A/N: a bit more of the Cora storyline coming up for you now. This will be fleshed out in later chapters but here's some background to the mother-daughter relationship.
Emma smiled at her girlfriend across the table as she spooned another mouthful of cereal into her mouth. The two had eaten every meal together throughout the previous week and Snow and Red were getting tired of giving their new dinner companion evil glares, settling for ignoring anything Regina said instead. Emma's friends were eating their own breakfasts next to the couple, chatting about their upcoming visitations and their afternoon plans. Emma had tried to talk to them about their attitude towards her girlfriend but her two friends were being stubbornly, and unnecessarily and Emma's opinion, protective. It didn't bother the blonde too much however. Her heart had never been lighter and she loved spending time with Regina, regardless of her friends' opinions.
"Mills." Both Emma and Regina looked up as Officer Nolan walked over to their table.
"Yes Officer," Regina said with a sickly sweet smile. She had always despised the spineless man, finding him easier than any other CO to manipulate when she was dealing drugs. Despite not needing to sneak around him any more, she liked to keep on his good side, just in case.
"Visitation notification. Came through last night, sorry for the late notice," he said as he handed her a slip of paper before walking away. Snow watched him go, her eyes glued to his backside and a glazed expression on her face.
"Visitation?" Emma asked. "I didn't know you had people who visit."
"I don't," Regina muttered as she scanned the paper in her hand. "Shit." The brunette got to her feet with a dark expression on her face, left her half eaten breakfast and walked quickly from the dining hall. Emma stood to follow.
"Don't Swan," Red advised.
"Why?" Emma said, slowly sitting back down.
"Families are complicated," the lanky brunette shrugged.
"Family?" Emma asked. "You saw the name on the paper?"
Red blushed slightly. "Well I wasn't snooping deliberately but, yeah. Cora Mills."
Emma frowned further. The person was doubtless related to Regina but she couldn't recall her girlfriend speaking of a woman named Cora.
"Just wait until she tells you in her own time," Snow said gently, standing up to clear her breakfast things. Red joined her and the two headed out of the dining hall to meet the friends waiting for them in the visitation area.
Emma was left alone at the table, her mind whirling through endless possibilities. Who was this mystery relative who had come to visit her girlfriend? Why had Regina never mentioned her before? And why was Regina so angry when she saw the name on the visitation notice? Emma dropped her fork, no longer hungry. She ran her hand through her hair and huffed in frustration. Deciding there was nothing she could do but wait, she gathered her dirty plates and deposited them in the rack before heading to the library to replenish her book supply and see French.
"Hey, how was Peter?" Emma asked as Red walked back into the bunk an hour later. She closed her book and sat up cross legged, waiting to hear about her friend's ex.
"Great! He broke up with his skanky girlfriend at last," Red grinned.
"But you're not interested in him, are you?" Emma asked, confused.
"No, but he deserved better than her," Red explained.
"And, erm, did you see Regina in there?" Emma asked.
Red looked sympathetically at her friend. "Swan, just let her tell you ok? I may not be on board with this relationship but I'm not going to poison you against Mills."
"Poison me against her?" Emma's eyebrows raised. "Why? What happened at visitation?
"It's not for me to say, Swanny please."
"Red, I need to know what's going on between Regina and her family."
"Then ask your girlfriend why her mother would drive all the way out to this hellhole only to sock her daughter in the mouth and leave."
Emma's jaw dropped. "Her mother? Her mother hit her?" Red nodded mutely. "Where is she?"
"Infirmary," Red said. "Her lip split open and Fa took her to get stitched up."
Emma jumped to her feet and sprinted out of the room without another word.
"Regina?" Emma cried as she burst into the infirmary moments later.
"Miss Swan, what do you think you're doing?" Doctor Fisher asked as the blonde rushed across the room towards the brunette. Regina was sat up on a bed, a grumpy expression on her face with Fisher standing next to her holding a suture needle.
"Sorry Doc, just wanted to see if Mills was ok."
"I'm fine, Emma," Regina mumbled, the swelling of her lip restricting her speech slightly.
"Like hell you are," Emma said, moving to stand on the other side of Regina as Fisher tied off the last stitch and moved to clean the wound once more. "What happened? Red said you got punched."
Regina nodded and gestured to her lip, unable to speak whilst Fisher dabbed at the wound.
"Will you tell me what happened?" Emma asked. Regina nodded. "When we get out of here?" Another nod. "Doc," Emma said, turning to Fisher, "when can she leave?"
"Now," declared Fisher as she finished cleaning around Regina's lip.
"Thanks," Emma said, reaching out to help Regina who was moving off the bed instantly.
"I don't need your help Emma," Regina snapped. "I hurt my lip not my leg."
Emma moved back but stayed close behind as the brunette strode out of the infirmary.
They walked in silence through the prison, Regina glaring at any inmate who looked twice at her injury. Emma knew where they were going and decided to keep quiet until the chapel door was closed behind them.
"Regina?" Emma asked as and moved towards her girlfriend.
Regina was stood in the middle of the room, stock still with her back to Emma. As the blonde walked around to stand in front her, she was shocked to see tears running down her face.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked as she gathered Regina into her arms. The brunette sank into the embrace, crying quietly as she tried to control her emotions. Emma waited patiently, stroking Regina's back and hair as her girlfriend composed herself.
"My mother," Regina whispered as she pulled back and wiped her face. "She found out about you somehow."
"And?" Emma asked, unsure how their relationship had led to Regina's busted lip.
"She's never accepted that I'm gay," Regina explained, leading Emma over to sit on some chairs. "She called me a dyke and told me I'd disgraced the family name. She said she wished she'd kept West instead of me and then she punched me in the face." Fresh tears streamed down Regina's cheeks.
"Why did you go and see her?" Emma asked, gently wiping away the fallen tears.
"She came a few weeks ago," Regina admitted. "I refused to see her then but what with her persisting … I figured she wanted to make amends."
"Amends for what?" Emma asked.
"For kicking me out of the house when I was eighteen after she caught me and Danielle in my bed. I have barely spoken to her since that night when I packed my bags and left my childhood home. I was so stupid for thinking she might finally love me for me and accept my sexuality," Regina growled, balling her hands into fists.
"You're not the stupid one here, your mother is," Emma said firmly. "It's her loss if she's cut you out of her life, Regina. You're amazing and who you choose to have sex with has no bearing on you as a human being. You don't need someone like that in your life babe. She doesn't deserve to call you her daughter."
"She wants me to be the perfect heiress she was moulding me into my entire life. I was supposed to take over the family stables. My father taught me everything he knew and I was expected to become the next great Mills racehorse trainer. My mother never cared for the creatures, only the money they made her so when my father died and I left a few month later, she realised she had a problem. She called me several times in the months after the funeral, asking me to come back and work for the Mills stables again but there was always a condition: I had to break up with Danielle before I returned."
"And you wouldn't," Emma said, slowly.
Regina shook her head. "I loved her. I met her at our stable yard and there was no way I was going to return there without her. I turned my mother down time after time and eventually she stopped asking. I hadn't seen her since my trial until a few weeks ago. She didn't even attend most court dates but I saw her leaving the gallery as I was taken away after my sentencing. I never knew a mother could be so cold."
"My mother left me on the side of a highway," Emma admitted quietly. "I don't know who my parents are, just that they didn't want me from the moment I was born."
Regina reached to grasp Emma's hands. "We're better off without them Emma," she said, defiantly.
The blonde nodded and leaned forward to place a soft kiss on the side of Regina's lip. The brunette winced slightly as the corner of Emma's mouth touched her fresh wound.
"Sorry," Emma said. "I couldn't resist."
"You're forgiven," the brunette smiled, moving to kiss her girlfriend once more, disregarding the pain it caused and revelling in the soft lips beneath her own.
"Who told her?" Emma asked suddenly, pulling back from Regina.
"Who told who what?"
"Who told your mother about me?" Emma asked again.
"West," Regina said. "At least, I'd assume it would be her. She's always wanted to work for the stables but my father would never allow it and she's got no skills when it comes to training. She didn't even know about the business until she moved to the States a few years ago and ever since then she's been after the family fortune. She probably thinks if I'm out of the picture she'll be next in line."
"Well from what your mother said, I suppose she's closer to it than ever before."
Regina scoffed. "She's welcome to it. I don't care for money."
"That's easy to say when you come from it," Emma replied. "I would have done anything for enough cash to put a roof over my head when I ran away from home. I had no trust fund to fall back on. I had to make my own way on the streets."
"So did I," Regina argued. "My mother cut me off when she found out about Danielle. I've not had a penny from her since that day. I created a business and managed it successfully to make my fortune."
"You were a drug dealer Regina," Emma scoffed. "Don't glamorise it."
Hurt by Emma's biting comments, Regina looked away and didn't answer.
"I'm sorry," Emma said after a long pause. "I didn't mean it like that. Talking about my family always makes me angry"
"I know," Regina replied, quietly. "Me too."
"Hey," Emma said, waiting for Regina to face her once more. "You want to forget everything that happened this morning and recommence our interrupted date from two weeks ago?"
Regina smiled again. She loved how her girlfriend knew exactly what she needed to take her mind off her messed up family. "Yes please."
"Great," Emma smiled, standing up and pulling Regina to her feet.
"Where are we off to?" Regina asked as she slipped her hand into Emma's and the two of them headed to the chapel door.
"The library," Emma said.
"You've already taken on a date there. Running out of ideas already, Miss Swan?" Regina teased.
"Firstly, we're not eating pot noodle so it's different. And secondly," Emma said, lowering her voice to a whisper, "when you call me Miss Swan it makes me wet."
Regina growled at the blonde's words, a familiar tension coiling in her abdomen at the thought. "You play dirty, Emma," Regina muttered as they walked through the corridor, still hand in hand.
"Oh you have no idea, Miss Mills," Emma whispered back.
"Hey French, Red," Emma greeted as she and Regina entered the library.
The taller woman jumped off the desk from where she'd been reclining in front of French and the latter hastily wiped her mouth. Regina raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Hi ladies," French greeted, standing up. "What can I help you with?"
"Can we grab a portable CD player please," Emma asked.
"Sure," French grinned, reaching under the table and handing over an old Sony walkman.
"What's that for?" both Red and Regina said at the same time.
"Music," Emma replied simply, taking hold of Regina's hand and dragging the confused older woman to the back corner where a couple of soft chairs were.
"Wait here," she instructed after pulling a chair out for her girlfriend.
Emma was gone for less than a minute before she reappeared with a tottering stack of CDs. Placing them carefully on the table, she sat beside Regina and gestured to the pile.
"You pick first," she said.
"What?" Regina asked.
"I want to know what sort of music you like and since I don't have an iPod or access to YouTube, this was the next best thing. So, pick."
Regina hesitated before grinning broadly. "This is an excellent idea Emma," she said as she reached for a few of the CDs. "Ooh, this one!" she exclaimed, holding up Imagine Dragons' first album.
"Great choice," Emma complimented, opening the walkman and clicking in the disc. She closed it, pressed play, and handed one earbud to Regina before slipping the other into her own ear. As the melody filtered through, both women smiled and their fingers interlaced as they settled back to enjoy the music.