It took me a long time to get this one right, but I am finally happy with it. Even though I will soon be bringing this story to a close, there will be a few more chapters after this one. My goal is to give this family the happy ending they deserve.
Warning: Brief implication of rape (in the past)
This chapter also contains spoilers for How It Happened. I know that many of you are reading that story too, so I just wanted to warn you ahead of time. Though, I don't think it will ruin anything.
As they make their way down the winding staircase, Emma continues to protest. "Remind me again why I'm wearing clothes."
Upon reaching the landing, Regina lightly grasps the younger woman's hands, guiding her in for a playful smooch. "Because." Not realizing what she started, Regina kisses her breathtaking fiancée again, lingering just a bit longer this time, as their hands dance together. "We don't want to scare the children."
Apparently, the younger woman has decided that this pattern should continue and eagerly kisses her queen again.
Once her lips are released, the older woman adds, "I don't really care about your parents."
This time, the queen is met by a kiss that is quickly deepened, as the ravenous blonde wraps her arms around the older woman's neck.
"I'm guessing you don't either," Regina observes.
That comment just adds to the fire growing inside of the younger woman. It becomes clear that Emma is no where near ready for this little game to end. "I need another reason," she whispers, promptly resuming her attack on receptive lips.
"We don't want to be antisocial," the lightheaded woman casually suggests.
A panting Emma replies, "Yeah," nodding her agreement. "That would be rude," she adds, promptly smothering the brunette woman again.
If she is being honest with herself, the queen is thoroughly enjoying this impromptu make-out session and the younger woman's body pressed against hers. Her fiancée's enthusiasm is much appreciated. There is nothing hotter than kissing Emma Swan. In an effort to regain control over her reacting body, the queen mentions the undeniable truth. "We miss Charlie. "
Just hearing her daughter's name sobers the younger woman, who gradually stills her advances. She had worked herself up so much that she has to clutch Regina's shoulders for support. Leaning her forehead against her fiancée's, in between heaving breaths, she admits, "Damn, you make good points. Though, Charlie is the only reason I agreed to leave our bed."
After catching her breath, the grateful queen replies, "My daughter is pretty hard to resist. Isn't she?"
The younger woman smiles to herself. She had waited so long to share her love for Charlie with the child's other mother. "Well, she is yours, after all."
The two women lock eyes and slowly move in for what turns out to be an unexpectedly sensual kiss. Though this kiss does not contain the burning desire from before, it becomes clear that neither woman is ready to break the tender display.
Reluctantly, the queen urges, "Emma, we have to control ourselves."
"Don't want to," the younger woman whispers. "Can't I just stay right here?" she requests as she slowly begins trailing kisses down the older woman's neck.
The queen giggles when Emma's soft lips tickle her skin. "I don't mind. But, I think it will make carrying on a conversation quite challenging."
"I don't need to talk to anyone," the preoccupied woman mumbles. She only hopes that the argument is sufficient and she can continue with the important task at hand.
When Regina realizes the reasoning behind Emma's disinclination, she gently stills the younger woman. "Everything is going to be alright, Emma."
The blonde woman's wounded expression is heartbreaking and the queen hopelessly wishes she hadn't brought up a source of tremendous anxiety.
Emma wraps her arms more securely around her queen and buries her face in the space between Regina's neck and shoulder.
Instinctively, the brunette woman begins lightly rocking the treasured girl in her arms. "Do you know how much I love you?"
Emma removes her face from its hiding spot, in order to meet familiar brown orbs.
Maybe it was the intensity of the make-out session that gave Emma's face that noticeable glow, Regina cannot tell, as the younger woman, smiling warmly, whispers her grateful awareness.
"Yeah. I do."
The queen would be content to remain in Emma's arms for the remainder of the evening in order to absorb all of the love radiating from this amazing woman. Fighting the natural tendency to remain antisocial, she attempts to lighten the mood.
"If it's any comfort, I still plan on sleeping with you tonight."
"You know, you're not making this any easier," Emma playfully informs.
Regina calmly grasps the younger woman's hand to guide her toward the dining room. "You'll feel better after you've had some dinner."
The mere mention of food is all it takes for Emma to become enthusiastic.
"Are we having mashed potatoes?"
Recognizing the importance of that question Regina stops and turns toward her favorite blonde. She teases, "Do you really think that I would request roast beef without mashed potatoes?"
"Nah," Emma admits, wrapping her arms around the older woman's neck. "You're way too cool to forget."
The queen automatically wraps her arms around the younger woman's waist, basking in her lover's amorous gaze. She noticeably blushes. "You think I'm cool?"
"Are you kidding?" Emma seals her approval with a lighthearted peck on her beloved's lips.
They queen is still blushing. Though, she would never admit it. "I should see if your mother needs any help with dinner."
"Good idea." After administering another chaste kiss on sensitive lips, Emma informs, "And, I'll check on our kid. I'm sure she has questions about what we've been doing." When she is met with beautiful brown eyes, widening in horror, the blonde woman supplements her previous statement. "Don't worry, I got a plan." She turns back and casually adds, "Just go with whatever ideas she comes up with on her own."
The queen feels herself falling in love, all over again. "I'm so happy you're home."
Emma returns a knowing smile. "It's good to be home."
Upon entering the kitchen, Regina immediately spots the annoyingly positive woman busily making the last preparations for dinner.
The unsuspecting woman cheerfully greets, "I was wondering when you two would be down. I almost—"
"Fuck you." The queen doesn't even let Mary Margaret finish her thought. Despite the fact that her rage had instantly reached a boiling point, the queen is shocked by her own restraint. Though, her clenched fists and gritted teeth give her away.
"Excuse me?" the naive woman inquires to make sure that she had heard correctly.
"You knew," Regina accuses. She is noticeably trembling. "You knew that she was pregnant with my child and you didn't tell me." As soon as she says it, she feels her confidence diminishing. Each spoken word begins to sting more than the previous.
"Regina, I can explain."
All composure is lost as the queen expresses the greatest source of pain. "How could you do that to me?"
This woman had betrayed her before, resulting in the murder of her first love, Daniel. Though she had come to forgive Snow White for her past indiscretion, this is even more hurtful. The woman who had become her best-friend and confidant had kept the knowledge of her precious baby girl's existence a secret. The fact of which is finally sinking in. No longer able to support her own weight, the queen collapses on a nearby stool, exhausted by her own outburst. "Four years and I didn't know that my daughter even existed," she laments. "Why didn't you tell me?" Her desperation is evident.
"Because, I love you." Mary Margaret begins to weep. "I know everything you went through after Emma left. I couldn't break your heart again and tell you what really happened. Do you know how hard it was for me keeping my granddaughter a secret all these years, especially from her mother who also happens to be my best-friend? Regina—"
"She had my baby," the older woman mourns.
Softening her tone to almost a whisper, Mary Margaret observes, "Charlie looks just like you."
Regina noticeably brightens, though her eyes remain shut. "Yeah."
The younger woman cautiously explains, "I know how upset you would have been, that's why I couldn't tell you. I saw how," she stops herself from rehashing the sorrowful truth. "I know what happened," she regretfully admits. "You were already beside yourself after you found out that Emma left, I couldn't increase your suffering just to ease my mind. It was horrible having to keep her a secret from you. And, I remember how you reacted when I told you the first time."
Sometimes, Snow White doesn't know when to quit and instantly feels the bile rising in her throat, as the queen's interest is noticeably piqued.
"The first time?"
The younger woman quickly tries to repair the dam, desperately hoping that the damage is reversible. "It was the day Emma left Storybrooke. You called me and…" She hesitates. "You told me the things you said to her."
"I talked to her? The day she left?"
Mary Margaret only nods her head in response to the queen's confusion. She is noticeably troubled by her own recollection of the past. Unfortunately for her, Regina is alert and determined to get to the bottom of things.
"You never told me this."
"Because I knew it would kill you," the frightened younger woman admits.
Regina's voice is firm. "What happened?" When she is met with silence, the anxious queen softens her tone to one that is less threatening. "Mary Margaret, please. I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
"You told her to leave Storybrooke."
The older woman immediately protests. "I didn't. I couldn't have."
"You regretted saying it. You told me yourself that you didn't mean it."
"Why would I tell her to leave?"
"You were angry because she tried to take Henry away."
Regina feels all of the oxygen extracted from her lungs. She has forgotten how to breathe.
Noticing this, Mary Margaret regretfully continues, "You called me and told me what happened." She watches her former nemesis futilely search her vacant memory. "When I told you that the baby she was carrying was yours, you went after her. That's why you were going so fast when you crashed. You were trying to catch up to her." Even though Mary Margaret is all too aware that her friend has no memory of this scenario, the woman's pained expression would suggest otherwise. "When I found out that you had lost part of your memory, after the accident, I saw it as a gift. I thought that it would be better for you to think that Emma left on her own, without telling you, and that you didn't even remember that she was pregnant."
The queen has to cover her mouth to stifle heartbroken sobs.
"Regina, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to ever find out."
Though she has no recollection of the horrific events of that day, the queen's imagination supplements a devastating exchange. She sees herself yelling at the woman she loves, tearing her down, and shunning her. "It's my fault," is barely audible through her broken whisper.
"You didn't want her to leave," Mary Margaret assures. "You told me yourself that you didn't mean what you said."
"It's my fault she left," she cries.
The desperate woman frantically tries to console her friend. "Regina. You didn't know. It's okay. You didn't know."
Meeting her future mother-in-law's eyes, the broken woman pleads, "I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to chase her away."
"Regina, it's okay," the younger woman soothes.
Unfortunately, there is no getting through to Regina when she has convinced herself of something. "No," she wails and begins shaking violently.
In that moment, instinct takes over, as the mortified woman helplessly watches her friend fall apart. She catches the older woman in a strong embrace, willing her back to the present. "Regina. Regina, stay with me, please…" She continues to rock the devastated woman until she feels Regina's body relax in her arms. "Regina," she whispers. "It's okay."
The faintest cry is heard. "Emma."
"Emma loves you so much. I see it in my daughter's eyes. I see it now and I saw it then. She's in love." Her words are observably having the desired affect. "She's home, Regina. She's here. Do you want me to get her?"
"No, please, don't," the frightened woman objects. She wouldn't dare burden the woman she abandoned, for her own comfort.
"Okay, I won't. I won't," she promptly reassures. "Regina, stay with me. Stay with me, Regina." Worried that her friend has gone somewhere horrible in her mind, Snow White quickly repeats," You're okay. You're safe. Emma's here. Your daughter is here. You're okay."
The grateful queen understands the words unspoken between them. Snow White was there when she needed a friend most. "He was right," she flatly states.
"What?" Mary Margaret only hopes that Regina isn't implying what she suspects.
"I never deserved her." Her delivery is void of emotion. She believes to her core that she deserves no forgiveness, no second chance, and, most of all, she does not deserve the love of Emma Swan.
The younger woman is noticeably frustrated that she cannot relate to Regina's feelings of guilt. Both women have led entirely different lives. Regardless of that fact, she is determined to help Regina see the truth. Though it pains her to revisit the past, the love Mary Margaret feels for her friend gives her the courage to say what she says next. "How can you believe what that inhuman monster said to you?" When Regina doesn't respond, Mary Margaret tries a more candid approach. "Regina, what happened to you was not your fault. It was a crime."
As new tears begin threatening her vision, the queen attempts to shake the awful memories from her awareness.
The younger woman's heart breaks for her friend. She places a quite hand on the older woman's shoulder. "Don't believe the lies he told you. They were lies, Regina."
The queen is, understandably, overwhelmed. With her eyes tightly shut, in an effort to battle her inner demons, she professes the undeniable truth. "You saved my life." She knows all too well, the lengths she would have gone to if she had known about her daughter. "If you had told me, I—"
Mary Margaret attempts to dissuade the unimaginable possibility. "No. I don't want to think about that." She secures the older woman in a forgiving embrace.
Regina expresses her genuine remorse. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I put you through."
The grateful woman continues to rock her cherished friend. "You don't need to apologize to me. You hurt yourself far worse than you could ever hurt me."
"I just hate myself for driving her away."
Grasping Regina's shoulders to drive the point home, Mary Margaret explains, "Listen to me. You didn't know. Okay? You never would have said those things to Emma if you had known. Plus, you were in pain. You didn't mean what you said."
Surprisingly, Regina conveys sincere confusion. "She forgave me. How could she?"
Remembering that her friend is not a forgiving person by nature and has been known to hold grudges, Snow White puts the situation into perspective. "How could you forgive her for taking your daughter away?"
A connection is made and Regina vocalizes a recent realization. "She was in pain too."
Snow White smiles in approval. "Emma loves you, Regina. Don't ever doubt that."
"I'm going to make it up to her. I promise to give her a good life," Regina vows.
"I know you will."
"I can't believe I almost lost her forever," she reflects. She is determined to never take Emma for granted again.
"But, you didn't. She's here, Regina. She came home."