to understand.
"What?" Regina wondered.
Emma's smile grew and she felt that much more like an idiot, leaning on the Bug next to Regina while the world moved around them. "I like being with you too, even when you're-"
"Throwing up in a ditch." Regina joked, then rested her head on Emma's shoulder. "Would you feel better if I promise to give you more notice if I feel sick again?"
"Yes!" Emma replied far too quickly. "I thought-" she paused, because she hadn't thought. She'd just stopped the car; Regina removed the time Emma spent thinking, just by existing. Kissing Regina's forehead, Emma wrapped her arm around her back. "It doesn't matter. When the Bug's safe from your stomach, we'll drive the last part to the hotel, and Minnesota's only six hours away, so we can have breakfast tomorrow while we read what my contact was able to find about Lily. Hopefully, her school records and some old addresses. We should be able to pick up a trail and find her."
"Finding people is something that you're good at," Regina said, leaning into Emma's arm. "You'll do it." She patted Emma's arm then stood free from the Bug. "Come on, I'm all right."
After heading back to the driver's side of the car, Emma buckled her seat belt and checked for room to pull out back onto the road. "This is nicer with someone," she said as they got back up to speed. "I've driven all over the country, usually by myself, and it's much nicer having-" she paused, because she'd almost said 'company' but that wasn't it. Regina wasn't just a person who happened to be with her.
Regina's hand rested on her shoulder, then slipped to the back of her neck, resting warm against her skin as Emma drove.
"Having you," Emma finished shyly, keeping her eyes on the road.
Henry had thought that when Ursula called, she would have used a phone, like his moms did, but Mal didn't have her own phone. Maybe she didn't even use one, because out of all the fairy tale characters he'd met, she was one of the least integrated into the contemporary world of Storybrooke. While even the dwarves were comfortable using ATM cards, Mal refused to have one and his mom had worked something out with the supermarket, and Granny's, because Maleficent didn't trust the unseen magic of invisible money and she was apparently terrible at remembering to carry the paper kind. So maybe he should have been less surprised when Ursula called her with a burst of water in the sky, like a huge water balloon.
No amount of strangeness, or seeing Maleficent turn into a dragon at a distance could have prepared him for the rumbling rush of magic that took her. It must have been an emergency message, because Mal didn't even take the time to explain to him what was happening.
Wind spiraled around them, then dark smoke, black and purple at the same time, engulfed her. She vanished and grew, and when Mal solidified again, she was the size of a small house, covered in thick scales that gleamed in the sunlight. A great clawed paw reached for him, gently scooping him up into talons that could have pierced his chest. She dropped him onto her back, just above her thick wings. Henry grabbed on, wrapping his hands around the warm scales of her neck. Riding a dragon was absolutely nothing like riding a horse, or a motorcycle, or anything he'd ever been on. He'd been in a plane, with Emma, but the plane hadn't coiled beneath him and sprang into the air. His breath fled from his lungs, and his ears popped as they rose. He hunkered down and Mal raised her head, protecting him from most of the wind as she flew towards the centre of town. The trees rushed away beneath them, like a green-brown carpet, then it broke, opening up onto a road, and Maleficent picked up more speed.
The stink of sulphur and the sudden heat through the scales of her neck against his legs was his first warning of her firebreath. They dropped over the town, soaring just over the clocktower before they lowered over the parking lot of the supermarket. Henry had watched his mothers set protection spells all around the market, and every inch of the gently glowing wall they'd left behind was covered in black beetles, swarming over each other, climbing higher, standing on top of each other, like they were one massive blob, reaching forward. When had they become so many? His mothers had been hunting them in the woods with most of the Sheriff's department and they'd never had so many together. They talked about nests, clusters, something maybe as big as a car, but nothing like this swarm. Where had they been hiding? Why hadn't they seen them? Much of the town stood behind the protective barrier, grim-faced with flamethrowers in their hands. He made out Granny, and his grandparents standing beside her. Ursula and Cruella stood in the middle. Ursula somehow communicating with Maleficent in a language Henry had never heard before. He could almost hear Ursula's voice in his head, reverberating through his chest.
Maleficent flew over the supermarket once, taking in the scene, then she rained fire down on the black mass of swarming insects. He lay against her neck, clinging to her as fire erupted all around him, incinerating the beetles as if they were paper being tossed into a fireplace. She hovered, took another breath and continued turning everything around the protective bubble of the spell into a blistering inferno. The beetles died as if they were one creature, crumbling to ash, popping and hissing. The hideous scene reminded him of throwing a marshmallow in the fire when he was little and watching it swell and smoke. The protection spell held, making a bubble of safety around the supermarket and part of the parking lot as Maleficent torched everything around it. She circled on huge wings, making another pass and spitting enough fire to make the asphalt crack. Smoke stung his eyes, but somehow he could still breathe. Magic must have been involved, because there was enough heat around him to have burnt him as efficiently as the beetles.
They sank down, landing just inside the protective bubble. Almost as one, everyone retreated instinctually from the dragon, except Ursula, who hurried forward, and Cruella, who just beamed, as if what she'd seen had been a really exciting football game.
"Fan out, make sure we've burnt them all," Granny yelled, taking charge of everyone on the ground. "Remember, your flamethrowers can pass through the shield, the bugs can't, so start burning and don't stop until they're gone."
Maleficent lowered her head, bringing him close enough that he could slide off her neck onto the ground. He leaned on her front leg, still dazed by his flight. All around them, everyone moved quickly, burning the few beetles that had remained.
"Are you all right?" Ursula asked him, looking him over.
"Fine," Henry said, catching his breath. "Just according to plan, right?"
One of Ursula's long, purple tentacles stroked Maleficent's head, just behind her horns, as if she were Pongo. "Seems you and Mal were right, the beetles made their move on the market once they were certain the dragon was out of the way."
"So, you were right when you said they could sense you?" Henry asked, directing the question up at Maleficent's huge head.
She nodded, and lowered her eye to beside him. Her snout nudged him, and she bared her sharp teeth in a predatory smile.
"You made good time after the signal," Ursula said, still rubbing Maleficent's scaled head. "And you, Henry, you stayed on."
Henry accepted the praise with a grin. Mal was right that dragon riding had no comparison, and when the rush of adrenaline faded, maybe how dangerous the whole situation had been would settle in. He still wasn't sure that his mothers had been briefed on the entire plan before Maleficent had put it into action, but he couldn't argue with their success. After a few minutes of torching the stragglers, all the beetles had been burnt.
Maleficent's presence in the centre of the vortex made the air around her seem cooler, and more breathable. Henry wasn't sure what kind of magic that was, but something about her seemed to keep the thick ash and stench of the beetles at bay. She remained in dragon form, watching as Granny, David, Mulan and the others made sure they were safe. Once they relayed that to Ursula, she smiled up at Maleficent and spoke again in that strange language. He had to find out what it was, because he felt the power in the words.
Mal nodded, bobbing her horns before the smoke returned and she shrank back to herself. Smiling at Henry, she reached for him, and hugged him close. She was much taller than either of his moms, and the scent of bonfire lingered on her as she held him tight.
"You were brave," she said, glowing with pride. "I didn't give you much time-"
"You didn't give me any time," he interrupted and Mal smirked.
"You didn't need it," she answered. "Now, I'm going to clear the ash, and we'll make sure everyone in the town is safe."
"How do you clear the ash?" he asked, following her towards the protective shield that still encircled them.
Mal lifted her hands and the ash and ground beetle shells rose from the pavement, creeping like an evil fog that first hovered, then bound itself into a mass, grey and still touched with power. Mal's smile was still on her face, and the predatory shine that her huge dragon eyes held was also still with her, but there was dark power in that ash.
Ursula raised her own hands and the cloud moved, heading out of town, towards the quarry at the edge of town. The wind she raised came off the sea, and the air smelt fresh again, like brine instead of death. When they were done, Storybrooke felt safe. He didn't have either of his mothers' sense of magic, but the relief was visible on the faces around him.
David and Mulan came to thank them, and Granny invited everyone back to the diner for drinks. She even teased Maleficent about helping with a barbecue, and it was easier to smile than it had been for a long time. Maybe, by the time his mothers came back, they'd have the town in order.
Sighing, she opened another file and Regina started to read. At first she'd worried that trying to read through everything Emma's old friend had given them in the car was just going to bring back her terrible nausea from the day before, but it hadn't. She and Emma had been careful today, and Emma kept making sure she ate, even if it was little things. Maybe having something in her stomach made those awful pills easier to handle, because she hadn't been nearly as miserable. Something was still off, because Emma was right, she still had a weak fever and she tired so quickly. Emma had done all of the driving because she kept nodding off. Emma didn't mind, and they hadn't needed to pull over so she could vomit, so it was already a much superior day.
Outside the Bug, the tall buildings around them and the huge river beneath the last bridge was apparently their destination. This was Minneapolis, and that was where Lily had been found. It was all alien when she looked out the window. Not as big as New York, but just as unfamiliar. Lily was from their world, she didn't belong here, surrounded by glass, concrete, and strangers.
"There's a note here about Lilith Page," Regina said, looking up at Emma. "Her teacher wrote that she needed to be medicated for her ADHD in order to be a successful student."
"Yeah," Emma said, keeping her eyes on the traffic. "That happens a lot out here."
"She was nine," Regina replied, shaking her head. "No nine year old wants to pay attention in a classroom for hours without being properly instructed, which she obviously wasn't." Storybrooke's school had always been well funded, staffed by teachers that she respected (even Snow was good with children). The school in this realm were woefully lacking on many fronts. "This says Lily was also treated for anxiety, night terrors and showed classic symptoms of attachment disorder."
"That's also common for adopted kids, especially anyone who was in the system," Emma said, and the old sorrow in her voice made Regina's heart ache.
"She was adopted when she was three weeks old," she said, holding the file open. "How could she develop this attachment disorder as an infant?"
"No one knows," Emma said, shrugging. "Some adopted kids never feel like they fit. My friend, the one I told you about, never felt like her parents were really her parents, even though they seemed to really care about her."
"This file is appalling," Regina said, setting it down on her lap. "Henry never went through any of this."
Emma smiled and her eyes flicked over to Regina. "Henry had you."
"Lily's adoptive parents have an excellent recommendation. They're financially stable, emotionally mature, with a stable relationship and good friends. They're a model example of an adoptive couple, but Lily's file just gets worse. Her teachers write that she's intelligent but unmotivated, imaginative but lacks direction. This one wrote that her drawings are very good but she should have been doing her math homework." Letting the file shut, Regina rubbed her forehead. "Everything in here suggests that she was miserable, and of course she was, she's a dragon living without her powers in a world where she never should have existed."
"Hey, that's not your fault." Emma pulled them up to a stoplight and reached over to quickly squeeze Regina's hand. "None of that is your fault."
"It is," Regina reminded her, shutting her eyes. "If I'd been different-"
"Then we wouldn't have Henry," Emma said, her voice as gentle as her hand. "We wouldn't be here. What Lily went through was awful, and it wasn't your fault. We can't change the past, but we can bring her home, let her meet Maleficent, and you, and she can be totally spoiled by her crazy dragon mom and her just as crazy human one, okay?"
Forcing her tears away, Regina nodded. "Okay."
"I'm going to stop, we'll get coffee, I just passed a place," Emma made a few turns and then parked, giving Regina some time to compose herself. She shut off the car and turned to Regina. Emma only looked at her for a moment before her arms were around her.
"Why did this happen?" Regina asked, even though she knew the answer would never be enough. "She should have been with Maleficent, learning to fly and chewing on shields, driving her mother insane. Mal would have understood her, and they would have been happy. Instead, she's here, in this horrible place and she must have been so lost-"
Emma nodded, and held her shoulder. "You know that people can get lost in their own world, too."
"But she would have had a chance," Regina protested, reaching for Emma's arm. "Nothing in her life was ever right because she didn't belong here, she never did, and that must have been so terrible."
Emma's warm mouth kissed away her tears, because she understood. It wasn't just Lily who had grown up in the wrong world and been lost. Emma had been lost too and seeing what the people who should have cared for Lily wrote about her, dredged up all Regina's old guilt.
"Regina," Emma murmured, resting their foreheads together. "You know that you can be lost with your parents, or without them, and exactly what it's like to be that alone. I know it, and yeah, wherever she is, Lily does too, but that doesn't mean that things can't be better now. I never thought I'd have a home, a real home, but now I know what that feels like, because I have Henry, and my parents, and you, and yeah, a hell of a lot of bad happened before I got here, but I'm here, we're here, and I can't accept that this isn't good, or exactly where we're supposed to be, because-"
She leaned in, ready to kiss her if Emma didn't want to finish. Regina knew how hard it was to say what was so obvious in Emma's green eyes and Emma needed to know that she didn't have to say it; Regina knew.
Emma stroked her lips and smiled, staring right into her eyes. "I love you." Then she kissed her, taking the pain out of her chest and replacing it with something warm. When they pulled apart, Emma smiled and the way she wasn't afraid made Regina love her all the more. "I'll pay for parking, why don't you get us a table and you can criticise the system all you want over coffee."
Emma waited for her to get out, papers in hand, before she locked the car. Regina held the papers to her chest and headed down the sidewalk to the little cafe. It was down the stairs, in the basement of the office building, but it was warm and well-lit. The chairs didn't match each other and the music wasn't anything she recognised, but that was part of coffee shops, at least, that was what she'd gathered from stopping with Emma.
The woman behind the counter, a tall woman about Emma's age with thick, dark brown hair pulled back, and rich brown eyes, who seemed oddly familiar, smiled at her quickly over the hissing espresso machine. "Be right with you."
Regina pulled off her gloves and stared at the row of muffins, scones, cookies, and other pastries in the glass case. She tried to decide what Emma would want while she debated what she could stomach. Emma would have coffee, but she'd have to drink tea, just to be safe.
"Peppermint tea, a latte and a blueberry scone, please, and that-" Regina pointed to the ridiculous marshmallow and crisped rice cube bigger than her fist. It looked like the least healthy thing in the case, which was exactly what Emma would want.
"The rice crispy bar?" the barista asked, smiling more sincerely.
"Yes, thank you." Regina handed over her money and accepted the plates. As the barista held them up, Regina caught a glimpse of a marking, like a star, on her wrist. It was too irregular to be a tattoo, but it was a very strange birthmark. Seeing it bothered her, as if she was missing something.
Taking their treats to the table, she took off her coat and settled down to wait for Emma. She paged through the folders, looking at the pictures of Lily that Emma's contact had found. Lily had been a cute little girl, with deep, soulful brown eyes and a sad smile that made her chest ache all over again. It was one of the baby pictures that made her pause. Baby Lily had her hand up, by her head and on her right wrist was the same birthmark, just like a star.
Staring at the old photo, Regina wasn't paying any attention when Emma walked in and sat down next to her, nor did she acknowledge whatever Emma said, she just stared at the picture before she lifted it up.
Emma waited for her to speak, confused but smiling, as the barista brought over their drinks. The woman with the mark, the mark exactly like Lily's, set down the tea and was about to put the latte in front of her when Regina stood up in shock. Emma reached to catch the drink and Regina just stood there as the mug tipped and hot latte spilt all over her and the barista.
Too stunned to even move, Regina stared at her wrist, then at the woman's. She had Mal's cheekbones, didn't she? And her lips were so much like Regina's own, and her nose... Slowly, the flash of pain from the hot coffee cut through Regina's surprise and she winced.
"Sorry, sorry," the barista, Lily, she was Lily, said. She didn't wince. Hot coffee was just as much on her and she didn't even seem to feel it. Just like Maleficent, who never burned, no matter what she touched.
"Don't worry about it," Emma said, speaking for Regina because she couldn't find words. "Do you have a towel?"
"Yeah, just a sec." She left them, heading behind the counter while Regina stood there, dripping onto the floor.
"Emma."
Grabbing a napkin, Emma started wiping Regina's arm. "Are you okay? That was hot and it's all over you."
"Emma," she whispered more urgently, ignoring the way her arm stung. "She's here, that's her, she's Lily."