A/N: Well, my lovely readers, this is it. The last official chapter of this ride. There will be an epilogue, which hopefully won't take me too long to finish, but this is the end of the story proper.
I'd like to thank you all for sticking by me even though I made you wait so very, very long between updates. I'm sorry for that, but I'm speechless by the number of you that always had a kind, understanding word and an eager but patient appetite for the next chapter. When I started this story over a year and a half ago, it was with the intention of doing something a bit different from the usual vampire AU. I wanted something still very much in the feel of the characters, and something that could still be called a family fic, even though this particular one included werewolves and vampires and what-have you. I'd like to think I've accomplished that.
For those of you (and I hope there are many!) who want more, never fear. This is far from the last time I'll be visiting this universe. I have several more in mind, though when i get time to write them is anyone's guess.
My love and thanks to you all, and if you like the story, please drop me a line either here or on my tumblr, standbackufools.
My undying gratitude, as always, to my faithful beta Luthor (killer-elephants). Thank you for sticking with me even when I wanted to tear out my hair, and for being understanding when I took such delight in making you keysmash.
~M
. . .
Chapter XVIII: You Got to Drink the Blood
Outside
The instant effect of Cora's death was not immediately noticed, as the attentions of the two conscious wolves had shifted suddenly and violently to Henry when the young vampire had screamed. Had their eyes been on Anita, Granny and Ruby would have taken note of the sudden looseness of limb, the weightlessness that seemed to seep into the tranquilized wolf even as she slept. Her shoulders dropped, her body sagging against the leaf-strewn surface of the ground. All the tension held in her body simply fell away.
As if Cora's ownership of her was a skin of evil, shed in one fluid swoop at the moment of her death. The lines furrowing Anita's brow smoothed over, her face becoming calm and serene. The faintest of smiles slid onto her lips, and if she had been plagued by nightmares before in her drugged sleep, it was now obvious that her dreams, if any, were peaceful.
. . .
Inside
"Whenever you've finished, dear... would you mind unstaking me?"
"Regina?!" Emma was off her Queen's chest in an instant, gasping out her name. The back of her hand swiped away at her tears, stemming them as she hurriedly looked Regina over.
A tiny hiss was the only response, but to Emma it sounded like the best music in the world.
With jerky, bumbling motions, Emma's fingers nearly flew to the buckles that held the stakes to the table, practically ripping them open in her haste and fury.
"Gently, if you don't mind," Regina croaked, nearly soundless as her eyelids fluttered, fighting to keep them open.
"Sorry." Though chastised, Emma was smiling, immeasurably relieved that Regina was alive enough to correct her. The buckle slid open, a ragged whimper of pain escaping cracked lips as Emma gingerly pried the stake out of Regina's wrist. The wound it had left sizzled and smoked, a gaping hole defying the smoothness of skin.
Wincing at the sight of the wound, Emma's fingers hesitated only a second or two before slipping the next buckle undone, the second wrist released as tenderly as was possible. Arms freed, Regina sagged against the wood of the table, a tiny whimper of deliverance as the silver left her skin.
After the stakes through the ankles had been similarly removed, one by one, Emma began tugging out needle and tube alike, dropping each and every horrid implement to the floor as if they physically burned her, until at last Regina was completely free. Regina gave a rough sigh as the last needle fell, slumped against the table, and Emma chanced a longer look at the wounds. She had to fight down the bile that immediately rose in her throat. To her horror, the scorched, gaping mires in wrists and ankles remained stubbornly open, glaring at her, completely dry. Regina was so drained that she could not heal.
Her Queen needed blood. Lots of it, likely. And the canisters that had contained what was drained out of Regina had been shattered and dissipated into nothingness on the floor. There was no other source in the room.
Well. Almost.
There was Emma.
Green eyes darted around the chamber. Sharp edges abounded- shards of glass and bits of twisted metal, but she was leery of them all. Who knew if any of them might be dripping in whatever chemical had drawn Regina's blood from her in the first place? Her gaze fell to the floor, eyes catching on a glint near her calf. One of her boot knives was still in place. Scrambling, she lurched for it, picking it up like it was the solution to all her problems.
A grunt of worry sounded from behind her. "W-what are you doing..?" Regina croaked, pale and lethargic against her table. Don't leave me, went unsaid.
"You need blood," Emma muttered, testing the edge with the flat of her thumb. A line of bright red crossed her fingerprint.
Regina's nostrils flared, head turning imperceptibly toward the scent. She watched as a drop pooled at the end of Emma's thumb, suspended for a heartbeat before splashing onto the table. Her eyes widened, hungry pupils dilating at the sight of it. "You're ...offering?" Her voice, broken as it was, sounded horrified.
Emma herself was a little hesitant. What if whatever... powers... she had been displaying would somehow hurt Regina through her blood? She mollified herself with the reminder that Henry had drank from her after his poisoning, and been just fine. With that in mind, Emma slipped closer to her Queen, settling beside her on the table and holding her hands over Regina's face. "You have a better idea?" She brought the knife to her wrist, preparing herself.
"Don't!"
It was the volume that distracted her, more surprised that Regina could even muster the strength to shout at her than the cry itself. She looked down to the face of her Queen, rolling her eyes. She sighed, "Regina, if this is more of that 'sullying myself with the likes of you' crap you spouted at me when we first met, you can save it. You need blood, and I-" the look in dark eyes was enough to draw the rest of her words away from her. The vampire looked terrified.
Tears built up in her eyes, Regina stared up at the wrist poised over her head. At the knife ready to break skin. At the line of blood that dripped from Emma's thumb. She wet her lips, but shook her head as frantically as she could manage. "Don't," she said again. "Please... don't."
"Why?" The question burned in Emma's eyes. "You'll die if I don't..."
Regina's head drooped, exhausted and weakened to the point that her walls had completely broken. "Been too long," she gasped, her words coming out in rapid, choked breaths. Her fangs were extended, so feeble she was unable even to control their retraction anymore. "I n-need too much. Won't stop..." Tears dripped away from her with moisture her body couldn't afford to lose. Her cheeks drew a little tighter against her skull with every drop. "...I'll never stop."
Above her, Emma's face softened. Regina was worried about hurting her. "You will." A thumb reached out, lightly brushing away tears.
"Don't. Please, don't." Her voice was harder now. Commanding.
Emma felt the Claim burning between them, filling her mind with a buzzing unlike anything else. It rattled her mind, forcing her to obey. "No..." Her grip on the knife faltered, fingers failing as the order of her Queen resounded through her. "Regina, no!" she gasped, feeling her muscles freeze in on themselves. Preventing her. "Damnit, let me save you," she hissed. "How the hell would I explain to Henry if I just let you die now?!"
She felt Regina shudder beneath her. Her eyes blinked, the abject horror and command falling away for half a second.
Henry. As if his name held sway over her, Emma's mind clamped down on his face, his tone as he argued with her in the Hive."...I Claimed you, so I can order you to save her. You have to!" Emma gasped, reeling as his recalled order battled with Regina's. The two voices reverberated in her skull like dueling metronomes, repeating over and over, faster and faster. Her head felt like it was splitting in two, at war with herself.
Just when she felt she would go insane, a burning, golden light burst behind her eyes. In a moment of clarity, she broke through the din with a revelation: Henry had made the original Claim. Regina was only included as a technicality. Clinging to that argument, through strength of will alone Emma forced herself to clench her hand into a fist around the blade. Her fingers trembled as she stared down at Regina, her skin beginning to tingle. She could physically feel it, this time, as her eyes burned with gold, boring down into the wan, alarmed face of her Queen. Emma smiled tenderly. Her grip on the knife steadied, stronger than ever.
"Don't." Regina's tone was quieter than ever now. Tired. The last, frightened cry of a child wary of her nightmares. "...I'll kill you."
Emma smiled, her face shining with light. The knife bit deep into willing flesh. "I trust you."
Blood welled. Hot and thick and dark.
It poured out of Emma's wrist, flowing not slow or sluggish but all at once, down towards Regina's lips. Dark eyes flashed. Nostrils again flared, drinking in the scent. With the last of her strength Regina lunged forward on her most base of instincts, eager to catch the first of the large drops that splashed into her open mouth. Grunting in carnivorous need she surged up, dry wounds gaping as she forced her hands to close around Emma's arm, bringing the wrist with its restoring lifeblood to her lips.
A ragged scream burst from Emma as extended fangs probed into the cut and plunged deep. The knife slipped uselessly from her fingers, clattering to the floor. But all Emma could hear was the pounding in her veins, the grunts of pleasure as her blood fell away into her Queen. Her vision swam, her free hand coming to curl over Regina's shoulder, grounding herself as everything else fell away, and the blackness of Regina's eyes swallowed her whole.
The first splash of hot, metallic blood caressed her tongue, and Regina moaned.
She'd nearly convinced herself she'd forgotten what this felt like; a live victim beneath her fangs and blood hot beneath her tongue. It had been centuries since she'd last tasted from the source, but it felt like coming home. Her veins were screaming for more; her entire body instantly poised like a serpent at the overwhelming need for blood. It built up inside her like a tangible pressure, and she was only cursorily aware of her hands reaching for the bleeding wrist. All she felt was the blood beneath her lips, the feel of flesh under her fangs as she bit into the open cut. A flood from the punctured vein poured into her hungry mouth, perfect and fresh and hot. So deliciously hot. Emma's blood was hotter than any she'd ever tasted. Like drinking in the sun itself. It almost scalded her tongue, but the heat was as addictive as the taste and the feel and the sheer life she was drinking in. Regina could feel it pulse in her empty veins, and she knew she would never get enough- could never possibly have enough of Emma Swan. She felt herself moan again, louder, at the ecstasy of it, and bit deeper to dig in for more.
When Emma could think again, in flashes and spurts of cognizance, she would consider that if she had expected this to feel anything at all like when Henry had drank from her, she was very wrong.
This was so, so much better.
Regina surrounded her, in every pore and every cell, utterly overwhelming her senses. She could actually feel her blood pumping through Regina's hungry veins, could almost taste the vampire's lips as they touched her skin. Regina's hands never left her arm, and yet she could feel them ghosting over every inch of her body- caressing, massaging. Arousing. Lips and teeth and tongue moved over her skin, kissing and licking and sucking. Heat built itself low in Emma's belly, spreading through her body like wildfire until she was gasping on the table. Every good and glorious feeling Emma had ever experienced seemed to be going on at once, and her head tipped back, her eyes closing in a haze of euphoric, unimaginable pleasure. She moaned. Her grip on Regina's shoulder loosened.
Wrapped in a bubble of liquid desire, it was all she could do to remember to breathe. She couldn't get close enough. She swiveled, closing what little space remained. Her legs began to tremble beneath her, struggling to support her weight. Regina's arms curled around her middle, holding her tight enough to feel her heartbeat as it shared between them.
Though her entire body felt flushed with heat, a sudden gush of fire powered its way through her. Her back arched, like a strung bow. She felt her limbs lock, stiffening, centered around her core. The embrace kept her only barely grounded, and the rest of the world simply fell away into nothingness. Regina was the only thing in her world right now, and her world was made of sensation- heady and intense and wonderful. Heat and blood blazed between them as it was shared, their voices matching one another moan for moan.
After what could have been years in her daze of euphoria, Emma gradually became aware of the sensation lessening. Exhaustion began to grow along the edges of her bones. She was suffocating- her lips parted and took in huge, gasping gulps of air. Her eyes opened, but everything looked fuzzy and dark. Her senses all seemed to pale, growing dim like an aged photograph, brittle and yellowed around the edges until they dissipated completely. Whatever had kept Emma grounded fell away, and beneath her, Regina's moans darkened into savage grunts of need- animalistic and utterly chilling.
For the first time in the feeding, it actually began to hurt. All too reminiscent of a night a long time ago, when Henry had been born and then ripped from her. A wrenching, blinding and ice cold pain built up from her wrist and pulsed through her body like a shockwave, spiraling until all she felt was pain and cold. She was freezing now, colder than she'd ever felt. And then that, too, began to dissipate, and she was falling into darkness.
Falling.
Falling.
No.
Flying!
Flying soaring under wings. Wings! Finally wings again and no longer fleshy flightless arms and flying yes yes good so good forgot how good! Soaring, swooping high so high higher than anything ever. Far above any Queen- a Goddess bowing to none and ruling the sky and circling into the sun! Sun! Sun is bright and warm and welcoming. Warmth over body after long, so long sighing yes yes yes. Cry out because warm and safety and love and everything ever good ever! Joy and warmth and light and all things good yes so good. At last flying back into the Sun!
And.
Regina.
All things good are Regina and Regina is good, so good and so warm and sun is wrapping around Regina and there is no end to Regina and there is no end to the sun and there is no end at all. Regina glows in the sun and Regina is the sun and Regina is pulling back looking and reaching. Wings become arms again- outstretched, reaching, grasping. Queen, my Queen reaching and catching and held and safe and warm. Wrapping around and around and around and sinking and never ever falling ever again! Caught and secure and safe and warm and loved. Yes!
Loved!
"Emma!"
She came back to the world slowly, in tired, weary blinks of her eyes. She was surprised to discover that she was crying. Regina had pulled away from her wrist, traces of Emma's blood and even some of her tears flecked on her lips. She was looking at her with wide, afraid eyes, unblemished hands gently cupping Emma's cheeks.
They were facing one another now.
At some point during the feeding, without even being aware of it, Emma had swung her body around to straddle Regina's hips, and now she lay astride the Queen, nearly sinking into her. Neither seemed in too much of a hurry to correct that now.
Emma actually leaned into it a little more, pressing their foreheads together and taking slow, carefully measured breaths. She gave a tired, faint little sigh. A smile twitched at her lips. "See?" She only slurred a little. "I'm okay."
With a shake of her head, Regina gave a pacified sigh, her own tears slipping from her eyes as her head drooped back against the table. "...Idiot." Her hands were warm as they lightly ran up and down Emma's cheeks, then around to smooth over her hair and down to her shoulders. Her eyes were still concerned, but her emotions were affectionate and warm, thrumming with Emma's blood that now pumped through her. "I could have killed you." She frowned. "I should have killed you."
"Don't sound so disappointed that you didn't." Emma cracked a smile. Regina's concern should have been surprising, but Emma found it completely natural. The most natural thing in the world. Regina cared for her. She could feel it, pulsing through her blood, though the sensation was dim now, almost like an echo.
A puff of air hit her upper lip as Regina huffed in indignation, still shaking her head. "Emma..." she breathed, gripping her shoulders tightly.
Emma ran her own fingers lightly down Regina's cheek, wiping a few stray flecks of blood from her lips. "It's okay." She leaned into Regina's hands on her skin, enjoying the feel of her touch. Enjoying the fact that Regina could touch her. "I'm okay. In fact..." her gaze dropped as the tip of the queen's tongue emerged to lick over a corner of her own mouth. "...I'm better than okay."
Regina wet her lips, her mouth apparently having gone dry. Strange, considering how much blood had been within it mere moments before. Beneath her fingers, she felt Emma's body practically humming with vitality and warmth. She watched Emma's eyes move to her lips, mere inches away. Her fingers curled around Emma's arms, pulling herself even closer to the ever-present warmth that clung to the blonde. She shook her head again, just a little. "Idiot," she repeated, and the remaining distance between them disappeared.
As if in slow motion, their lips brushed together in soft, gentle strokes, tentative and uncertain for the space of a few heartbeats. No taste of blood remained on Regina's lips, and so when Emma gave a quiet little groan and pressed herself closer still, she tasted only Regina. Her lips parted, exhaling softly. The tip of her tongue began to lightly toy with Regina's lower lip. Her Queen's fangs were safely tucked away, and when Regina opened her lips to invite her in, Emma eagerly accepted.
How long they spent gently exploring one another with lips and tongues, Emma had no idea. But it was every bit as overwhelming an experience as being bitten. She felt Regina's hands sliding down her arms to curl around her waist, felt her own fingers slipping through Regina's hair, pressing their bodies as closely together as they could as she kissed her Queen.
Finally, they broke apart, Emma's chest heaving a bit as they lay tangled together, looking into one another's eyes. "Regina..." she whispered, leaning forward to claim her lips again.
Regina answered it, melting into the embrace of lips again before pulling away with a soft moan of regret. "Emma..." Dark hairs brushed against Emma's shoulders as Regina shifted her head, her hands running lightly up and down the blonde's shoulders. "Much as I'd like to remain here, perhaps you should get off me. We have a son to reunite with."
Grinning widely, Emma leaned forward again to lightly peck against Regina's lips. The vampire allowed the kiss, and then Emma (regretfully) pulled herself away. "Is that an order, my Queen?" she smirked.
Regina lightly ran her fingers down Emma's cheek, pausing to look curiously at the dried tears that still remained there. She swallowed over the sudden dryness of her throat. "...I don't think I can give you many more orders, Emma." With another smile, Regina leaned back in to shut any further protests up in the only way she knew how.
. . .
Henry sensed them coming only seconds before the wolves smelled it, and began to barrel his way down towards them as soon as the tell-tale purple smoke began to swirl mid-way up the hill leading to the Hive.
Emma's voice resounded throughout the space as soon as her lips had formed, "Really, Regina? You couldn't just poof us directly to the top?"
"I can't just 'poof' as I like it, Miss Swan," Regina huffed, affection in her voice. "Not knowing where people are standing, I have to make a choice that I think will result in the least amount of possible injury for everyone."
Any further rebuttal from Emma was thrown asunder when Henry came down the hill, barreling into them at whooshing speed. "Moms!"
Knocked backwards, the two women quickly left off their bickering and contented themselves in the arms of their son, hands looping behind his back as they held him.
"Oof!" Emma grunted at the impact, reaching down to ruffle his hair affectionately. "Speaking of possible injury," she grinned. "Easy, there, kid. Your mom's still kinda delicate."
"Henry." Regina completely ignored Emma's words, her attention wholly on her son. She stroked his face, brushing off a bit of dried dirt or gore from his cheek. She held him to her chest, lifting him off the ground and hugging him tight, while Emma supported him from the back. "Oh, my sweet, brave boy." She kissed his cheeks over and over and over and never ever wanted to let him go.
Henry's arms curled around her neck. "I thought I'd lost you," he sniffed, burying his head into Regina's shoulder. "I thought she'd killed you."
"Never," Regina promised, kissing his hair, his nose. Breathing in the scent of him to coat her lungs, not caring about whatever he was covered in. "You'll never lose me again, Henry. I promise."
Nuzzling his head into her neck, Henry drew back, his eyes bright and proud. "But I knew when you were okay. I could feel it. And I know it's 'cause Emma saved you, right?" Henry's arms moved from around Regina's arms to Emma, shifting his weight to rest more on his blonde mother.
It was Emma's turn to hug him to her, and though she ruffled his hair affectionately, she refrained from covering him with kisses, just placing one on his cheek. "That's right, kid," she affirmed at Regina's silence, glancing over at her. "Just like you told me to."
Regina allowed herself to look away from her son, curious, over at the woman who held him with her. "...Is that how you were able to break my command?" She glanced back to her son. "You ordered her to save me?"
Not understanding why his mother was making it sound like a bad thing, Henry just blinked up at her, confused. "I didn't want them to hurt you, and I knew she was going to kill you." A shiver ran down his frame at the mere memory of Cora, and his next words were only a whisper. "I wanted you to be okay. Was that wrong?"
Regina's look immediately softened. She shifted her weight with a glance to Emma, who nodded, understanding, and stepped back so that Henry was completely in Regina's arms, though her hand remained resting lightly on his back. "Oh, Henry," she sighed, shaking her head and pressing another kiss to his forehead. "Of course not. But your order put Emma in danger, too."
"I know." He hung his head. "And I was really worried about Emma, too," he reached for his birth mother's hand and squeezed it. "But Ruby and Granny told me you'd both be okay." At the mention of the wolves, Regina began to carry him up the hill closer to them, Emma close by her side. "And I got to help when Ruby's mom was trying to go crazy."
Emma's head snapped up at that. "Ruby's what?" Her gaze left Henry and shot up to where the two wolves stood, focusing on the prone figure who lay between them.
"Ruby's mom," Henry repeated, gesturing to her as they crested the hill. "She was trying to get back to Cora, but I told her that even though Cora was making her think she wanted to get back to her, she really didn't. And then she went back to sleep."
Regina raised an eyebrow at this, looking over at Granny for confirmation.
The older wolf just shrugged. "He's a very persuasive little Queen, your son."
Henry just beamed, happy to have been able to be of some help while his moms were busy fighting to get back to him.
"Perhaps," Regina said simply, eyes darting from the sleeping form on the forest floor to her son in her arms.
Granny knelt down beside her daughter, brushing a bit of hair out of her face. Anita's expression remained carefree and peaceful in slumber. While she was relieved to see it, Granny nevertheless glanced, questioningly, up at Regina. "Will she be alright?"
Brown eyes once more returned to Henry in her arms. He clung to her a little more tightly, not quite wanting to let her go just yet. Still afraid of losing her. She smiled at him tenderly. "I have to set you down now, Henry."
He shook his head, burying his face in her neck once more.
With a soft sigh, Regina hugged him a little tighter, before looking to Emma beside her. "Would you mind if Emma held you instead?"
Pausing in his tight hold of Regina, as if considering that Emma was an acceptable substitute, Henry pressed a kiss to Regina's cheek, and then switched his hold to around Emma's neck as Regina transferred him over. Henry snuggled into her, and Regina just watched the two of them together with a small little smile for a moment. And then she was the Queen of Storybrooke once more, completely business, as she knelt down to inspect the slumbering wolf.
She pressed a hand to Anita's forehead and the wolf's brow instantly crinkled, as if objecting to the presence of a Queen even in her sleep. Regina's fingers began to glow purple, ever so slightly. After a moment, she seemed to shake herself, and lifted her hand. Anita's face once more relaxed.
Regina looked to Granny. "It's hard to predict how she'll react when she wakes: my mother's hold on her was especially strong. I don't even know if it was placed completely unwillingly or not. Certainly, there was a fair amount of coercion involved." The Queen looked down at Anita again, teeth idly nibbling at her upper lip as she considered her. "I think, given time, she'll recover from the link, but the road will likely be difficult."
Still hugging Henry gently in her arms and rubbing small circles over his back, Emma stepped up beside her Queen, eyeing Anita warily. Like she would a target. "Is it safe to bring her back to Storybrooke?"
Regina hesitated. After everything that had happened, the last thing they needed was a potentially rogue wolf running about.
During the silence, Granny bristled at the implication, a growl building in her throat. "Well we're not leaving her here!"
Raising a steadying hand, Regina silenced her with a look. "Likely, whatever damage she attempts will more be toward herself than anyone else." She leveled a glare at Granny. "But she'll be your responsibility, Eugenia. Any problems and I will consider her a threat to the safety of my town."
Ruby growled a bit at that herself, but Granny placed a hand on her shoulder, and nodded. "Understood."
Nodding in return, Regina's expression softened a bit. "I'll help you however I can. I can understand your desire to want your family back together." She looked at the wolves with affection before turning back to her son. And Emma. The blonde smiled at her, and Regina felt a ray of warmth pulse through her. Reaching a hand for her son, she lightly ran his fingers down his cheek.
"Let's go home."
Nodding, Granny and Ruby moved back to their provisions, readying themselves for the trip back. Ruby bent down for the stretcher her mother was on, preparing to grasp for its handles, when she saw something that made her pause. She smiled, inwardly cheering to herself. "I knew it," she whispered to no one, and bent to continue her task, all the while smiling.
Regina and Emma were holding hands.
. . .
Regina had been oddly silent for most of the trip back, as if something was weighing heavily on her mind. As soon as they were safely inside the walls, Regina turned to Graham. Even before he could welcome them back officially, she spat out an order. "Summon Maleficent. Tell her meet me at the manor." Giving a soft whine of confusion, the young wolf nevertheless turned to do as he was bid.
They made their way to Regina's home a bit slowly, their progress halted by the dozens of well-wishers who began to accumulate in the streets as word of their return spread. Storybrooke was, after all, a very small town.
In Emma's arms, Henry lay quietly asleep, his small body having run out of energy on the trip back. It had been an incredibly exhausting last few days for him. Regina had offered to carry him a while, of course, but Emma had just looked at her, pleading without words. Regina let him remain there. Though she would never admit it, she was still a bit exhausted herself. Henry finally began to stir when they turned onto Mifflin Street, as if the familiarity of home jogged something deep in his psyche. Eyes blinking open, he broke into a wide grin as his home came into view.
The next moment had the boy clambering down from Emma's arms and darting across the front lawn. Emma and Regina lingered a moment, conveying their thanks and fondness to Ruby and Granny as the wolves prepared to head to the Bed and Breakfast and situate their still-slumbering guest.
When he realized their little group was parting ways, Henry immediately rushed back, wrapping his arms tightly around Ruby's legs. "Thank you for coming to get me," he told her quietly.
"No problem, kiddo." She nudged his shoulder. "Thanks for your help with my mom."
He beamed at her tiredly, and then nodded politely to Granny.
The alpha wolf gruffed. "What, I don't get a hug? C'mere, pup."
Grinning, he wrapped his arms around her, too.
"Alright, that's enough," she huffed after a moment, but reached down to affectionately pat his matted hair. "I think you have a date with a bathtub."
For once, Henry didn't wrinkle his nose at the idea. Instead, he gave a solemn nod of his head, eager to be rid of the layers of dirt and grime and dried blood that clung to him.
"Henry?" From inside the gate of her walkway, now, Regina slipped to her knees, beckoning her son. Nearby, Emma finally stripped herself of her jacket, draping it almost affectionately over the hood of her precious Beetle. She had a feeling she'd never be able to wear the thing again.
The boy came over with a curious look, but still burrowed into Regina's arms, throwing his own tightly around her waist. "Mom..."
"Henry," she sighed, rocking him back and forth as she had when he was an infant.
"Well, isn't this touching." A puff of dark violet smoke and Maleficent was standing before them, a hand on her crystal ball, looking bored. She swiveled her head towards Regina. "Welcome back, your majesty. Now what did you bring me here for?"
Lightly running her fingers through her son's hair, Regina hardly even looked up at her, instead simply stating, matter-of-factly: "Henry is relinquishing his Claim."
Startled sounds of protest erupted from all around. Emma's head shot up from beside her car, her brow crossed and eyes suspicious.
The boy himself lurched back, staring at his mother with hurt and betrayal in his eyes. "I'm what?!"
Regina eyed him knowingly, her tone gentle, but still very much using her 'mom voice.' "No eight-year-old should have a Claim on anyone, Henry," she told him flatly. "Especially not on your mother."
There was a moment of silence. Coming up on them through the gate, Emma's hand came to rest lightly on Regina's shoulder. Regina looked at her, communicating without words. Sighing, the former Hunter nodded her head and lowered to her knees, coming down to eye-level with her bewildered son. "Your mom's right, kid. And honestly, you being able to give me orders kinda messes up the whole parent-kid dynamic."
Henry looked back and forth between his two mothers, as if not believing that they could be agreeing about this. "...But if Emma isn't Claimed, anyone could drink from her! She could get hurt!"
Smiling gently at him, Regina cast an appraising, sidelong glance over Emma. "If the past few days have taught me anything, dear, it's that she can take care of herself."
"...But she could leave Storybrooke!" Henry's chin wobbled.
Wrapping her arms around him, Emma kissed his forehead tenderly. "I'm not going anywhere, Henry." Her fingers brushed against Regina's. She glanced up, locking eyes with the Queen. "My family's here."
"Do you mind?" Maleficent griped, "I think I may actually gag."
Regina glared at her.
Rolling her eyes, the curly-haired witch called forth the Claim in question with a wave of her hand. Henry's signature glowed in bright blue on the parchment. "Well, Henry?" Maleficent prompted.
With tears brimming in his eyes, Henry put on a brave smile, and glanced over at Maleficent. "...I relinquish my Claim," he said, his voice only wavered a little.
Giving him an approving squeeze, Emma nodded, "So do I."
The paper in Maleficent's hand immolated, the lines of their signatures bursting into flame until the contract became ash. "Touching," Maleficent snarked again, rubbing her fingers to rid them of the last of the smudge. "If you're done being so nauseatingly sentimental, may I go now?"
"You're dismissed," called Regina crisply. Her eyes narrowed. "Though tomorrow I expect a full report on what you did to my town while I was gone."
Giving a mocking bow, Maleficent nodded. "Whatever you say, your Majesty. So glad to have been of use." She disappeared in a whirl of smoke.
Regina's hands fell gently over Henry's shoulders, hugging him tenderly. "I'm proud of you, Henry." she kissed his cheek. "That was very grown-up of you."
Teeth nibbling at his lower lip, the boy bravely fought off his tears. "So... when I'm grown up, can I Claim Emma again?"
Emma shot a glance at Regina. "...I don't think so, kid," she said as gently as she could. "I might already be taken."
Smiling at her softly, Regina tried to ignore the fact that her cheeks were flushing. "Indeed," she murmured. "Besides, Henry: you might find someone else you'll want to Claim more."
"Like who?"
"Like..." Emma grinned, "a girlfriend!"
Henry rolled his eyes in typical eight-year-old fashion. "Eww!" he exclaimed. "Now I really need a bath!"
. . .
Later, much later, when they'd all bathed and Henry had lost since passed out in his bed, Emma found herself, yet again, unable to sleep.
She checked on her son out of habit, watching him as he rested in what looked to be blissfully dreamless sleep. He'd been through a lot in the last few days. More than any any kid should ever have to endure. Hell, more than any adult should have to live through. She knew that some of the days ahead would likely be hard for him as he came to terms with everything. But for now, at least, he rested sweetly and contentedly, safe in his own bed in his own house, surrounded by those who loved him.
It was all she'd ever wanted for him, back when she'd been pregnant and unbitten and had dreamed of a future without vamps for him to live in. She could almost laugh at that now. Maybe it wasn't exactly the life she'd pictured for him, but she could honestly say that she was okay with how it had worked out. She eyed the door to Regina's empty room. More than okay, really.
As quietly as possible, she crept back out of his room and then headed down the stairs. The front door was open.
Regina sat on the steps of the entryway, gazing out over the hedgerows at the sky just before dawn. An open, completely full packet of blood lay next to her, a few mouth-fulls of it spattered out on the grass just beyond her.
Immediately feeling worry begin to pump through her, Emma slipped onto the porch. "Something wrong?"
Her Queen didn't even look at her. "...I'm not hungry," she said stiffly.
Emma didn't even have to use her superpower. "You're lying. Why aren't you drinking?"
Looking down at the tubing in her hands, Regina was silent for a long moment. Then, with crisp, decisive movements, she tipped the entire bag over into the grass. She waited until every drop had left before she spoke again. "I told you," she stated quietly. "...It's been too long since I drank from the source."
Emma's brow furrowed in confusion, before her eyes opened almost comically wide. "...You can't drink it anymore," she realized breathlessly. "Oh!" She cast her mind back to just before Regina had bitten her. "You said... you said you'd never stop. That's what you meant." She swallowed over the sudden dryness of her throat. "...You have to keep drinking from me."
"You're not Claimed anymore, dear." Regina reminded her. She still wouldn't look at her, watching the small pool of blood seep away into the ground. "I don't have the right."
Slowly, warm fingers made their way across the space between them to curl around Regina's shoulder. She turned her head, finally chancing a look at the blonde.
Earnestly, Emma offered a smile. "...You don't need a piece of magical paper to be my Queen, Regina."
It was Regina's turn to swallow, thickly and visibly in the thin haze of lightening sky. She turned away, letting silence fill the space between them. Her eyes cast back up into space. "You know," she began after a while, "you were named after entirely the wrong bird, Miss Swan."
Emma kept her hand on her shoulder, sidling closer until her legs hung over the edge of the porch. "I thought we were past you calling me that."
Regina's lips quirked upward. "I was only making a point." She took a breath. "Emma."
"Better."
They fell into silence, both turned to watch as the dark slowly began to give way to hues of pink and gold.
Emma sighed. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to have this conversation, but knew that if they didn't, it would hang between them as awkward and unwieldy as any Claim. Her neck craned up, staring off into the sky. "You told your mother that I wasn't human." It was not a question. A quiet declaration of a fact they had both been made painfully aware of.
Another pause.
"You're not."
The sun was only barely peeking, its rays having far to go before they would touch the mayoral mansion. Still, somehow, the light found Emma, pooling over her hair and skin, seeping into her like the embrace of an old friend. "When did you know?" she asked. "...How did you know?"
"I... suspected when you broke through the dampening field," Regina replied quietly. "And... then when I saw it in that torture chamber... You died, Emma. You died and then you resurrected yourself. I think you did the same when I drank from you. And... well, honestly, it explained a few things."
Emma looked back at Regina, genuinely curious. "What kinds of things?" She decided to put aside the issue of her death (or deaths? She really wasn't sure how many times she'd died in the Hive) to the side for now.
"Why you always eat like you've never seen food before. Why you have such a hard time falling asleep when the sun is up..." She faced her, keeping her voice quiet and understated, as if only reciting things off a grocery list. "And why Henry was so quickly restored to health after he was poisoned."
Confused, Emma's face scrunched. "...Because he drank from me. Same reason it made you all better, too. You just needed blood."
"Yes," the Queen nodded, "I did. But it wasn't just your blood, dear. You were crying on him." She offered a smile. "On me."
"...So?"
Regina reached a hand forward to ghost it lightly over Emma's cheek, tracing over the path that her tears had travelled. "Your tears have healing properties, Emma."
Looking down, Emma kicked her feet out, swinging them back against the porch landing like a child. She chewed her lip and took a moment to digest this information. "...What else can I do?"
"Apart from dying at least four times in one day and resurrecting yourself in a burning pyre of sunlight?" Regina was almost chuckling. "What else would you like?"
Silence.
After a long moment, Regina finally turned to look at her. "Does this change-" she began, but Emma shook her head, raising her fingers lightly to brush over the lips of her queen.
"I'm still yours, Regina," she smiled. Her eyes spun with flecks of gold for a half-second before burning back to their usual color. Her other hand clasped Regina's own, fingers of her other hand still at her lips, moving down to curl around her cheek. "I'm yours, Claim or no Claim, and damn anything else. That's all that matters to me."
Despite herself, Regina felt the edges of her lips curl upwards. Her hands curled around Emma's, holding onto her with rising intensity. "...Mine." Even though the light was getting more and more intense over them as the sun rose, Regina's eyes only grew darker. The barest hint of her fangs became visible. "I like the sound of that." Slowly, she leaned in closer, inhaling the scent of her human. Her phoenix. Her Emma. She tested the way it sounded on her own lips. "My Emma."
Her name was barely breathed, but even hearing it from Regina's lips was enough to give the blonde heart palpitations. Her breathing quickened, watching as Regina's pupils blew wide and all-consuming. She felt the same warmth as when she was bitten begin to well in the pit of her stomach. Her blood began to pulse rapidly in her veins, and she had to wonder if Regina could hear it. If she could smell it, or taste it, hot and rushing up at her skin, ready for the drinking. She groaned unconsciously, lips parting as the scent of apples and spice and Regina completely overwhelmed her senses. "My Queen?"
"Emma." She felt Regina's fingertips on her shoulder, her nails trailing a slow path up her skin and sending shivers down her spine. "Tilt your head."
A shiver running down her spine, Emma blinked, slowly, counting the beats of her own heart and taking deep, shuddering breaths. She turned towards the Queen rather than away from her and met Regina's eyes over her own shoulder. "Regina..." Another deep, labored breath. "...Are you going to drink from me now?"
The tips of Regina's fangs emerged from behind her teeth. "Yes."
Emma closed her eyes. Her hand curled into her own hair, sweeping golden locks to the side. She tilted her head to the side and offered unto her Queen in the early dawn her bared throat.
FIN
. . .
A/N2: For those of you who wondered:
The modern English noun phoenix derives from the Greek φοίνιξ (phóinīx), itself derived from the Mycenaean Greek po-ni-ke.
I tried to leave lots of little clues as to what Emma really was. A number of you guessed right. Good job!