Thank you for the likes, follows, and reviews in this story! They truly made me happy!

For elvenbean: The characters in this story (I get that there are major and minor roles) all contributes to the message I want this story to bear. My plans for them are (I hope) nowhere near predictable (although I can definitely say a possible reaction when I reveal them would be: "WTF is this author thinking?" hahaha). Your review is long that's why I love every single bit of it and it truly helped me as I brainstorm about the storylines of the story (you know, whether the ideas are too overdoing things or not). Thank you for reviewing!

Enjoy this chapter, guys!

Chapter 3

They went through a portal.

Or at least, that's what Regina and Henry insist it's called. For a second, Emma berated herself for actually agreeing to lead her family to their death. Nothing scared her more than looking at the swirling mass of green and black, which Emma could only describe as a black hole.

When the boat fell into the portal, she held a wailing Eliza close to her, with Hailey's arms wrapped around her waist tightly. Emma kept muttering "I'm sorry" as she honestly thought they were plunging to their death.

The next thing she knew, the ship was sailing calmly again, and Regina was kneeling in front of them.

"You all alright?" The sincerity in Regina's tone made Emma's heart clench. What was she supposed to say? Yes, they were fine… but in a few hours, maybe not in the head. Emma just nodded and rubbed her hand on Eliza's back. She felt the baby's breathing patterns and she noticed that with all the crying, Eliza fell into sleep on Emma's shoulders.

"Henry's sleeping peacefully on a compartment… would you like to put Eliza down so she can sleep comfortably? There are extra cots… we should be at the castle in about an hour and a half." Emma saw Regina look at her side and apologetically smiled. She looked at Hailey and saw that the girl was shaking.

"You wanna lie down for a while, Hails?" Emma asked softly, though, she already knows the answer. The girl nodded and shakily stood up, Regina offering an arm for support, and Emma followed the two brunettes.

Once Emma had successfully settled Eliza in her self-designed incredibly comfortable heap of blankets she brought with them (at least, she thinks that Eliza loves it) and assured herself that Hailey is now calm, she went back up to join the two adults and clear some things that extremely bother her (honestly, all of what's happening bothers her).

When she saw Regina, she immediately went beside the brunette and sat down as quietly as she could. Now that everything's calm around her, Emma finally felt the piercing pain of needles shooting all over the soles of her feet and her incredibly tense calf muscles. She groaned, slowly and carefully reaching out to relieve her feet all of the pressure it endured. It doesn't help that her work today made her walk all over the building. Oh God, her work.

"Honestly, I prefer being stabbed in the back than wear those killer shoes for 24 hours straight," Emma heard Regina say beside her. Emma just moaned (she can't believe she did it) in answer as she relieved both her feet off the heels. She wiggled those as a form of massage, stretching her legs in front of her. Emma leaned back a little with her elbows supporting more than half of her weight and tilted her head to face the sky, closing her eyes in bliss as she felt more than relaxed now that everything's somewhat peaceful.

"I could get used to sailing every once in a while," Emma muttered, completely enjoying how it's night time, so there's no sun light that makes color burst behind her eyelids. The soft rocking of the ship seems to be lulling her to sleep. No wonder why Henry slept like dead when she saw the young man sleeping in the cot beside Hailey's.

There are still lots of questions that need to be answered between all of them… but with the sudden shift of events, Emma likes to be as calm as the sea as long as she could.

Regina cleared her throat. "You might want to sit upright, Ms. Swan. You're… distracting our captain with your…" Regina once again cleared her throat.

She briefly saw Hook looking at Emma Swan appreciatively and it bothered Regina, though, she doesn't know why. She struggled not to look beside her, as seeing Emma's relaxed face and the way her body's structured right now affects her in ways she would not dare admit out loud.

When Regina saw through her peripheral vision how Emma straightened up, she finally allowed herself to face the blonde. She smirked when she saw how the blonde's cheeks were red. If she had been a few inches farther, she wouldn't have noticed any change in the blonde's face color.

"Please explain to me everything?" Emma asked suddenly. When Regina looked at those piercing green eyes, she saw nothing but desperation. Regina's breath hitched and she shifted to avoid looking at those eyes that seemed to be peeling her off layer by layer, blatantly attempting to reach her black soul.

"Keep an open mind, alright, Emma?" Regina asked, casting a short glance at the blonde. Emma barely nodded when Regina shifted her gaze towards the flood board of the ship.

"Where we are now is the Enchanted Forest. You were born here, you know?" Regina gave Emma a half smile, making the blonde shake her head in disbelief. She was about to continue (as it was more of a rhetorical question) when Emma interrupted her, starting off with an obvious bite in her tone.

"I don't think s—"

"Shut it while I tell everything?" Regina gave the blonde a slight glare. Maybe she shared more of herself to the blonde as even though Emma complied, she just raised an eyebrow at the brunette and pursed her lips, showing how displeased she was to be treated like that. It was still surreal for Regina, as she struggled to get used to the chopped blonde locks of the savior, and her face covered with light make up (some had been smudged) that made her look… quite sophisticated (not a suitable term for the person the savior was before).

The real Emma would have just glared at her and clenched her jaw, huffed and crossed her arms over her leather jacket.

"The only thing I could tell you right now is that, a year and a half ago, you were living with us in Storybrooke, Maine."

"That doesn't exist—"

"Em-ma."

"Alright."

"Peter Pan cast a curse a year and a half ago that sent everyone in Storybrooke back here in the Enchanted Forest. Henry wasn't born in here so logically, he would be left there. Since you're the savior, and you're capable to stay there and take care of Henry, I gave you your memories, a gift, that would make it seem as if you're really the one who raised him. I rewrote everything; starting from the moment you gave birth to him and actually held him, instead of refusing then giving him up.

"Before the curse took over, you drove with Henry to the town line and something apparently went wrong. When we were back here, I had Henry beside me. When you told Henry that you lost him, Henry and I had no clue what happened. The curse probably made a few changes so you could adapt with what happened. Hence, your memories of losing Henry… it makes sense as I gave you memories of raising him, making it seem like he existed—"

"Stop." Regina didn't notice how the other woman was trembling. Her hands were on her head, and she seems to be struggling to grasp everything Regina was saying. Regina kept quiet, looking cautiously at the blonde.

"That's bullshit. You're saying I gave Henry up? I wouldn't do that to my child. I promised myself I wouldn't abandon him like I was abandoned by my parents." Emma looked up at Regina and her eyes were full of accusation and anger… might as well. She was to blame for Emma being an orphan, wasn't she?

"Emma, calm down—"

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down! I can't believe this. I can't believe you. Yeah, I can somehow be convinced that you're practically telling me fairytales are true and so is magic, but you can never make me believe that I would give up my own son. I'd go to hell before you can stick it in my throat that I abandoned him and left him for adoption," Emma spat out. She turned around and walked towards were the younger ones were resting.

Regina sighed.

She should warn Snow and David immediately that nothing there is they could do to fix the situation—may Emma remember or not. Either she does or not, everything would certainly go downhill. Imagining Emma remembering everything… Regina isn't entirely sure but that might just be the blonde's undoing.

Emma sat down on the little space in Henry's cot and just stared at him.

Her heart was breaking because of what Regina said. How could I give him up?

It breaks her heart more that she thinks there could be a slight chance that all of what Regina said is true. Actually, with that being true, a lot of things could be explained: Why she suddenly had a change of heart about keeping Henry and how suddenly, being an 18-year old and out of jail, it became easy to support all of Henry's basic needs.

But no. Emma couldn't just bear the thought of this child, in front of her, the one whom she has memories of raising for 10 years, was really a child she abandoned. She refuses to believe that those 10 colorful years of being with Henry and filling her heart and life with only Henry's love were really 10 years of fending for herself and living alone.

"Mom?" Henry was awakened with the comforting light touches he felt on his forehead. He cracked his eyes open and there was a blurry outline of his blonde mother, sitting beside him. "Are we there yet?"

His vision of his younger mother slowly started to get clearer as he tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes. It's hard to adjust when it was night time. It just became clear enough to see that his mom was crying. It became more obvious when Emma reached out to wipe her cheeks.

"Maybe in a few minutes… why don't you go back to sleep? I'll sing to you…or no…" Emma's sudden change of mind made Henry panicky. It was so sudden that the onslaught of sadness Emma packed in one word hit him hard. Henry got comfortable in his cot once again and pulled the blankets back up his chest. He had never heard his blonde mother sing, and the supposed memories the curse should have given to him were hard to access. It was like the dreamscape now; he can only access it when he's in a deep sleep or when he had gone deeper to his thoughts.

Emma didn't raise him, and he regrets it so much that he missed the one chance of actually experiencing what it was like. He's still thankful to be raised by his other mom, and he feels so bad about this, but he would trade a great deal just to feel, for once, what it's like when it's Emma who tucks him in. How does it feel like when Emma's like Regina, the mother who sang him to sleep, who rubbed his back softly (until now) because it's the one thing that makes him sleep no matter how hyped he is?

"No, mom. Sing to me, please?" He smiled back when Emma grinned at him widely. It was a different image for Henry: besides her look, Emma's smile was still the same yet those eyes held more than they had before Pan's curse. Henry turned away from Emma, offering his back. And, as if it was really a normal thing for them, Emma's hand started to rub his back softly while humming the lullaby Regina used to sing to him when he was younger.

Right before Henry succumbed to sleep, he saw series of memories with Emma when he was still younger: Emma carrying his groggy state to his room after a night of having a movie marathon, Emma playing with him in the park, Emma tucking him in, Emma singing to him, Emma telling him stories.

He went back to sleep with a smile, overly satisfied with the comfort of the images he had just seen… and felt. He enjoyed having the feeling, the memories, of being raised by both Regina and Emma. It felt as if all his life, the three of them were a family. It felt right just thinking of that.

He might be in need of planning a new operation.

They entered the castle.

Emma didn't exactly know what she was expecting. When she thinks of kings and queens in fairytales, she immediately thinks of moats and dark hallways.

When they entered the castle, the first thing Emma noticed was the polished walls and not… brick walls. There was certainly electricity, hence the fluorescent lamps that lighted the hallways. It was as if they were just walking inside a larger-than-life-itself mansion.

Eliza squirmed in her arms, making Emma smile. The baby was still sleeping and Emma could say, having the most comfortable sleep of her life. When she lifted Eliza from the heap of blankets, she expected the child to squirm and wail then wake up. No, the baby just sighed (which was so cute, as it came out as a baby sigh and anything described as "baby" is cute) and dropped her still-heavier-than-she-could-manage head on Emma's shoulders.

Regina said Emma could just follow Hook out of the ship and the brunette would take care of all their things. Emma eventually agreed and not even five minutes later, Regina was following them, not even out of breath from actually arranging all their things (which, the helpers would carry to the castle) which made Emma very confused.

Right when they entered a hall (a bit smaller than Harry Potter's great hall), Emma heard Hailey gasp beside her. Truth to be told, Emma thinks it was as if they were "abducted" (she's still learning how to deal with the story Regina and that… Hook had just handed to her and her family) to be taken to a place where they can absolutely sniff luxury life and eat with golden spoons. If she were still in doubts that these people were fairytale characters, this big-ass mansion-slash-castle suffices her demands for proof.

"Emma!" Emma heard someone squeal as soon as they covered at least one eighth of the hall.

That was enough to wake Eliza and have her cry her life out.

Snow flinched at the glare Regina threw at her.

Emma gave her a smaller one. That wasn't the reason why Snow felt like she was punched in the gut. The look Emma gave her; it was as if Snow was a stranger who insanely shouted at Emma's kids in the playground. For Emma to look at her without any recognition, it killed her.

"I-I'm sorry." Snow took a glance at her husband, who was standing beside her while resting a hand on the small of her back.

"Just please be considerate… next time?" Regina smirked as the bite in the blonde's tone was obvious to anyone who has ears. For Emma to say that to her mother (though, with the consideration of the blonde not knowing that the lady was her mother), it was probably close to what The Evil Queen considered her happy ending… before.

"Uh… Regina, where can we rest for the… rest of the night?" Emma asked in a quiet voice, desperately trying to calm Eliza's obvious display of discomfort. She was rocking back and forth and kept kissing the baby's temple. Despite being fuzzy, Eliza managed to calm Emma's erratic nerves. The pregnant woman's presence bothered her a lot, though she doesn't completely know why, Emma just resolved to the fact that that woman was the reason for Eliza's unceasing and loud cries.

As everyone was either shocked or amused (e.g. Regina) with the small yet tense exchange that transpired, nobody noticed how Henry was glaring at crying baby.

Nobody noticed, except for a smirking Hailey, how Eliza could have calmed down minutes ago, had it not been for Henry making scary faces when Eliza's gaze would meet his.

"I suppose the rooms are ready, Snow?" Regina raised an eyebrow. The princess-turned-queen nodded, still keeping weary eyes towards Emma. The blonde made it a point to ignore her, just rocking and whispering things to the baby.

"Follow me." Regina walked out of the hall, fully aware of the couple of footsteps following her. Thank goodness, she was right in front, as no one would be able to see how she was biting her lip to stop herself from laughing. It was truly a delight for her to see the horror that dawned on Snow and Charming's face when Emma snapped at them. It wasn't a snap (because, damn it, there was a "please") but it was a close one and it satisfied Regina.

Truly, she didn't know what she should expect when Hook told her that the Charmings all but demanded them to first take a stop at the dining hall before heading to the rooms. What had transpired had been something she didn't know she dreamt of happening until now.

"Regina, Hailey and Eliza will stay in the same room with me, alright?" Though Emma's voice was soft, it came to Regina as a demand. She turned and opened her mouth, but she then tried to think quickly and put herself on Emma's place.

She, then, nodded. Regina figured that a few troubles of actually putting another bed in a room and moving things would be much more preferred compared to putting another thing on the list of Emma's reasons why she shouldn't trust them.

Plus, it was for a fact that Snow White arranged the rooms herself ("for her daughter") and for them to be ruined… wow, Regina thought, the odds are certainly making up to me.

Emma chose to watch the helpers move another bed to the larger room provided for them and stand on the hallway (Regina refused to just magic things, even though it would be easier… plus, she was tired) so they could immediately enter as soon as they're done, and… God, rest.

"So, how far along is she?" Emma asked, filling up the silence as she continued to rock side to side (thankfully, Eliza "calmed" down). She put on a stoic face, even though there's a constant hollow feeling in her stomach thinking about that pregnant woman. Something was amiss.

Emma managed to suppress a groan when she suddenly felt—or finally acknowledged—how her feet were on fire and her calf muscles just… disappeared, making it feel like her leg is cramping.

"She could give birth any time now," Regina said, casting a brief glance towards the blonde. Regina cringed as she saw Emma's gritted teeth. She could assume that the blonde was unconsciously affected by Snow's predicament… yet she also noticed how Emma kept raising her legs subtly and alternately. "You want me to hold Eliza?"

Regina knows their conversation in the Jolly Roger was still fresh in Emma's memory. All of them were really doing well gaining Emma's trust. So, she wasn't surprised when the blonde shook her head.

"That explains why she woke my daughter up by shouting without thinking. Or, is she always like that? Tell me that it's just because of her hormones. I'd honestly worship the ground you walk on if you tell me you live here with her." Regina finally let out the laugh she'd been holding off for quite some time.

It seems as though she poured her all to Emma.

"I do live with her here. Though, my quarter is on the opposite wing as them. I made sure of that." Regina did her best to stop herself from blatantly encouraging Emma's distaste towards her mother. It was innate, though, her hatred for Snow White. It was as if some kind of recessive gene became dominant inside her and just… stayed dominant.

"Good for you."

The helpers told them that the room was ready.

"Thank god!" Hailey was the first to go inside. She may be the sweetest and kindest girl, but Emma knows how much the teenager turns into a beast when she's sleep deprived. She followed the girl with a chuckle.

"Tired, Hails?" Emma asked, immediately becoming aware of the brunette following her.

"No, I'm sick of watching you being all domestic with that woman." Emma's eyes went big. She knows Hailey tried to soften the blow, but she understood what Hailey was saying. The teenager using the word "domestic" was close to her saying the word "flirting."

That was not flirting.

God, that girl needs to go out more. She turned to look at Regina.

"Excuse her, she's… anti-social." Emma cringed, hating using the word to describe Hailey even though that was the truth. There was a small smile on Regina's face, making the blonde raise her brow. She turned back and went further in the room.

"Uh… you'll be okay if I leave? There'd be guards outside your room, just tell them whatever you need." Emma nodded. She looked around and noticed how all of their things were already inside. She turned to Regina and saw that the brunette was turning to leave.

"Is Henry's room just near?" Emma asked quickly. The brunette turned and nodded. Emma nodded back, the awkward atmosphere settling in the room. "Wait for a second, alright?"

Regina nodded. She watched Emma get the heap of blankets (still not removing her heels) and then placed them on the bed (obviously avoiding Regina's requested crib). She made the same blanket arrangement she made back at the cabin in Hook's ship. After placing Eliza, drinking milk from a baby bottle, she removed her heels (finally), pulled out a pair of slippers from one of their bags (Emma hates how cold the floor could be, thus, wearing slippers) and gestured for Regina to follow her outside.

She really had outdone herself when she was giving Emma and Henry their happy ending. She was so desperate for Henry to have the good memories she worked so damn hard on the first years of his life that she had completely altered Emma's genetic makeup.

Now the blonde is completely like her. Had it not been for their differences in appearance, there would be another Regina on the loose.

The blonde didn't find it odd that she just regally gestured Regina to follow her. It made Regina clench her jaw in annoyance. Despite this, she waited for the blonde patiently.

Emma doesn't get to just… order her around.

Regina complied with a quiet growl and slammed the door shut… quietly (only she can do that). She crossed her arms and glared at the blonde (who was also sporting the same stance). She noticed how the guards were not by the door, probably waved off by the blonde.

"I want to apologize for how I lashed out on you a while ago at the… ship. Though I meant what I said, it's still wrong to shout at you like that. I'm…" Emma took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"I understand, Emma." Regina gave the blonde a small smile. "It's not every day someone tells you all these things. I know you're drained with all the things that that had transpired. How about you take a rest and we'll talk about all of these tomorrow morning? Maybe you could… look at things differently with a fresh mind? Your mind's probably messed up especially after being on those heels for the whole day."

It's unlike Regina to be… the talkative one in a conversation. Emma Swan is now a lot like me… god, am I turning to Emma Swan?!

But, at least, it got her a small but genuine laugh from the blonde.

"Maybe. I get to…" the blonde looked at her cautiously. "I get to spend time with Henry tomorrow, right?" With things now settling down, Regina felt possessiveness waking in her bones. She gave the blonde a small nod and smile.

You're changing, Regina. For Henry.

"Good night, Ms. Swan." Regina turned around before she could do anything other than be accommodating to the blonde.