Soooooo the dinner fiasco was supposed to be in this chapter but then I got a little carried away lol so I had to split it in to two chapters. The next one is finished and will be posted tomorrow probably :) so you guys won't have to wait too long! Now I personally do not think Regina was raped by Leopold but for the purposes of this story she was and I have been asked before how she could be so comfortable with sex now if she had been so fucked up in the head after Leopold. You guys get your answer now. Please leave a review and let me know what you think! The fun/what the fuck Emily, happens in the next chapter lol! So stay tuned!
-Tuesday-
"Mom."
"Yes Henry?"
"...can you tell me what Emma hasn't told me yet?" He asked with a troubled and thoughtful frown, unsure if he really wanted the answer yet as he walked up behind his mother.
Regina took a deep breath as she finished packing his lunch for school and then turned around with an open but serious expression, "are you certain you want me to answer that?"
"...no," he huffed frustratedly and looked down at the floor, "but I want to know."
"You will know soon enough, dear," she assured gently and bent down so she could run her fingers through his hair above his ear, smiling a little when he tilted his head in to her touch before her fingers came to a rest beneath his chin. With the smallest increase of pressure beneath his chin he looked up at her with a small frown and she nodded her head, "I need for you to keep an open mind alright?"
"Okay."
"And I need for you to not shut us all out."
"Okay."
"Things are going to change and you need to talk to us. Understand?"
"Yes mom. I understand," he nodded and she nodded as well before she took her fingers from her chin and handed him his lunch. But before he took it he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her chest. She was warm around him and her hum resonated in her chest as she kissed the top of his head and her familiar perfume filled his nose as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I love you, mom."
"I love you too, sweetheart."
...
She was deeply invested in her reading when her phone rang. The vibration of it against the glass top of her desk caused her to jump a little before she rolled her eyes and lifted her phone to her ear, "hello."
"I'm gonna do it."
Emma. "What are you going to do?"
"Talk to Neal..."
"Ah..." Regina nodded as she sat back in her chair, "and yet you are calling me?"
"I just...wanted like...moral support...and stuff..."
"...you want me there when you tell him?" She furrowed her brow as her voice lowered its tone in her confusion.
"Yes. Please. Plus you can keep us on track because I am really quite sure that things will get out of hand if we don't stay focused on Henry."
Regina frowned as she watched her pen move as she tapped it against the paper in front of her in a steady and even rhythm. She had never been asked to be someone's moral support or mediator. She was rather stuck on how to respond. She was the one that pushed everything in to chaos. Not the one to calm the storm. After a few moments of silence Emma's slightly panicked voice was heard through the phone.
"Regina? You still there?"
"Yes."
"He's very much your son too. I thought you may want to be here to put in your two cents if needed. But above all I really don't want to go in to this without backup. Will you please come to the station?"
With a long conceding breath and a more sympathetic frown she nodded once and began aimlessly doodling on a notepad, "alright."
"Thank you, Regina."
Regina nodded again at the sigh of relief that came with those words and she couldn't help but try to figure out when exactly she and Miss Swan had become so important to one another, "I'll be there in just a moment," she replied and then hung up before she could hear the woman's reply because she was already far out of her element when it came to such conversations. She didn't want to be more uncomfortable than she already was.
With a soft clearing of her throat she put her phone in her blazer pocket and stood from her chair. With a tug of her lapels and a flick of her hair she engulfed herself in purple and when she emerged she was in Granny's Inn outside of Neal's door. She could hear them in there laughing about something and it had her rolling her eyes as she knocked on the door. The laughter didn't disappear until the door was opened and Neal stood before her.
"Well Regina. You certainly know how to wear a three piece suit," he smirked as he looked her up and down.
"I have been told such things," she smiled and it was an honest smile because she did like this man and she did enjoy their flirtatious banter, "however as much as I would love to show you what other things I know how to wear," she nodded forward once and Neal laughed quietly under his breath, "I am here on important business."
"Well that is certainly a shame. I have heard rumours that her majesty is quite adventurous when she is in nothing at all," he teased with a playful smirk and her eyes lit up with the game as she bit back a wide grin. Platonic banter was so much fun with this woman. She had no lines to be crossed, "but of course you are here on important business," he smirked as he leaned against the door frame and could feel Tamara rolling her eyes at him. But his attention was on the brilliant dark eyes of the queen he felt should smile at every chance she got after what his father did to her. So make her smile he shall.
"Yes. Important family business," she elaborated and watched as Neal crossed his jaw so she titled her head with a small smile, "I'm afraid it has nothing to do with your father," she added and his brow furrowed in confusion, "come."
Curiosity peaked, Neal pushed himself up off the doorframe and turned back in to the room to grab his jacket and kiss Tamara's cheek, "I'll be right back."
"You trust her?"
"With my life," he smiled knowing he had indeed earned himself a place in the woman's mind of people she cared about. Even if he was at the bottom of her list, he knew she was not indifferent about him. "Do not focus so closely on her title. There are two sides to every story and in her mind she was the hero of hers until she realized she was wrong," he smiled and then stood up straight and turned back to Regina. Her expression could only mean that she had overheard and the thoughtful and contemplative look on her face only made him smile as he walked up to her, "lead the way."
"We shan't be walking far," she shook her head and walked a few steps from the door and when it was clicked shut she enveloped the both of them in purple smoke and when it cleared she was still walking and opening the door to the sheriff's station. She paused him though as she held the door for him and he stopped beside her to listen, "please do try to keep a level head. And please do not hold it against her for waiting so long. She's heard it enough from me I'm sure," she looked up at him and he frowned curiously at her before nodding and walking in to the building.
-Wednesday-
"Are you going to tell me now?" Henry asked as Cora opened the door to the sheriff's station.
"Emma wants to speak to you. So we are stopping here before I take you home."
"Is she going to tell me what's going on with Neal? Cause I used my second asking opportunity with mom over lunch. I only have one more and I'm still not sure if I want to hear it from her or Emma..."
"She didn't say what she wanted you for. Just that she needed to speak with you," she nodded and Henry huffed as he walked beside her. She didn't tell him though that she had her suspicions that that was exactly what Emma wished to talk about. Her heart ached for the boy though if it was the case. And sure enough when they stepped over the threshold in to the office both Emma and Neal were there speaking quietly to one another.
Emma snapped her attention up when she saw movement in the corner of her eye and felt sick to her stomach when she saw Henry. "Thank you, Cora."
Cora simply nodded and gave Henry a gentle nudge forward and the boy complied and walked toward Emma.
"I used my two safe asks on mom. If I ask her again she'll tell me the truth of what you're keeping a secret."
Emma smiled a little and felt her chest tighten a little at the fact that even when she wasn't aware, Regina was still moving pieces for her and working with her. And then she pulled Henry in to a hug because she really didn't want to screw up what they had. "I'm going to tell you," she whispered in his hair and held him tight.
"Okay," he agreed but wasn't all that sure he was in a rush to know the answer. When he caught Neal's eye the man was looking at him but it was different. Henry couldn't say what it was but it was strange. Gently Emma pushed him from her and he let go of her but she kept her hands on him.
"Henry I knew Neal before he came to Storybrooke. Turns out he is very well travelled and I didn't know until he showed up here. I truly never thought I would see him again. I was angry and hurt and didn't want to see him again. He abandoned me when I needed him most but what I didn't know was that he did it all so that I could come here and find my family and break the curse. It was all already mapped out for me and Neal was overstepping so he left. He could have left in a better fashion but he did what he could."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you need a back story, Henry," she pushed out with a smile and felt her throat tighten with the desire to cry, "I loved Neal very much. We were going to run away together and start over but then he left and sent the police after me and I ended up in jail," she explained and watched a piece fall in to place in Henry's mind and his face sobered just a fraction for he knew he had been born in jail. "Henry I told you your father had died because to me he had. I told you he was a fire fighter because I wanted you to have a hero. I told you I worked at a diner because I didn't want you to know that I didn't have a home or a job. We were both simply thieves who slept in the bug or recently vacated motel rooms."
She shook her head and Henry started shaking his head too but he didn't pull away which really did surprise her. "Henry...Neal is your father," she pushed out and felt her tears fall down her cheeks as she tilted her head and Henry shook his head a little harder and glanced at Neal and then back to her.
He felt his whole world come crashing down around him and found it hard to breathe as Emma ran her fingers through his hair above his ear. He couldn't speak. He didn't know what to say. What could he say?
"Henry please say something," she begged in a whisper and he shook his head once more.
"My mom told me not to blow things out of proportion and shut everyone out. She told me not to run off. She told me to keep an open mind," he shook his head and felt his chest tighten with the desire to cry as he looked in to Emma's teary eyes, "but I really really just want to go home."
Swallowing back her cries, Emma nodded and leaned forward to kiss his forehead and he let her and she whispered, "okay."
"Thank you," Henry whispered and then turned away from her as he walked away. He couldn't look at Neal and he didn't look at Cora but he was incredibly comforted by the the hand she placed on his shoulder as he passed with his head hung. She was not one to touch people often but she was getting much better at noticing when a person needed support and it pushed tears to his eyes to be comforted by her.
"Henry," Neal called quietly as he tried to follow him but the boy didn't so much as pause to look his way, "Henry," he called again but soon the brunette that had brought the boy to the office had cut him off. She stood in front of him with such power and aggression that it froze him in his tracks as he looked back and forth between deadly dark eyes that dared him to take another step.
"Don't bother, Neal," Emma breathed out in an exhausted voice and turned away from him and Cora, "she'll sooner have you skinned alive than let you go after Henry without him asking for you," she ran her hands up through her hair and walked to the window just as the infamous black Mercedes pulled up in front of the station and Regina stepped out of it. The brunette gave a sad smile and a cock of her head and soon Henry had run in to her arms and held her tight and she wrapped herself around him. Not a word was spoken. Regina simply knew. It had tears rolling down Emma's cheeks again because she could not have asked for a better mother for Henry than Regina.
...
The first thing Henry saw when his mother drove up to the house was David's truck in the driveway. He loved that truck. His mother hadn't said anything on the drive and neither did he. He was grateful for it, grateful for her, grateful for the fact that she knew him so well. He just didn't want to speak. She put the car in park and turned the keys from the engine but he didn't move until she reached over to him and wiped a tear away from his cheek that he didn't know was there. He sniffed softly and leaned in to her touch and while he didn't look at her he knew she was giving him that kind and sympathetic smile that thinned her lips just a little.
"Thank you."
"For what?" He questioned softly and sniffed again while her thumb wiped away another tear.
"For trying," she replied with a small smile and then leaned over and kissed his hairline above his temple.
...
David was standing up from the couch when he heard the front door open. He was just bent over a little as he finished closing the work he was doing on his laptop but before he could stand up straight and meet Regina and Henry at the door he was tackled in a hug from the side and he stepped to the side a little to catch his balance. Henry.
He had his arms sound tight and his face buried in to his side and David frowned a little as he hugged him back. Rubbing his hands over Henry, David looked up to Regina in the doorway only to frown when she frowned and nodded. So David sat back down on the couch and brought Henry with him and Henry simply clung to his side. "Rough day, kid," he offered softly and Henry nodded.
"I don't want things to change," Henry whimpered in to the side of his chest and David hummed, "I like things the way they are. I want you to be my father. I like Neal but I love you and I don't want things to change."
David could have cried in relief at those words but he settled for hugging the boy closer to him, "things don't have to change, Henry. I'm not going anywhere. I will always be here for you, I will always love you. I am afraid you're stuck with me. You have two mothers. Now you have two fathers. You have more family than you know what to do with."
Henry gave a single sorrowful laugh as he closed his hands around David's shirt and David chuckled softly. But Henry's voice was still strained with pain and worry, "but things were such a mess last time with Emma and mom. I don't want that to happen again."
"Well lucky for you then that I actually like Neal and neither of us, and I quote, 'wish to drain one another of all their blood'," he teased gently and Henry laughed softly.
"You're quoting mom, aren't you."
"She just has a special way of saying things that leave you feeling reassured don't you think," he smiled and Henry laughed quietly as he nodded through his tears, "she's good at pep talks."
"Mhm...but...why did you need a pep talk?" He questioned with a frown as he lifted his head to look at David and the man merely smiled at him.
"I don't want things to change either, Henry. I don't want to lose you."
"Well that's a silly thing to say. I'm not going anywhere."
"I could say the same to you," David nodded and Henry smiled and nuzzled his face back in to David's chest.
"I want you to marry mom," he stated and felt David's breath catch for a moment but it only made Henry smile a little as he traced a button on David's shirt.
The first thing David did was look to the doorway Regina had been standing in. He was relieved to see she wasn't there and hadn't heard. From the sounds of things she was in the kitchen. "Jeez, kid, you couldn't have-"
"She's in the kitchen making sandwiches like she always does when I've had a particularly bad day. She left a couple minutes ago."
"Smartypants."
"But seriously, David...I want you to marry her..."
David smiled as he questioned, "why?"
"Because she would be so happy. You are so good to her and she loves you so much. You're both super happy right now but imagine how happy you guys would be if you were married. Mom's already pregnant, you may as well make it all official so you don't give the baby a complex," he added and David laughed a little, "but I see the way you look at her. You love her more than anything and when I'm older I want to find a girl I can look at like you look at my mom. I know things are complicated with Snow and everything but when people love each other as much as you and mom do, they deserve to be married to one another."
David smiled and couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh or cry. Such a clever and perceptive little boy. "Well, Henry, as it turns out," he paused for a moment to assure they were alone and Regina was not hovering, "I do have a ring for your darling mother."
Henry shot his head up and looked him in the eye in disbelief and excitement, "seriously?"
David nodded with a smile and Henry grinned and sat up taller, "I am going to propose and then work things out with Snow. But things have been a little chaotic with Neal and Tamara and Greg and your poor mother is up to her ears in things to worry about."
"But once we get rid of Greg and Tamara?"
"I very much plan to make Regina my wife," he smiled and Henry grinned so wide David feared his cheeks may split.
"And then you'll actually be my dad," Henry nodded eagerly and David didn't disappoint.
"I will indeed," he smiled and Henry laughed a little as tears pooled in his eyes and he jumped up a little to wrap his arms around David's neck.
-Thursday-
"Hey Regina."
Regina looked to her and shook her head with a smile and then went back to cutting her herbs, "Miss Swan when you decided to come early for this dinner I expected you to help prepare for it. Not drink all the wine."
"Yeah well I figured I needed to relax a little before I had to sit across the table from Neal and his twisted fiancé and Henry's scowl of disapproval."
"I promise you, Miss Swan, Henry is fine. He is handling this whole thing remarkably well. Whatever he and David talked about yesterday seems to have done the trick. The pair of them are grinning like fools and are thick as thieves."
"I'll believe it when I see it," she mumbled before taking another sip of wine. Alright more of a glug than a sip but what does it matter.
"I will not have you drunk at dinner I do hope you know that."
"Yeah yeah you'll magic sober me down to a respectable state or whatever. Just let me have this."
"Hmmm," Regina narrowed and went back to chopping.
"...you like Neal though right?"
"Begrudgingly."
"Good...good good," she nodded and then had another swallow of wine."
"Perhaps change the subject, Miss Swan? Take your mind away from the dinner for a little while?"
"Alright...how many men have you slept with?" She asked plainly and was met with a sharp thud of Regina's knife hitting the wooden cutting board too hard as she looked at her with wide eyes and parted lips.
"Miss Swan!"
"Sorry. Totally the wine talking. I take it back," she shook her head and Regina scoffed and went back to chopping her assortment of herbs. Emma watched her chop various other things and she remained silent and content but the question in her drunken mind still itched. "But seriously though. How many?"
"Emma."
"I'll tell you mine first if you want," she smirked over her glass and sipped at her wine while Regina looked at her in disbelief.
"What are you drinking so that I may never allow you to open another bottle?"
"Oh come on! I'm not oblivious to the rumours about you that went around town when you and David first got back and were together. And I've seen those crazy awesome outfits down in your vault! Just curious as to how many sexy man toys the queen had during her reign," Emma grinned over her glass but Regina only seemed to become more tense and agitated.
"I don't know."
"Come on I won't judge!"
"I don't know, Emma!"
"What do you mean you don't know? Not even like a rough guess?" Emma chuckled but then quickly stopped and sobered her demeanour when she saw tears in Regina's eyes, "no, Regina, I didn't mean to upset you, I-"
"Miss Swan I have slept with plenty of men and women during my reign but it was for a purpose. I was not and am not a woman who has sex with whomever she pleases whenever she pleases. I am an honourable woman, I am a loyal woman, and I picked my partners very carefully and if they declined then I sure as hell did not force them. Here is a deliciously fun fact about me and your dear mother, Miss Swan. We are merely six years apart in age and I was married to a king old enough to be my own father and from behind I once held a striking resemblance to the late Queen Eva. So no, Miss Swan, I do not know how many men I have slept with. It seems a must have lost count over the years of teaching myself not to be scared stiff any time a man so much as moved to touch me," she spat as she dropped her knife on the cutting board and marched past Emma and out the back door to get some fresh air.
Emma felt sick to her stomach and used her own magic to sober herself a little before she dared go outside after Regina. She had no idea. How could she have? She hadn't intended to hit such a sensitive area, she had only been teasing like she always had with Regina. This was the first line she had ever crossed with that woman and she sure as hell wasn't ever going to cross it again. She truly did feel like she was going to be sick.
Slowly and carefully she walked outside and as she closed the door behind her, Regina sighed in exhaustion, "Regina. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"Shut up, Miss Swan."
"Regina," she called gently as she walked up to her and the woman tried hopelessly to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks.
"At least eighteen hundred times," she choked out and brought a shaky hand to her lips, "I suffered almost every night for six years before I killed the king. Take away a year's worth of days to allow for his travel or the nights Snow managed to keep me to herself and you get one thousand eight hundred and twenty five nights of hell and hearing the name 'Eva' panted in my ear," she cried and couldn't get her hands to stop shaking, "I never did the math, I didn't want to. Rumple taught me how to concoct a potion to make me forget the night but he couldn't always come to heal the damage to my body. So I knew it happened but couldn't remember. I was driven insane. I was afraid of the dark. I couldn't sleep. I tried to kill myself and very likely would have followed through if Rumple hadn't talked me down from the turret."
Emma couldn't speak. She could hardly breathe. Everything hurt. She had such respect for this woman now. She had respected her before but now? Now it was a whole different kind of respect. She had known Regina to be strong and resilient but this added on top of it all just made her seem...impossible.
"I wanted to teach myself again that sex was for pleasure, that it is for fun, that it was to be treasured. It took almost two years to enjoy myself again and the huntsman...Graham...I know that you all think I was using him and that he was merely a play thing and that it was easy for me to kill him but I promise you, Emma, it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do," she shook her head and made herself look Emma in the eye. The blonde was crying but trying not to make any sound and Regina shook her head, "I'm sorry, Emma. I know what he meant to you. But know one knew what he meant to me and no one knew how much it killed me to lose him and hide how much it hurt to lose him. But I couldn't let the curse break, I didn't want to face my past. It's not a pretty one and I do not care to share it," she shook her head and waited to see what Emma would do. Run. Or stand by her. She hoped for the latter.
She was rewarded with Emma pushing her glass of wine forward for her to take and Regina let out a sound that was half laugh and half sob as she took the glass and proceeded to take a healthy sized swallow of the wine and tried to ease her breathing.
"Does David know?"
"Only about Leopold."
"And Snow?"
"I couldn't bring myself to ruin her image of her father," she spoke in to the glass and took another swallow.
"You really do care about Snow...don't you," she asked earnestly, no doubt or accusation and the brunette merely stared in to the wine she swirled in her cup before answering quietly.
"I love that stupid girl," Regina answered quietly and it was very much true. She did love Snow White. But it wasn't enough, "almost as much as I hate her."
Emma accepted that answer easily for she knew it to be true. And she knew she wasn't going to get any more out of Regina and she didn't believe she really wanted to either. "I'm sorry Regina. For pushing you in to this," she shook her head and wiped away her tears, "especially right before you have to put on a good face for this stupid dinner you have planned."
"Putting on a good face is nothing I can't handle, Miss Swan," she breathed out with half a laugh as she finished the remaining wine in the glass.
"I know. But still. I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"I know," she nodded and took a deep breath of the cool evening air to calm her tears and her quivering body. After a few moments of breathing Regina cleared her throat and began walking back to the house, "you're going to have to help me get dinner finished now that we are behind."
"Anything you need. I'll try not to poison everyone."