Picked it up right where I left off! Lots and lots and lots and lots of anger between these two ;) I hope you enjoy it and please review!
Regina closed her eyes and let out a long breath through her nose as she raised her hand and pressed her finger and thumb to either one of her temples in an attempt to ward off the oncoming headache. As she lowered her hand, rubbing it over her mouth and jaw, she felt a hand hold her waist and she glanced down to find that it was just a hand and when she turned to look to her other side where the pressure grew she found Henry. He leaned up against her with one arm around her back and she smiled a little and rested her hand on his shoulder.
"Snow," she started with a little more than a hint of frustration and the girl's eyes shot to her, "common courtesy is that you knock and wait patiently for someone to come and open the door for you. Not come barging in like some raging animal; I raised you better than that."
Henry scrunched his nose a little, partially in amusement because it was strange to think on how his mother had also raised his grandmother making her his great grandmother as well as his mother. He had decided to take the 'step' out of her title as mother. She was his mother and he was working on making their relationship better.
"Really, Regina?" David sighed as he walked in to the foyer and cut off Snow's sharp retaliation, "you couldn't just ask her to knock next time? You had to insult her as well?"
Regina shrugged a little and looked back to Snow, "only because it was needed."
Snow scowled at Regina but prioritized her arguments and motioned to Cora, "how long has she been here?! How long have you been here?!" She turned to Cora and Cora shrugged slowly.
"I've been in here in the home not twenty four hours. I arrived in this town the night before last."
"And you didn't think to tell anyone that she was here?!" Snow exclaimed and waved her hands around furiously.
"Why are you here?" Regina asked smoothly and Snow let out a low laugh.
"No, no, we are not changing the subject! Why is she here?!"
"She is here to make amends," Regina answered plainly.
Snow dropped her head back in a single breathy laugh before she looked back at Regina and spoke with absolute exasperation, "do not tell me you are falling for that! I mean god, Regina! I get that you are desperate for love no matter how twisted or untrue but you are smarter than this! Falling under her manipulation again?! And allowing Henry to be in her company as well?!"
Regina stepped out of Henry's hold on her despite his silent request for her to stay when he hooked a couple of his fingers in to a front pocket of her black trousers. She walked down the stairs and forced Snow to step down off them as well before she stopped in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw David walk across the foyer and heard him speak a few quiet words to Henry before taking him away so he didn't have to watch. Rage was curling back her top lip as she leaned forward right in to Snow's personal space, "you barge carelessly in to my home without invitation and then proceed to call me stupid and all without fear of consequence. Perhaps I should remind you of your place, princess," she hissed but Snow did not back down.
"You have no power over me," she snarled and Regina's vicious mouth started to curl into a wickedly amused smile as she bared her teeth. "You are nothing but a pretty face who keeps falling for the same tricks. You are an entitled bitch who takes what she pleases and then tosses it away when its use is fulfilled. Careless. Greedy. Spiteful. Foolish. Heartless."
It had been a long time since she had participated in such an angered argument. The girl had no idea what she was getting in to, "says the child who got a man killed and broke the spirit of a young woman all so she could have a mother to replace the once she lost," she grinned cruelly with her slow smooth voice and a slow tilt of her head as Snow's nostrils flared furiously, "falling victim to Cora's same false kindness that you reprimand me for accepting," the corners of her mouth curled just a little higher, "pot calling the kettle black."
Snow's eyes moved furiously back and forth between Regina's arrogant dark eyes and then she snapped. She gripped Regina just below her shoulders and turned her, slamming her back hard against the wall but Regina merely laughed and Snow growled furiously, "I am nothing like you!"
"You are not handling your loss very well," Regina grinned as she leaned forward only to be slammed back down, "you are feeling the hatred and rage consume you, aren't you. It's dark and it hurts but you just can't stop," she laughed viciously and Snow's fingers dug in to her arms just below her shoulders, "it is consuming you but you just don't know how to make back it out."
"Stop it!" She yelled and pulled her off the wall just so she could slam her back against it. She only continued to grin with arrogance.
"You lost me to your inability to stay loyal and I am not coming back, you put your baby girl in a tree and sent her off to some random land! An infant! You left her alone! She did not end up on the side of the road, she landed in the middle of a god damn forest!" She laughed in her face and Snow lashed out once again but she didn't care, "your precious Blue Fairy lied to you! Two could travel through that portal! Emma should have died because of your blind faith and hope! But no. No now she is all grown up. She grew up without you," she grinned and Snow's tears pooled in her furious eyes, "she grew up hating you. Confused as to why she was discarded on the side of a road in the middle of the night. Left to freeze and starve if she was not hit by a passing vehicle first!"
Snow let out a violent scream and shook Regina again but still she only laughed in sick amusement and got back in her face, "you did it to save everyone right? Was it worth it? Was it worth letting your daughter suffer alone and unwanted? Was it?! Has she forgiven you?!"
"Shut up!" She screamed and shook her again but couldn't get another word in before Regina's cruel voice was heard again.
"You don't even have David anymore! Your true love left you!" She laughed in twisted excitement and successfully fought Snow's strength so she could get right in her face, "he left you for me no less! Your precious Prince Charming is sleeping in my bed," she grinned and Snow tried once again to push her back against the wall but Regina stood steadily, "your dear, dear husband is whispering sweet things in my ear now, kissing me now, tearing off my clothes now, he is loving me now, and you can't stand it!"
"I am going to kill you!" She screamed and went for her throat but Regina had her firmly pinned first against the opposite wall. Her hands were around her throat as she leaned in close so her face was mere inches from her own, her grin feral as Snow tried to rip the woman's hands from her neck.
"You killed me the moment you broke your promise to me," she whispered slowly and harshly, pinning Snow down harder when she tried to push her off.
He tore her off of Snow furiously and pointed to the door as she snarled back at him, "take a walk!" He yelled in her face and caught her momentary thought to fight him in her raging temper but she backed down and walked to and out the front door, slamming it behind her without so much as a glance back over her shoulder. The house was filled with a tense silence for a few seconds and he was only further infuriated by Snow's voice.
"David-"
"No!" He snapped as he turned to face her and took half a step toward her, "this is getting way out of hand! Stop provoking her, this is not her fault! I chose her! I know that that is hard! I know that it makes no sense! I know that she can be a raging psychopath! I know that you still don't understand why I bother-!"
"No that is where you are wrong! I know exactly why you bother! I know who she can be! What I don't understand is how you chose! What in the hell possessed you to pick that woman over me!"
"Snow I am not going to stand here and list off reasons why I chose her. I fell in love with her and I can't let it go. I tried to get over it, I tried to come back to you but for every reason I came up with to leave her I had two to stay. I don't know what it is about her that has me so enthralled, I haven't figured it out yet but she drives me absolutely crazy. I am not coming back to you, Snow. I am too selfish," he gave his head a single shake as he held her eye as she shook her head with a pained laugh and folded her arms across her chest while she fought back her tears.
Her voice was slow, shaky, and quiet as she shifted her weight on to one foot, "selfish. Yes I'd say that that is quite accurate. Quite accurate indeed."
He nodded a little at her and then looked to the door and back to her, "I think you should go. And I don't think you should come back to this house unless your intentions are to act civil and you at least call to let her know you're coming. She's hard enough to keep calm as it is, I don't need both you and Cora setting her off," he instructed firmly but not harshly and when Snow flicked her attention behind her to Cora, his voice was heard again, "she's fine. Everything in this household was fine until you walked through that door."
"You have no idea what you have gotten yourself in to. The two of them together-"
"Snow there is nothing I can do to get rid of her. The safest place for her to be is right here in this house. I have Regina under control but she can't help but fight you when you provoke her like that! She loves watching you fall apart and will take extraordinary measures to do so when given the chance. So stop giving her the opportunity to tear you limb from limb and leave this house."
Snow shook her head at him and she continued shaking it as she turned to leave, opening the door and closing it a little too loudly behind her. Anger, sorrow, heartbreak, worry, and even a little bit of fear plagued her mind and body as she walked down the front path. As she opened and closed the iron gate she halfheartedly mused that perhaps she would come across Regina so she could run her down in her car.
David let out a long breath at the door and when he turned around and walked back up the stairs to the foyer he examined Cora who stood in the same place she had been when the whole ordeal sparked and still she hadn't said so much as a word. "You are the only one with any sense in this damn house," he shook his head and she gave him a small but defiant smile.
"Bowing my head. Biting my tongue."
Her sharp tone nearly made him snap back at her but he let it go because she was in fact doing as she was asked, "good," he nodded simply and held her eye contact for a moment longer before he turned and walked upstairs to have a shower and before he found and confronted Regina.
...
"I know," he nodded even though she couldn't see it and brought his legs up on to the couch and rested his chin on his knees, "I didn't mean to scare you guys."
"I know that, kid...why'd you go over there in the middle of the night anyway?"
"I just wanted to talk to her that's all..."
"About what?"
"Just her...and me..." He answered in to the phone as he played with the hem of his pants.
"You get to talk much yet?"
"No not yet really. Snow kinda came in and made mum mad. I actually think David kicked them both out of the house to calm down after he set me up in here with you. I can't hear much with the door closed," he shrugged and then snapped his attention to the living room door when it opened.
"I told her not to go over there."
"Well she didn't listen to you," Henry answered in disinterest as he kept his gaze on Cora as she walked in to the room with her head cocked.
"Who didn't listen to me? I don't recall telling anyone to do anything," Cora shook her head in confusion and Henry scrunched his face in similar confusion.
"What are you talking about?" He shook his head and then started laughing a little, "oh, no, I'm not talking to you."
"What?"
"Sorry. Talking to someone else," Henry laughed quietly in to the phone and watched Cora take a step closer as she squinted her eyes in confusion.
"Who?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm talking to my other mom," he explained but Cora simply shook her head, "cause Regina adopted me? And right now I'm talking to my mom that had me and put me up for adoption."
"...how?"
"Kid, who are you talking to?"
Henry breathed out a chuckle at Emma's amused tone and answered her, "I'm talking to my other grandma."
Cora furrowed her brow and shook her head, unsure about how she felt just yet about being called a grandmother, "that is not what I asked you."
"...your other grandma."
Henry nodded at Emma's dumbfounded statement and laughed quietly at Cora's confusion, "I'm talking to you and Emma at the same time and that time I was answering Emma. This is a phone," he lifted it from his ear a little so Cora could see it and she stepped closer and leaned down to examine it. "You speak in to the bottom and hear the person's reply in the top," he smiled in amusement as she was only washed over with further confusion.
"How?"
"Signals and waves and stuff. Not all that sure really," he shrugged and put the phone back to his ear and after a moment of pause he heard her again.
"Your other grandma."
"Mhm. Regina's mom."
"...Regina's mom."
"My mum was pretty sure she was dead because she had sent Captain Hook to kill her but it turns out she's still alive and Captain Hook switched sides and allied with Cora instead."
"...what?!"
"It's a crazy story I know. Gets even crazier!"
"Kid, I don't even want to know. I'm still trying to cope with the fact that all of these people are fairytale characters."
"I do not understand this phone."
Henry chuckled at her with a shake of his head and then Emma was heard once again.
"She's not going to hurt you or anything is she?"
"Doubt it. Mum would kill her on the spot if she laid a finger on me."
"I can confirm that statement wholeheartedly," Cora nodded as she walked in front of Henry.
"Well that's...reassuring...I guess..."
"Yeah they don't get a long. At all. Pretty sure my mum just about killed her this morning."
"Alright I get that your mom's really hot blooded but killing her own mother seems a little out there."
"Emma's having doubts that my mum will kill you," Henry stated as he turned to face Cora who had seated herself on the other end of the couch, "wanna reassure her?" He smirked playfully as he reached his arm forward so the phone was closer to her.
Cora looked at the phone and then at Henry before looking back at the phone and spoke matter-of-factly, "my daughter would tear my throat out with her bare hands if I were to cause any harm or misfortune to Henry."
Henry nodded his thanks and returned the phone to his ear, "see? Nothing to worry about."
"Henry I-I don't even...know how to respond to that!"
"My mum is like a big bear, that's all. She's all big and scary and could easily kill you but she's all warm and fuzzy for the ones she cares about and protects. I'm totally safe here."
"This town is insane, I liked it better when everyone was cursed."
"I like it better this way," he laughed and Emma gave a small whimper before he heard what sounded like her dropping her head on to the table, "way more interesting."
"You promise me you'll call or come running if things get out of hand over there?"
"Promise."
"Good."
"I'll see you later."
"Yes please."
"Bye, Emma," he laughed in to the phone and Cora watched him curiously.
"Bye, kid."
With that Henry hung up the phone and then dropped his head so his cheek rested on his knees and his eyes were focused on Cora. She was still dressed in clothes from the Enchanted Forest. Black leather pants, black leather boots, and a loosely fitted white shirt that was much like the ones Prince Charming wore in the book and she wore it tucked in to her pants. "You should get some new clothes," he stated absentmindedly, "ones from this world so you don't stand out so much."
"Noted," she nodded simply and looked the boy over. "How do you get along with Regina so well?"
Henry shrugged a little but didn't move anymore than that, "I don't know. We've always gotten along really well. Well for a little while I pushed her away because I thought she didn't love me and I was angry because I was certain she was lying to me. It got worse when I read the book Snow gave me during the curse. She made me feel like I was crazy when she put me in therapy but now I know that she had herself forget about her worries when she adopted me. A potion or something. So forgetting her worries included most of the curse itself which meant that she really didn't know what was going on with me. Combine that confusion with that fact that she doesn't exactly know how to love properly, she didn't do anything wrong really. And now I'm trying to make it up to her."
"...how?"
"Well I'm gonna talk to her first. She likes to talk," he smiled and then shook his head as his smile grew a little wider, "but not when she's furious or upset. When she's upset she likes to be quiet and when she's angry she likes to plot and scheme and make other people angry too. But any other time she does like to talk. After talking to her I guess I'll just go from there," he shrugged with a smile and Cora mulled it over.
Feeling rather desperate asking a little boy for help, Cora cocked her head and looked down at her hands for a few seconds before looking back to Henry, "if you were in my place...where would you start?"
Henry paused for a moment and then repositioned himself so he sat sideways on the couch cross legged and facing Cora, "I don't exactly believe that you are here to make up with my mom. I don't really trust you I just trust that you aren't going to hurt me. And with the way I've watched mum interact with you I'm not convinced I should tell you everything so I'm not going to. But I figure I should give you something before the two of you start another fight when no one's around to pull you apart."
With an understanding nod, Cora smiled a little in quiet thanks, "something is better than nothing."
"You just have to let her be mad. Stop making it worse by pushing her buttons and just let her be mad. She'll run out of anger toward you at some point if you just let her get it all out without giving her more reasons to be mad at you."
"Funny, David gave me quite similar instructions this morning."
"Well then I guess David knows her too..."
She took his less than enthusiastic tone as that he didn't so much approve of Regina and David. "You want to show me this phone?" She offered and he looked down at the phone in his hand thoughtfully before he moved a little closer to her.