Chapter 13 I Can Hear You Smiling

Emma was sitting on the steps of the loft as she watched Regina from the distance, being quiet as to not disturb her. Belle was sitting with her at the table. There was a thick leather book opened in front of her, her fingers skimming the pages. Belle was teaching her to read braille. She wanted to go back to work, and if she managed to become fluent and have an assistant, then there was a possibility she could go back to work. Right now, it was Katherine that was managing the office for now. Snow had too much on her plate and really didn't want to fulfill the role as mayor again.

Emma didn't even realize she was practically gazing at her until Snow approached her. Snow looked at her, confused and then followed her line of sight to Regina.

She knew that look.

She's seen it before. She's had that look herself.

"Emma?" she said softly, pulling her daughter's attention away from her former stepmother. She jumped slightly, startled that her mother was suddenly standing beside her.

"You're staring," she observed and Emma found herself looking over at Regina again.

"She looks happy, doesn't she?" she asked with that small smile Snow rarely saw. The kind of smile she only seemed to save for Regina.

"I think just knowing there's a possibility of going back to work gives her hope that she could move on. That she'll be ok."

"Katherine said she'll even be her assistant at the office when she goes back," Emma said, still staring and Snow could see how excited and happy she was for Regina. "And she seems to be picking up the braille pretty fast."

"She'll be fluent in no time. She's a fast learner. Who do you think taught me Spanish?"

"Regina can speak Spanish?" Emma asked, apparently not knowing this fact about the former Queen. "You can speak Spanish?"

Snow shook her head. "I only picked up a few words and then, whatever I learned, I lost when I got older. I lost interest and Regina lost interest in teaching me."

Emma took in the piece of information about Regina. There was so much she didn't know about the former Queen. So much she wanted to know and so much Regina didn't want her to know.

"You ran out of here pretty fast last night…" Snow's voice pulled her from her wandering thoughts and she looked up at her mother.

"I know," she sighed. "I just…" She didn't even know where to begin to explain herself. All she knew was that Regina somehow just made everything feel ok again even when they weren't.

"I saw something yesterday. Evidence that will win us this trial. Carter won't get away with an easy sentence."

"Did you tell her?" Snow asked.

"No… I don't know how."

Snow reached out, taking her hand in order to comfort her. Emma didn't seem to want to tell her what this evidence was and she wasn't going to push her.

"Just be honest with her, ok? She trusts you."

"I know," Emma sighed, pulling away from her mother and getting to her feet. Snow was right. Regina deserved to know what kind of evidence she'll be presenting and it was better if she told her now then wait until the day of the trial.

"I need to take care of some stuff at the station. When they're done could you bring Regina. David can come too. It's best if you two see it as well."

"Of course," Snow answered her and Emma nodded in thanks before heading out of the loft.

She knew she had some time before Regina and her parents arrived. So she found herself locking herself in the bathroom and pulling out the first aid kit.

She took out her knife and sliced open her skin right next to the freshly healed pink line of her previous slash. She was getting stronger and she needed to practice every chance she got.

Snow's words that she needed to be honest with Regina echoed in her mind, but then she pushed it aside and ignored it. Regina wouldn't approve of this and she needed to do this to help her. To bring back what she had lost.

She felt the cool steel of the knife and bit her lip to keep herself from crying out in pain. Every part of her knew this was wrong. She knew Regina would be furious but if it meant saving Regina's vision, then it was worth it.

She might be angry at first but at least she'll able to see Emma as she yelled at her.

She dropped the knife in the sink, blood dripping from her wound and into the white porcelain. She closed her eyes and centered herself. It was becoming easier with each painful session.

Usually it took hours for her to heal herself but this time it only took one and she looked at her arm in awe as the wound turned into a barely healed scab. She wrapped it up with bandages and just as she stepped out of the bathroom, she heard the door to the station open followed by voices.

They were here.

Snow walked in with Regina's arm hooked into hers. David followed closely behind. Emma pulled out the chair that was in front of the TV and Snow guided her to it.

"Emma?"

"I'm here," she said softy, reassuring her as she knelt in front of her.

"What's going on?" Her gaze searched the room, not sure were Emma was. She reached out, taking Regina's hands and placing them on her cheeks. Her parents watched as Regina's hands gently brushed over Emma's features.

Snow's head slightly tilted as a sudden thought came to mind, although she kept quiet.

"Remember what I told you last night?" she asked softly. "About the evidence I had found?"

"You said it freaked you out..." There was a tremble in her words and Emma knew she was scared. She was hiding it as usual. Always trying to be strong.

"I know you won't be able to see it. I just need you to know what it is."

A hand was suddenly on her shoulder, and Regina felt a presence behind her.

"Snow?"

"Do you want us to leave?" her former stepdaughter asked. "We don't have to see this if you don't want us to."

"No," Regina said, taking a breath and leaning into Snow's comforting touch. "You and David could stay." After everything that has happened, Snow and David had become family to her. Before they had been her greatest enemies and now she sought their comfort. Now she needed them in order to stay grounded. They were her family now.

"Ok," Emma whispered, her voice trembling as the thought of seeing this video again finally hit her. Her eyes shinned with tears and she could feel the lump forming in her throat. "I'm gonna show it to my parents so they could see it and I'll explain it to you at the same time."

"It's a video?" Regina asked as she heard Emma setting up the tape.

"It's footage of the crash. One of the stores caught it on their surveillance camera."

She took a shaky breath and Emma quietly took Regina's hand and pulled her up.

"Can you give us a minute?" she asked her parents and then was leading her out of the room. She pulled Regina into the interrogation room and shut the door behind them. She stood in front of Regina. They were standing so close they could feel each other's breath on their lips.

Regina leaned in first, softly kissing her girl and she felt Emma smiling through their kiss.

"You're getting good at not missing," Emma chuckled softly and Regina playfully pushed her away from her. Emma stepped forward once more and softly kissed her cheek.

"You don't have to be here," she said. "I could take you home."

"No," she said, her voice suddenly growing hard and her whole posture stiffened with hostility. "I will not let what that idiot did to me scare me away."

"You don't have to do that you know," Emma said, her green eyes sparkling with concern. "You don't have to hide how scared you are sometimes."

"I'm not scared," she insisted. "I'm not weak."

Emma frowned at those words. She knew it was Cora talking. The evil sorceress raised her daughter to hide her emotions. She taught Regina it was weakness to feel joy or fear and even love. It was why Regina always seemed to hold back and retreat into herself when it came to expressing her emotions.

"Being scared doesn't make you weak. It makes you human," Emma said, trying to reassure her. She wanted to get Cora out of her head. She wanted Regina to know she didn't need to hide her fears. She didn't always need to hide behind the tough façade she always seemed to retreat into.

Her features soften, the hard gaze in those sightless brown eyes turned into defeat.

"I seem to forget that sometimes," she admitted.

"I know," Emma said, pulling her close by her hips and holding her in a tight embrace. She buried her nose into the crook of Regina's neck and placed a soft kiss on warm skin. She felt Regina combing her fingers through her blonde locks. "You ready to go in there?"

"No, but being afraid has never stopped me before."

Her face was unreadable.

She sat there listening to Emma describing the video and she could hear the shakiness in her girlfriend's voice. She could hear the silent tears Snow desperately tried to hide from her and she could hear David fidgeting.

She felt sick and despite what Emma had told her in the interrogation room, she hid her emotions.

She just couldn't bring herself to show just how devastated she actually was. Not in front of Snow and David.

Emma seemed to understand this and asked for them to be left alone. She heard their footsteps leaving the station but not before Snow gently squeezed her shoulder.

She was silent, staring in the darkness of her world and hearing nothing but the shaky descriptions of the video. She didn't even need Emma to describe it. She still remembered the screeching of tires and the smell of burnt rubber on the pavement. She remembered the cold terror that washed through her as the car headed right for her.

It happened so fast she couldn't even use her magic to save herself.

She remembered pain and blood and Emma… And then everything went dark.

"Hey," Emma was suddenly pulling her from the chair and out of the intrusive thoughts whirling in her mind. "You're ok." She was hugging her, holding her close and Regina leaned into the comfort.

The unreadable mask that she had adjourned was finally breaking. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she couldn't stop the shaking silent sobs from racking her body.

Emma just held her. If anything, she held her tighter.

"Emma!" Snow's voice startled her so bad she dropped the bloody knife into the sink. It was late into the night. Regina had trouble sleeping after the day they both had and when she was finally able to fall into a restless sleep, Emma left the warm sanctuary of her bed.

She found herself standing before the bathroom mirror with her pocketknife in her hand.

She couldn't get Regina's reaction out of her head. Her sightless brown eyes were fixed on the TV as if she were actually watching it. It was as if she could see it and in a way Emma thinks she actually was. The scary thing was, Regina's face was emotionless. Emma had no idea what the other woman was feeling. It wasn't until she had pulled her up into her arms did Regina finally let go.

She needed to keep practicing.

She needed to heal Regina.

"Emma?" Snows voice sounded through the door again and she could hear Snow trying to open the locked door, the sound of the doorknob ricocheting off the white walls.

She quickly put the knife away and wrapped up her wound. She pulled down her sleeve and opened the door.

"Are you ok?" Snow asked, her green eyes sinning with concern. "Regina didn't look so good when you two came home and you didn't come back downstairs."

"I'm fine," she lied, unconsciously tugging her sleeve further down.

"Emma, what were you doing in here?" Snow asked, her eyes following Emma's nervous movements.

"Um… I was using the bathroom," she lied again, knowing there was no way Snow was believing this.

Her mother's green eyes swept over her. Concern clouded her features and she bit her lip as she mentally debated whether she should ask the question that has been on her mind all day.

"How is she?" she asked instead, not being able to summon the courage to ask if her daughter had finally acknowledged her feelings for her former stepmother. They've always had something between them. Except now, something was different. They were in sync. "She didn't look so good when you brought her home."

"That video… It's just…" she sighed, sweeping her fingers through tangled blond locks. "She's trying so hard to be strong but I could see how badly shaken up this video has gotten her. I just hope she doesn't have nightmares."

Emma cared for her so deeply it made Snow's heart ache. She could hear it in her daughter's words and see it in her green eyes.

"Emma?" Her voice was shaking and she couldn't understand why this was so hard. She believed in love. She believed in second chances. If Emma and Regina were indeed true love than who was she to come between them. "Can I ask you something?"

Emma looked at her and Snow could see a kind of fear flashing in her eyes for just a moment and then it was gone. What she didn't know was that Emma was actually afraid that her secret of cutting herself was out.

Snow took her hand and led her to the couch.

"What is it?" There was that fear again.

"It's nothing bad," Snow was quick to reassure her. "I just noticed some things."

"What kind of things?" she asked nervously, tugging her sleeve just a little further down.

Snow took a breath, trying to build up the confidence she needed. She looked at her daughter and gave her a soft smile. "You and Regina seem to be quite close since everything that has happened."

"What?" Emma asked, completely thrown off guard and Snow realized she had been afraid of an entirely different confrontation. She tilted her head, wondering what on earth Emma could be hiding.

"Emma, you know her way more than I ever could and I've known her longer. She lets you in and you got her to trust you. Somehow I get the feeling you're more than just friends."

Emma averted her gaze, unable to look her mother in the eye. They had planned on telling her parents. Just not right now. Her cheeks grew a light shade of red and Snow let out a small affectionate laugh.

"I'm sorry. I know she was your enemy. I know she hurt you, and I know she used to be your stepmother…"

"Emma, sweetie," Snow cut off her rambling and lifted her chin so that she would look at her. "Do you love her?"

She was silent. She was afraid to answer that because somehow she felt like she was betraying her mother.

"Yes…" she whispered and looked away.

"Hey, no…" Snow soothed her, trying to meet her gaze. "Don't you dare be ashamed. If you love her then don't be afraid to tell me. You're not betraying me or your father. Our past is dark and heavy on both sides, but we moved on. We healed. Regina deserves to be happy, and you make her happy."

"You're ok with us being together?" Emma asked, clearly in shock of Snow's reaction.

"Of course I am," she smiled, pulling her daughter into her arms and holding her.

"Hey. What's going on?" David's sleep filled voice sounded behind them. They turned to see him walking into the kitchen for some water.

"Emma loves Regina," Snow declared making Emma blush a deep shade of red.

"Finally," he muttered, as if he had known all along and was simply waiting for them to admit it to each other. Snow laughed and Emma was left dumbstruck.

"What? You knew?"

"Of course I did," he admitted. "It's about time you two got together."

"Since when did you know!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"Neverland," he admitted.

"Actually I figured it out in Neverland. He caught on when we all went back to the Enchanted Forest and Regina was depressed during that missing year."

"So you're both ok with this then?" she asked, obviously not over the shock of her parents already knowing about her and Regina being together.

"You love her," Snow said, reaching out and caressing her daughter's cheek. "And she loves you. I can see it. That's all I ever wanted for the both of you. True love. And now you found it."

In that moment it felt like a weight has been lifted from her chest. She had been afraid on how her parents would have reacted to their daughter being in love with the Evil Queen.

Knowing they accepted her and Regina meant everything to her.

"You really believe this is true love?" she asked.

"Emma, have you seen the way she is around you? She trusts you. She opens up. She can sense when you're in the room before you even speak to her. She loves you."

Snow and David's words echoed in her head as she climbed the steps of the loft. She couldn't get the stupid grin off her face. Regina made her happy and knowing her parents accepted them made her even happier. Her heart finally felt like it was at peace. She entered the room and noticed Regina sitting up. Something was laid out on her lap, but because of the darkness, she couldn't make out what it was.

"Hey," she said softly, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't wake up their son. "I thought you were asleep." She sat beside her on the edge of the bed, and placed a sweet kiss on her cheek.

"I was…" she answered just as softly, her fingers going over what Emma now noticed was the book of braille that Belle had given her.

"Nightmares?" Emma answered.

She stayed quiet, focusing on running her fingers through the special text she seemed to pick up so fast. Emma took her silence as a yes.

"They know…" She didn't want to push Regina into talking about her nightmare and instead decided to tell her that both Snow and David knew they were together.

Regina looked up in her direction.

"They're kicking me out, aren't they?" she asked.

"Yup, go pack your things," Emma deadpanned, trying to keep her voice steady otherwise Regina would know she was messing with her.

"I can hear you smiling, liar," Regina shoved her away playfully and Emma couldn't help but laugh. "I guess by your idea of joke, they must have took it well."

"Yeah, apparently they knew before we did. They were just waiting for us to admit it to ourselves."

"I guess this means we don't have to hide anymore," Regina whispered, leaning in for a kiss but she missed and instead they bumped noses.

Emma laughed and Regina could feel the blush burning her cheeks.

"Here let me," Emma laughed, thinking how adorable she was for missing. She reached out, tilting Regina's chin and softly kissing her lips.