Poison & Wine
Chapter 21
Emma and Regina were sitting on one side of the interrogation table while Mary Margaret sat on the other. Nobody was speaking and everyone was avoiding eye contact. All three of the women were going through different issues in their heads.
Snow was still processing what she saw. She had come to the station to try and fish out of her daughter the truth of the whole 'true love' fiasco. When she couldn't find the savior, she went searching. She never imagined she'd be walking into the deplorable sight of her daughter showing such intimate affection and downright inappropriate behavior with The Evil Queen.
The mayor wanted to look at her girlfriend badly, but she wasn't sure she wanted to see her face. Emma seemed downright panicked when her mother walked in and Regina had no idea what to say. Sure, they loosely spoke of telling the schoolteacher of their relationship, but she was hoping they would be hopelessly in love with one another before the heavy wrench got thrown into their association. She was literally screwing her enemy's daughter. Former enemy or not, the situation was all kinds of messed up. Regina knew that going into the relations. She knew that revealing their relationship to anybody in town would stir up trouble and she feared that the relationship between herself and the sheriff wasn't strong enough to survive the outlash.
Emma was chewing on her nails- not on the hand that was previously inside her girlfriend. That hand was wiped off on her jeans before they sat down. Her crossed legs were twitching under the interrogation table. The silence was awkward. She could practically feel her girlfriend worrying next to her. She dared a quick glance at her mother across from them and saw the confused horror in her face. The sheriff didn't know what to do. She didn't know who to address first. Any fears or doubts the mayor was having, she wanted to eradicate. But at the same time, she was scared Mary Margaret would completely lose it if she so much as looked at the older woman.
"Dad is out on patrol." The savior eventually decided on. Maybe if they didn't talk about it then it would just go away and her mom would be supportive.
Mary Margaret's eyes snapped up to her daughter: her beautiful, young, and apparently gay daughter. Or at least she was gay enough to be that close with the former queen. The pixie haired woman rubbed her forehead, feeling at a loss. "What are you doing Emma?" She asked the blonde softly. Her gaze momentarily moved to Regina, who was just looking at Snow's daughter patiently awaiting the answer.
The sheriff cleared her throat, palms feeling clammy. She wiped them on her pants before speaking. "I…uh…" She felt brown eyes on her and straightened her posture. "I'm dating Regina."
An audible gasp left the former bandit as she covered her mouth. She shook her head slowly, unable to grasp the confession. "How long?" She looked between the two of them.
Regina and Emma made eye contact with each other in debate. The blonde shrugged and decided to use their first date as the beginning of their relationship, "About a month."
"Nearly." The mayor spoke for the first time. She made sure to keep her tone calm. "Not quite that long."
"H-how?" Snow asked. "I just- how?"
Emma bit her lip. "Does it really matter?" She asked with a shrug.
While she might not be able to hide her relationship from her mother, she could at least keep the true love part out of it. She knew that revealing that would only cause more questions that she didn't have the answers to.
"Mom, I know that this is a lot to take in. Believe me, I know-"
Regina raised an eyebrow. "Excuse you. What is that supposed to mean?"
The savior turned to her girlfriend. "I just mean that it's hard to believe at first. And don't act like you were on board at first, Miss pre-relationship terms."
"I-" The mayor went to speak, but her former enemy cut her off.
Snow was shaking her head. She had come to a conclusion. "Whatever this is- whatever the two of you are doing, it ends now." She said with finality.
Regina was about to scoff her indignation, but the blonde beat her to it. "Excuse me?" Emma asked, offended. "You don't get a say in our relationship."
Mary Margaret rolled her eyes before giving a pointed glare at the Evil Queen herself. Her gaze then turned back to her daughter. "Emma, this isn't who you are."
"Seriously?" Regina spoke up with fury laced in her voice. "Tell me, Snow, which part of this," She motioned between the blonde and herself, "isn't your daughter? The part where she's dating a woman or the part where that woman is me?"
"Don't be absurd, Regina! I couldn't care less what gender my daughter preferred. This is about you!" The schoolteacher admitted.
The mayor flew her arms up. "Of course it is! Because the sweet innocent Snow White can be supportive of anything but the Evil Queen right?"
Mary Margaret scoffed. "When you came to me and offered to end our feud, I agreed because I want peace. That doesn't mean I've forgotten about what you've done in the past. Now you want to date my daughter?"
"What about what you've done?" Regina hissed. "You killed my mother. Worse, you tricked me into doing it myself!"
"If you compare that to every single thing you've done in all the years I've known you, including killing my father and repeatedly trying to kill me- not to mention the millions of people you killed back in the Enchanted Forest- you're comparing a self defense killing to serial murder."
"Stop!" Emma yelled, standing up and slamming her hands on the table. Her mother opened her mouth to interrupt but the sheriff wasn't having it. "No! I think you've said enough! I'm not going to sit here and watch you dig up the old wounds of my girlfriend!"
"Emma-" The pixie haired woman started.
The blonde shook her head, waving her hand. "No. I don't care what she did to you in the past. I don't care if she killed millions of people back when she was the Evil Queen! I don't give a fuck about who she was all those years ago. I just don't care! Because I know who she is now- today! She makes me happy, mom! And that should be enough for you."
"Tinkerbelle told me you found your true love." Snow rushed out quickly, afraid of getting cut off by her daughter again. "And while you may not think it's that big of a deal, it is. Regina knows what I'm talking about-"
Emma growled out her frustration. "I've had enough of that stupid fucking fairy invading my life." She snapped before heading for the door.
"Emma?" Regina stood up and followed her. "Honey, where are you going?" She asked when she saw her girlfriend grab her leather jacket. She was vaguely aware of Mary Margaret behind her, but she was too focused on her manic lover instead. "Emma."
The sheriff grabbed her phone. "I've got to pick up Henry."
"Not for another fifteen minutes." The mayor argued, following her down the hall. She caught the younger woman's arm and stopped her. "You can't run from this, dear."
Green eyes searched brown. "I'm not running from anything." Emma said firmly. "I have fifteen minutes until I have to get Henry. That give me about ten minutes to beat the gossip queen out of that damn fairy." She squirmed out of her girlfriend's embrace and went for exit.
Regina watched her crazed true love go, knowing it was no use to follow her. She rubbed her forehead in frustration. When Snow tried to go after her daughter, the mayor grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "No. Don't bother. She doesn't want to see you right now."
"Don't tell me how to handle my daughter." The schoolteacher argued. "You heard her. She's going to resort to violence!"
The brunette nodded with a huff. "I heard. And after what Tinkerbelle did I'd say she deserves whatever Emma has in store for her."
Mary Margaret gasped. "That right there is the reason why I don't want you with my daughter! You'll never be the one to talk her off the cliff. You'll be the one to push her off of it."
Regina scoffed a bitter laugh. "Good thing I'm not asking for your approval then." She rolled her eyes.
"Didn't you hear what I said?" The teacher asked. "Emma has a true love out there that you're keeping her from! You know what happens when you aren't with your true love!"
The mayor had enough. "I am her true love you idiot!" She revealed. "How the hell do you think we got together? Do you honestly think that we would even consider entering a relationship if we didn't think it had a chance of lasting?" She couldn't believe how utterly stupid the woman was. She let out a displeased sigh and turned around to leave.
"Where are you going?" Snow asked her, not done with the whole situation.
"I'm going to find Emma!" Regina screamed. "After she gives Tinkerbelle exactly what she deserves then someone will need to doctor up her hand. Moron." She muttered, leaving the station.
Emma had checked Tinkerbelle's apartment for the fairy, but she wasn't there. The savior was still fuming at the fact that the blonde fairy spoke to her mother about her true love. Her next stop was Granny's, which was admittedly more public than she wanted, but she was too heated to care.
When she arrived to the diner, she walked in. Ruby greeted her with a smile. "Hey Emma."
"Not now." Green eyes landed on her target. She was across the restaurant, talking to Killian. Emma felt anger heat her veins at the sight of nosey fairy. She stormed over there and ripped the woman out of her chair.
Hook stood up when he saw his friend grab Tinkerbelle. "Swan-" His mouth opened agape at the sight.
Emma had one hand gripping the bitch and without a word swung a right hook directly in Tinkerbelle's face. Boney knuckles hit the fairy's jaw with an insane amount of pressure. A grunt of pain escaped the shorter blonde before the sheriff shoved the woman to the ground and took a deep breath.
The entire diner went still. Every eye was on the crazed savior. "Stay the fuck out of my business." She growled, glaring at the woman.
"Swan, what the hell was that?" Hook asked, going over to Tink. He held out a hand to help her up.
The sheriff rolled her eyes, looking at the fairy. "She knows." Is all she said before leaving the diner. When she stepped out of Granny's, she saw her girlfriend getting out of her Mercedes. She magiced up an ice pack.
Regina offered it to the distraught woman. "For your hand." She offered.
Emma was overcome with emotion when she saw the mayor. With a sure hand and reeling mind, she cupped the older woman's cheek and kissed her deeply. Bystanders be damned. When they separated the words, 'I love you' were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them. "Thanks." She substituted instead before taking the ice pack and putting it on her hand.
The former queen licked her lips and gazed at the blonde. She was stunned that the savior had just kissed the life out of her in public, but since Snow White knew, she didn't care who else did. "Are you all right?"
"I just want to go home." She confessed.
Regina nodded, rubbing her back intimately. "If you want to talk with your mother more, I can pick up Henry."
The sheriff shook her head. "No. I want to go home with you." She corrected herself. "Let's go get Henry and head back to the mansion?"
While the mayor was surprised that her girlfriend had unintentionally referred to her house as home, she'd be lying if she said it didn't warm her heart a tad. "We'll take my car." She said with finality. "You can get your death trap tomorrow morning."
Emma grinned softly for the first time since her mother walked in on them. "I don't know about that. Last time I left it here, the mayor put a boot on it."
"Hm… I think I know a way that you can get on her good graces." She teased. Her eyes looked around and saw several people staring at them through the diner window. "Let's go, baby." Was instructed sweetly.
"What does she think you did to her?" Hook asked, sitting across from Tink as she put a bag of ice on her face.
The fairy sighed. "I may have told Snow White that Emma found her true love."
Killian's eyes widened, and suddenly he felt his own anger flare up. "Why in the world would you do that?" He demanded.
"I wanted to know who it was. I figured that Emma didn't know the repercussions of not being with-"
"Oh my God!" Red yelled loudly in disbelief. The pirate looked over and saw her looking out of the diner window. "Emma's kissing Regina!" She informed the entire cliental.
Nearly everybody scrambled out of his or her seats to observe the scene. Hook simply turned back around to look at the green fairy. Her jaw was dropped in shock, but she made no move to get up. "Now I get why she punched you." He said.
"What?" She managed to question through her shock.
The pirate rubbed his face. The only way Emma would kiss her girlfriend in public was if her mother already knew, hence the reason behind the harsh punch she gave Tinkerbelle. "Emma's true love? It's Regina. They've been dating." He revealing, assuming it was safe to say. "And you, love, just shoved them out of the closet." He as slightly irritated with her, but he had to admit she was too adorable to stay angry with.
Tinkerbelle sat in her seat and slowly shook her head. "No…" She was aware that the mayor had a crush on the savior, but not once did she even entertain the idea that the two women would date, let alone be one another's true love!
Hook nodded. "I'm afraid so. She came to me that night, after that vial brought her to Regina. She was in disbelief as well."
"You knew since that night?" She asked and received another nod from the man. It suddenly made sense. "That's why you said that you weren't her type."
Killian chuckled. "As she put it, I have something that doesn't suit her interests."
"Oh my God." She felt like an idiot. "Regina probably hates me."
The pirate shrugged. "Probably."
Tinkerbelle had some major apologizing to do, starting after her jaw stopped aching.
"Whoa! You punched her?" Henry asked with amusement as Regina drove them back to the mansion. The couple had picked Henry up from practice and sprung the fact that they weren't hiding their relationship anymore on him. They explained that Tinkerbelle told Snow about how she got her wings back and that his teacher found out about them. They spared the details of how she found out, because as far as he was concerned, they weren't having sex.
The sheriff nodded, flashing her swollen hand at her son in the backseat. "I did. Bitch deserved it."
"Language, Miss Swan." Her girlfriend scolded.
Green eyes rolled. "Well I'm sorry, but it's true." She defended herself. "She's done nothing but intrude on my life since this whole true love business started."
"So how did grandma find out that mom was your true love?" Henry questioned his parents.
Regina quickly spoke up. "I told her."
The blonde looked at the older woman in confusion. "What?"
"After you left to find Tinkerbelle, some words were exchanged between your mother and I-"
"What'd she say?" Emma asked.
The mayor didn't really want to discuss the entire encounter in front of their son, but she couldn't leave her significant other in the dark. "I'll tell you later." She decided. "But it was relating to the fact that you had a true love out there and that I was preventing you from being with them. I was tired of her belittling our relationship so I just- I blurted it out."
Emma covered the brunette woman's hand with her left one. "Good. I'm glad you told her."
"Grandma didn't take it well?" Their boy asked sullenly.
The savior shook her head. "No, kid. It was pretty rough. But there's a lot between your mom and… well mine."
Regina chuckled softly at the uncomfortable look her true love was sporting. "She's right, dear. We didn't expect to tell her about our relationship this early, but there's nothing we can about that now so we simply have to wait it out. "
"She'll be okay with it eventually. Right?" Henry questioned.
Emma and Regina both looked at each other. The blonde cleared her throat. "She's Snow White, kid. What do you think?" She laughed softly, hoping to ease his mind.
It worked. "You're right." He chuckled. "Besides, Grandpa is on your side so no doubt Grandma will come around."
"Until then, Emma is going to stay at the mansion with us." The brunette informed her son.
Henry raised an eyebrow. "Are you two gonna share a room?" He asked suspiciously.
"Yes." Emma answered quickly. "We're going to be sickeningly sweet and snuggle all night long."
"Gross." The boy gagged from the back.
"We're gonna kiss too." His birth mother teased. "We're gonna kiss and snuggle and talk about how pretty your mom is."
Regina chuckled softly as she pulled into her driveway. "Emma might be doing all of that, but I'll be asleep." She glanced at the blonde who was typing on her phone. "Who are you texting?"
"Hook." The sheriff said. "I'm asking him to pick up some clothes for me at the loft."
"Does he know you punched his future girlfriend?" Regina asked as the family of three got out of the car and went inside the house through the garage door. "Henry, homework. Now."
The eleven year old nodded and headed for his room. Emma nodded as she locked the door behind them. "Yeah, he was there actually." She read the text she got from him and rolled her eyes. "He said he'll bring me some and that everybody at the diner saw us kissing."
"I wanted to speak to you about that." Regina stated as she began walking up the stairs towards her bedroom, Emma following shortly behind. "That was a rather irrational decision, dear."
The sheriff followed her girlfriend up the steps and when they reached the top, the mayor turned around to look at her. "Yeah, I know that I didn't discuss it with you beforehand. I didn't even know I going to do it, but when I saw you walking towards me…" She sighed dreamingly at the image in her head. "God, you just looked so concerned and beautiful. I couldn't hold everything together. I just had to show you how much I-" She licked her lips. "How much you mean to me."
Regina smiled at her words. She took a step forward and grabbed the younger woman's cheeks. "It's been an emotional day for the both of us. How about after I make dinner, I'll draw you a bath with all the works: bubbles, bath salts, candles."
"Mm." The blonde moaned at the thought. She gripped the former queen's waist. "Only if you join me."
The mayor smirked. "That I can do."
"So you're okay?" Emma questioned her. "About the town finding out?"
With a nod and small kiss Regina answered, "Yes. But I must admit that I do worry about the things people will say to you about me."
Emma shrugged. "Don't worry about that. I'll just arrest them." She teased.
"David! Finally you're here!" Mary Margaret exclaimed from her daughter's room when she heard the loft door shut. She ran down the iron stairs and saw her husband putting his coat up.
The deputy looked at his disgruntled wife and furrowed his blonde eyebrows. "What's going on?" He looked around the loft. "Where are Emma and Henry?"
Snow grabbed her husband's face with desperation. "Emma and Regina are seeing one another." She revealed, expecting the same confused outlandish reaction she had.
"W-why do you think that?" Charming asked, gently grabbing his wife's wrists off of his face and tangling their fingers together. His daughter promised that she would give him a warning a couple of days before she was going to tell Snow about her relationship, but he got no such warning.
Mary Margaret deflated at his disbelief. "I saw them." She explained. "Emma, she was… there was kissing and highly inappropriate touching going on at the sheriff's station! They told me they were together. As in, a full blown relationship!" She spoke, scandalized.
David licked his lips and cleared his throat. By the strong reaction his wife was having, he could tell the revelation didn't sit well with her. What he was about to tell her wouldn't help. "I know." He confessed.
Snow let out a loud gasp and she ripped away from Charming's touch. "You knew? How? You knew that Emma was seeing Regina and you didn't tell me?"
"I only recently found out." The officer explained, trying to calm her down. "I thought maybe Emma just had a crush-"
"Did everybody know my daughter was gay before I did?" The woman yelled. "I'm her mother! I'm supposed to pick up on the signs!"
Charming furrowed his eyebrows. "Signs?"
"Yes, signs." The teacher confirmed. "How could you know that Emma is seeing The Evil Queen," She stressed, "and not freak out! Don't you remember everything she put us through? Everything she put Emma through?"
The blonde nodded. "I remember all those things, Snow." He assured her. "But when Cora framed Regina for Archie's 'murder', Emma told us that back in our world Regina was the Evil Queen, but here, she's just Regina. Emma was right. Regina hasn't been truly evil for a long time."
Mary Margaret was shaking her head in denial. "No. No, no, no."
"I've seen them together, Snow." He said. "I've seen how Regina is around her. It's genuine, her feeling for Emma are real. I know it's hard. I know it's damn near impossible to wrap your mind around, but it's true."
The teacher thought back to the small glimpse of their relationship from earlier. Regina seemed caring when she spoke to Emma. There were pet names and yearning looks. Mary Margaret shook the thought away. Regina said that she was Emma's true love. She could have been bluffing. She must have been bluffing. Snow needed to speak with her daughter alone about the situation. Having the mayor there only made it more difficult to stay on track.
She looked up at her husband and couldn't believe he had lied to her. "I can't believe you didn't tell me the second you found out." She said, appalled.
"I wanted to tell you." The deputy stressed. "It was the hardest thing not to tell you, but our daughter begged me not to."
Mary Margaret shook her head. "So? You should have still told me!"
Charming sighed, frustrated. "I couldn't win either way." He shrugged helplessly. "I made a decision to keep her trust."
"And throw away mine!" The brunette argued.
"I wasn't exactly pleased about their relationship either!" The man yelled. "But we can't do anything about true love-" He halted, closing his eyes tight at himself. He didn't mean to say that.
Green eyes widened in surprised. "I-it's true?" She questioned quietly.
David opened his eyes and looked at his wife. Blonde eyebrows furrowed as he pointed at her. "You know about that part?"
"Regina said she was Emma's true love, but I thought it was a lie!" She was panicking again, not knowing what to do or how to react. Her daughter was actually fated to the evil queen.
There was a knock on their door. David went over to it and answered it. On the other side stood Killian, grinning like a fool. Charming sighed. "Now isn't a good time, Hook."
"I'm here on sheriff's order." The pirate told him. "She told me to gather some garments for her overnight stay with Regina."
"What?" Snow questioned. "She's staying at Regina's house?"
Hook nodded as the deputy let him in. "Yeah. I hope you didn't think she'd stay here." He laughed.
Charming rolled his eyes. "Her room is upstairs, Hook."
Once the pirate was up the steps, Mary Margaret looked at her husband. "We can't possibly allow this." She insisted. "Our daughter-"
"Stayed over there last night." The man told her.
Snow laughed bitterly and rubbed her forehead. "I feel like such an idiot! I can't believe I bought your lie about her staying at Hook's!" How could she miss such a thing? How could she not notice what was right under her nose? She felt tears prickle in her eyes. She was at a loss. She literally didn't know what to do about anything.
David stepped forward and hugged his distraught wife. "It's okay." He told her and kissed her head. "We'll figure it out."
"Your phone is going insane." Regina told her girlfriend as they relaxed together in the large bubbly bathtub oasis. Her head laid on the blonde's shoulder as she sat between her legs, back pressed against her lover's front. She could hear the vibrating device on the vanity.
Emma groaned her displeasure, moving to tangle their fingers together over the older woman's smooth stomach. "Ignore it. I don't want to speak to anybody but you tonight." She confessed.
The mayor smiled softly, but she needed to know how the savior was really feeling. "Are you okay? I know a lot happened today."
"I thought this was a relaxing bath." The sheriff teased.
Regina snuggled more against her lover. "It is, but I want to know how you're feeling. It's okay to be upset, Emma." She assured her.
The blonde nodded and kissed brown hair. "I know. I'm still kinda processing, to be honest, baby. That bitch Tinkerbelle better quit talking about me though."
The former queen giggled. "I think she got the message, honey." There was a small silence between the couple. "Everybody should know about our relationship soon though. Think you're prepared for that?"
Emma kissed her girlfriend's hair several times. "As long as I got you, I'll be good." She could sense the insecurities in the mayor so she whispered quietly in her ear. "Nothing and nobody could take you away from me." She promised.
The brunette's heart swelled with joy at the admission. She nearly said the three words she'd been fighting for days, but she managed to keep them down. Regina promised herself that she wouldn't be the first to say it, but moments like this made it difficult not to. "You're perfect." She substituted with a smile.
Emma scoffed. "Please. You should know what perfection looks like, you see it in the mirror every day."
The mayor laughed as she adjusted to turn around and sit in her girlfriend's lap. She wrapped her arms around the slender neck and gazed into green eyes. "You're so cheesy."
"Whatever gets me laid." Emma teased. "Now, I do believe we were interrupted earlier." She recalled.
"Hm… I believe you're correct, Sheriff." Regina smirked. "Should we pick up where we left off, baby?"
The pet name made the savior grin. "Definitely."
A lot had happened, and a lot needed to be dealt with, but everything could wait. They allowed themselves to be lost in each other, lost in the happiness they found together.
So now soon the whole town will know, including Neal. We'll see how that goes. Lol. Tell me how you liked or disliked Snow's reaction. I have to admit, I loved having Emma punch Tinkerbelle in the face. She's been all up in her business for a while :P Next chapter will be posted Friday. Review, favorite, and/or follow my readers :) Until Friday