Double trouble 6

A/N: This chapter is rated M. Trigger warnings and mentions of child abuse. Minor references to past events only, no scenes. Also some strong language and mature scenes.

I promise most of the fic will be much lighter than this! Thanks everyone for reading and supporting this story :).

"Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real."

― Cormac McCarthy

Chapter 6 'Rage'

When Mary Margaret and David arrived back at the apartment, they surreptitiously gestured to Emma and Regina to come meet them out in the hall.

Em, Ri, and Henry were otherwise occupied watching Bring It On on the boy's laptop. Em was saying all the dialogue in perfect timing and trying to explain the jokes to Ri who obviously got none of the pop culture references. Ri seemed to like the cheerleader outfits though.

Emma closed the apartment door behind herself and Regina, leaving it cracked just in case. She peeked through the gap at her younger self as though she were a bomb that could go off at any second.

"Did you get any answers?" Emma asked her parents urgently.

Mary Margaret shrugged as if to say yes-and-no. "The Blue Fairy doesn't know where they're from or how to get them back."

"As helpful as ever," muttered Regina.

"But Pinnocchio and Marco were there with her - she thinks that maybe something went wrong with the do-over spell," said David.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You mean the spell misfired? August gets a do-over and so do Regina and me? We get another chance?"

"I don't think so," said Mary Margaret, frowning. "August was replaced by his younger self, the little boy who came through the wardrobe. You and Regina haven't been replaced by Em and Ri."

"Yes, August certainly deserves another chance at redemption doesn't he?" said Regina sarcastically.

"Regina, give it a rest," said David impatiently. "You are well past that point. You've spurned every chance you've ever been given."

Regina's eyes flashed dangerously. "So he gets to relive his hedonistic lifestyle all over again? Sipping mai-tai's in Phuket? Meanwhile that girl in there is living under a bridge half-starved. He had one job in coming to this world - protect Emma - and he didn't even do that."

"Em can take care of herself," said Emma tightly.

"No she cannot," returned Regina fiercely. "She is a child. She is underweight. She was physically abused and-"

"She had cigarette burns on her arm," put in Mary Margaret.

"Not to mention her entire back whipped by road rash like she was dragged across the asphalt," said Regina in an accusatory tone, as though it were their fault.

"Oh, Emma-" said Mary Margaret pityingly.

"Stop!" Emma held her palms in the air. "Look - just stop - I know all this! It's me you're talking about."

"Your foster parents abused you, Emma?" said David gently, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Emma shrugged him off defensively. "Why is this such a surprise to everyone? You gave me up. Granted you didn't know where I'd end up at the time but you know now. The real world isn't a fairytale. I ran away when I was 17 and lived on the streets. Even prison was a better option than the foster home I was in. How can you not suspect what my life was like?"

Mary Margaret shut her eyes against the prick of tears. "You are angry at us."

"You traded me for breaking the curse. And it's worked out fine now, so can we please just move on. The past is in the past. I don't care anymore and I don't want to talk about it."

"The past isn't in the past, Emma," said Regina. "It's in the living room."

Emma glared at her. "And what about you huh. That sweet innocent girl in there? Everything she says convinces me that your mother controlled your every move and you were so brainwashed you didn't even know it was happening."

"Life taught me not to be so naive," said Regina darkly.

"Right," Emma scoffed. "Except that you had zero skills to deal with the crap that life threw at you. Your mother twisted your mind and opened the door so that anyone powerful enough could walk through and take control. Paved the way for Rumpelstiltzskin didn't she?"

"As your father says, it was my choice," Regina said slowly in a low dangerous voice.

Mary Margaret spoke up. "But Cora always was-"

"Don't you even say her name in front of me! She's dead because of you!" Regina's barely suppressed rage exploded murderously. She pointed at Mary Margaret's heart.

"You still love her, don't you," said Emma.

Regina whirled on her. "Of course I love my mother! You should know what that's like now that you have one. And now mine is dead because of yours."

"The reason you're trying so hard to forgive your mother... is it because you want Henry to forgive you? You want it to be possible."

"I want my son back!"

"You had a real chance for that. I was gonna trust you... but like always your mother swooped in and lured you back. You are on a knife edge here, Regina. If I turn my back on you are you gonna stab me?"

"If I get the chance." Regina glared at her, and then at Mary Margaret.

"No. You come after Mary Margaret again and I will kill you."

Regina stepped up into Emma's face dangerously. "Don't underestimate me. You know what I'm capable of. I can kill all of you and reduce this town to ashes in seconds."

"Don't underestimate me," Emma said, bare inches from her lips. "You don't know what I'm capable of. When Em uses magic she could be standing right in front of you and you won't even see her. You think she's a loaded gun? Wait till you see what I can do. You come after my family again and I will end you."

"Take a photo, kid, it'll last longer," said Em, without taking her eyes off the laptop screen.

Em was sitting on the couch close to Ri with her arm draped around her. Henry was staring at them while the girls watched the movie as though he couldn't quite believe she was really Emma nor that Ri was really his Mom. This latest time Em caught him so he'd hastily returned his attention to the screen where the last group in the cheerleading contest was about to start performing.

"I wasn't looking," said Henry.

"Yes, you were. You were staring at us."

"No, I wasn't."

"You're lying, kid. I can tell."

Henry tested her out. "You can tell when anyone is lying?"

"Yup," said Em confidently. "Anyone. Just another one of my awesome superpowers."

Em was finding him really annoying, staring and pestering her all the time. She'd had enough of living with other children of varying degrees of brattiness in group homes and she wasn't very tolerant of them any longer. Plus he kept intruding on her time with Ri and butting in.

"Do you want kids one day, Em?" asked Henry, deciding to go on a fishing trip.

"Ew. No way," scoffed Em. "Why would anybody? Kids are brats."

"I think children are sweet. I hope I have children one day," said Ri. She leaned over Em to smile at Henry, trying to soothe his hurt feelings.

"Ri's nicer than you, Em," said Henry, with his chin jutting out.

"Boo hoo. Now be quiet, my favourite part is coming up."

"The whole movie is your favourite part."

"So be quiet for all of it then."

"No."

The cheerleading contest in the movie ended, and switched to scenes showing the crowd and the judges instead of the main characters. It'd taken Ri a little time at first to understand Em's explanation that it was a fiction and the people weren't real - she couldn't quite grasp that it wasn't really happening.

"Em?" said Ri curiously. "What happens to the people when they're not in the little window?"

"The characters in the movie?" said Em, wondering what she was actually asking.

"Yes. Where do they go?"

"By the way," said Emma casually, still outside the apartment in the hall. "I hope you weren't too attached to your valuables... cos Em will have already stolen them."

Mary Margaret was slightly skeptical. "But we've been with her the whole time-"

"Uh huh. Sure." Emma raised her eyebrows at her.

"But she's just a -"

"Don't let her get into your medicine cabinet either," Emma interrupted again. "You got anything harder than Tylenol you better flush it before she can get to it."

David shook his head at her in utter disbelief. "Emma, stop trying to convince us that you were some kind of devil child."

"I am not exaggerating," said Emma seriously. "I was a bad kid. Why won't you believe me?"

"We're your parents," said Mary Margaret with a small smile.

"You're idiots," Regina broke in. "Emma, they don't want to believe it because they're afraid of knowing what happened to their baby girl when they sent her away."

"I look at Em and I realise I don't know you at all, Emma," Mary Margaret gave her a sympathetic face full of pity and regrets.

"Stop looking at me like that," said Emma in annoyance. "Both of you."

"We gave you up without knowing whether you'd be ok... are you angry because you did the same with Henry?" asked David gently.

"I can't decide if that was the right choice right now!" said Emma heatedly, starting to really lose it. "If I'd kept him he would've started out life in the backseat of my car... but at least he wouldn't be in the middle of this fucking ridiculous blood feud between Snow White and the Evil Queen. I don't even care if the curse never got broken. I should've just taken Henry ages ago and left you all to deal with this fairytale nonsense yourselves!"

"You wouldn't do that, Emma. You're good," said Mary Margaret confidently.

"Oh really?" Emma held her palms like a set of scales. "Ri started off good but now Regina is bad... Em is bad but now I'm good. How does this make sense? How can you just sum up an entire person's life with these labels? The world doesn't fit into neat little boxes like Good and Evil just because you want it to."

"If I have to face the Council I want her as my legal defense," said Regina wryly.

After the movie was over, Em had managed to be mean enough to Henry to hurt his feelings so he'd dragged his feet off to his room and taken the laptop with him. Em considered that a double bonus, getting rid of the adults and the child in order to be left alone with Ri finally. But she was softened a little when Ri gave her that kind look and said: "He's only little, Em. Be nice?"

Even Ri was excited they were alone though and she nervously placed a little kiss on Em's lips, light as a butterfly's wings. It didn't take Em long to get things going, quickly taking the kiss to the next level and running her hands everywhere she could. She knew Ri wouldn't take any initiative so she guided her where she wanted her, pulling her on top of her so the other girl was straddling her thighs.

Em moved Ri's dress up and pushed their hips together, trying to give Ri the hint. She was dying to feel Ri's bare skin and Ri's hands on her as well. But she was basically running this show herself so she took one of Ri's hands and placed it under her own shirt to palm herself with their hands.

Ri was starting to get it though - or at least she knew what was feeling good. Really good. It felt so hot and throbby moving against Em's thigh, she didn't want to stop. Her heart was beating fast like she'd been racing and it began to pound even harder when Em touched her somewhere new.

Ri gasped. "Em!"

"Sorry, too fast?" Em panted.

"It feels-"

Please say good, Em begged silently.

"I don't know what to do. Is this right?"

"Yes," Em sighed. "Keep going?"

Ri was out of breath still but seemed a little anxious. "Em, have you done it? What Mary Margaret told me."

"Um, yeah. But it wasn't very good."

"Oh."

"But it would be with you!" Em said hastily, trying not to scare her off and lose her chance.

"Em, is it really good?"

"Yeah, see it's like, um," Em stammered. "It'd be good with us. Cos uh, we want to and stuff. But not until you're ready?"

Even though she didn't answer Em could tell from looking at Ri's worried face that she definitely was not ready. Em was torn by desire and dread. She suspected what was in store for Ri in her future marriage and though she was tempted to try to coerce her into it so that her first experience would be safe and loving... Em knew that Ri really wasn't ready and if she did bend the girl's pliable will she'd just be first one to hurt her in that way. The thought made her blood cold.

Em sat up, shifting Ri so she was still sitting astride her lap, and held her close so they could wrap their arms around each other. Ri laid her head over Em's shoulder in the crook of her neck and closed her eyes. Em sighed, holding Ri safely in her arms and never wanting to let her go.

"I'm pretty sure love makes it good, Ri," she said softly.

Things were deteriorating in the hall as the four adults continued to hash out all the ugly details of the past.

"Emma, were you ever-" started Mary Margaret in dread.

"No. I wasn't." Emma broke in swiftly, knowing what she was going to ask. "But Regina was, weren't you?"

"What," said Regina thinly.

"Marital. Rape." said Emma grimly enunciating the words. "Em's right isn't she? It is disgusting. That poor girl in there, Ri, she's about to get married against her will-"

"Don't make me sound like such a pathetic victim. It was normal for the time period." Regina crossed her arms and looked away, but she was clearly becoming upset.

"You didn't even know what it was but the King claimed his rights anyway didn't he-"

"Stop- st-" Regina heard the roaring in her ears begin to build.

"Did he put his hands on you? Put himself inside you?"

"Stop! It hurt so much," gasped Regina, shutting her eyes tightly against the dizziness. But her voice wasn't her own, it was lighter and younger and in that moment, she was Ri all over.

"My father?" whispered Mary Margaret in horror, as though the thought had never occurred to her before.

Emma turned and barked an order at her parents. "Get inside, now!"

"But Emma-" started David in alarm, afraid to leave her with Regina.

"I can take care of myself," snapped Emma. "Go!"

After they were gone, Emma put her hands to Regina's distressed face and sighed at her own cruelty. She put her arms around Regina and pulled her close, though the other woman did resist a little at first she fell into it and allowed herself to be held. Emma's voice was soft near her ear when she spoke.

"I'm sorry to bring this up for you but I need you on my side... and the others can't know or they won't let us mess with the past."

Regina drew back far enough to look at her with a question in her eyes.

Emma's face set with stony determination. "We're going to save the girls."