Double Trouble 15

A/N: Thanks for the reviews :) love you all! I haven't had a chance to do replies this week but I want you guys to know that I'm definitely paying attention to your comments/questions. Plotwise questions will be answered eventually... it's still up in the air about what Henry's up to, what the Blue Fairy is up to, what is actually happening with the disappearing/shrinking stuff. Also I'm hearing requests for more Em/Ri and more Swan Queen, including any possible happenings in the past...? I'm in the business of granting your wishes. Enjoy :).

Chapter 15 'Show and Tell'

"Breaking and entering, Sheriff Swan? The door was locked." Regina didn't even look up.

Emma shrugged and leaned against the doorway. "When I need to get in somewhere... I do."

She would never have believed that the former Mayor would opt for such an informality unless she'd seen it for herself, but Regina was sitting on the floor of her bedroom. There was a large stationery-type box sitting next to her and she appeared to be flicking through piles of photographs of Henry.

"Regina, I'm uh - sorry about last night," said Emma, frowning. "Henry's ticked at me cos he thinks I did something to you to make you leave. We took the girls to work with us today in case you're wondering, but I finished early so I could uh, I just came to make sure you were okay."

Regina ignored the question, instead posing one of her own almost rhetorically. "Do you know what it's like to have your child taken from you?"

"Yes."

"No, you don't," said Regina forcefully, slicing the air with her hand. "You gave him up willingly."

Emma's temper snapped like a steel coil. "Why do you always say it like that? Like you're implying that I tossed him away because I couldn't be bothered raising him myself? You have no idea what I went through in giving him up! I wanted to keep my baby so badly. I thought, 'Finally I have a family, someone who will never leave me and who will love me no matter what.'"

"Then why did you give him up," asked Regina blandly.

"Because I had nothing to give him! I didn't know what to do with a kid. You've seen Em, she can't even take care of herself ... can you imagine her taking care of a baby? I couldn't have given him any sort of life back then. I had no money, no job, nowhere to live, and nobody to help me. But when they came to take him away I almost changed my mind, thinking of all the horrible places I'd lived while I was in the system and I begged and pleaded that he would end up in a better situation..."

Emma smiled humourlessly. "He got you."

"That was no coincidence," said Regina darkly. "August must have brought him to Storybrooke and he came to me through Mr Gold. How he must've enjoyed imagining you turning up ten years later to reclaim your son from the heartless Evil Queen. Whatever you think of me, however much you doubt that I love my son, I gave him whatever love I could. But I suppose that's the point isn't it? Nobody believes that I can love."

Emma shook her head pityingly. "You are not heartless, Regina. Your problem isn't that you can't love, it's that you feel things too deeply. To the extent that it makes you dangerous. You can't let go even when you should."

Regina's eyes flashed angrily. "Are you saying that I should cut my losses and give up? Let my son go? Forget about him."

"No!" said Emma firmly. "I meant your vengeance. Your hatred for Mary Margaret and your grief over what happened to Daniel. It was too hard to hate your mother for it wasn't it? You're so blinded by your pain that you've misplaced the blame for what Cora did on to Snow. Even when it almost cost you the one thing you do love - you still can't let it go!"

"I'm trying!" cried Regina, finally showing some genuine regret. "But I can't forget it. I don't know why. I have to hold on to what I have. Everyone I love gets taken from me. I thought she only did it because she loved me, she always thought she knew what was best for me. But my mother never even-"

Regina inhaled sharply. "My mother never-"

"She-"

Regina burst into sobs and, unused to doing so with an audience, immediately threw her hands over her face. Emma fell to the floor on her knees and pulled her into her arms, meeting stubborn resistance from her but she didn't allow her to get away.

"Let me go!" Regina struggled in her arms. "You can't-"

"No, don't fight me," murmured Emma. "I know, I know. I've got you."

Emma let her to cry on her shoulder for a long time and for once, Regina let herself be held. She didn't have the strength to push her away again.

David drove down the road that led out of town and towards the interstate highway. He pulled over abruptly when he saw Leroy's truck parked alongside the road and the dwarves standing around next to it.

"Leroy!" called David, slamming the driver's door shut. "You sent me that strange text message? What've you brought me out here for? You shouldn't be driving if you've been drinking."

"I'm not drunk!" growled Leroy. "Wish I was."

David propped his hands on his hips. "Okay. What is it? Why am I here?"

"We were gonna do patrols of the town line," Leroy started, and four of the other dwarves nodded. "You know, to check and see if anyone was trying anything and then well... Doc, why don't you explain?"

Doc prickled with offense. "My name is not Doc. It is Francois Dupont. I received my doctorate for research into diamond chemical vapour deposition and materials science. It was groundbreaking work. Now I teach Chemistry at the High School."

"See!" Leroy pointed at Doc.

David winced regretfully. "Doc lost his memories. Why did he go over the town line?"

"He didn't!" "Not even!" "The town line?" "No!" "He did not go!" cried five dwarves in succession.

"What do you mean?"

"Look!" Leroy pointed past the group, indicating down the road for David to follow with his gaze.

The 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign was at least a hundred yards away where the orange spray paint marked the border. The dwarves were nowhere near the town line where they'd parked the truck. Doc must've been the first to head towards it when they'd arrived and somehow he'd lost his memories, just like Sneezy had when they'd investigated the line months ago. Now only five of the seven dwarves remembered their fairytale identities.

"The magic," said David grimly. "It's shrinking away from the town line. Get back, all of you. Don't approach the border again until we figure out what's going on."

After Regina stopped crying, she extricated herself from Emma's arms swiftly despite feeling the loss immediately. Instead of showing gratitude or even embarrassment all she did was swipe her cheeks matter-of-factly and resumed looking through the box. Emma knew it must've cost her to give in to that display of emotions in her presence so she decided to let Regina save a little face.

They'd had their chance to scream out their anger at each other and now perhaps the wounds would heal instead of continuing to fester.

They were sitting side-by-side on the bedroom floor now with their backs against the bed, absentmindedly going through the photographs and keepsakes that documented Henry's childhood. Regina had seen it first-hand of course and had looked at the photos many times since but it was the first time for Emma, seeing captured moments of her child's early life. Seeing what she'd missed was bittersweet.

Regina had never had anyone to share parenting Henry with before and it left her feeling conflicted. Half of her still wanted him all to herself... and the other half remembered the first time she'd looked at Emma and seen someone who was great with her son. Begrudgingly, she'd begun to see the blonde in an entirely different way. Not that she was willing to admit that to her. It'd been horrifying and irritating enough at the time when she realised it, but now it was ... attractive?

Emma had made her an offer last year. She'd wanted to spend more time with Henry … and her. It seemed impossible that she would still want that. Did she really think they could do this together? Why was that idea so enticing now. Was it merely the appeal of having someone to rely on for support, someone to share the highs and commiserate the lows ... or was it something else? The two of them couldn't agree on anything when it came to Henry - except perhaps that they both loved him. How could it possibly work?

Emma held up a small hexagonal box with a fairy on top of it. She heard it rattle when she shook it. "What's in this?"

"Henry's baby teeth."

"Ew! You kept his teeth?" cried Emma. "Really, Regina?"

Regina snatched the little hex away in annoyance and put it back in the box. She started looking through a pile of photographs and handing them to Emma one by one. Sometimes she would comment on them:

"This one was taken at the Petting Zoo. He cried when it was time to go home..."

"Henry at the park. He's eighteen months here. Getting him to stop eating the sand was a challenge..."

"His first day of school. He was afraid the night before that the other kids wouldn't like him..."

"This was his seventh birthday. He wanted to make cupcakes all by himself. But he put the whole eggs in, even the shells..."

Emma stared at one she'd held in her hand for a while. "There's not many photos of both of you."

Regina gave a tiny shrug. "No-one to take them. I had Graham take some, like the one you're holding, but he wasn't around Henry much. I didn't want him to step in as Henry's father just because he was there."

"I like this one." Emma held up the photo, showing Regina holding baby Henry in the nursery. "You haven't aged a day."

Regina refused to dignify the smartass comment by responding to it. "He's eight weeks old there. Must've been taken during the five minutes he stopped crying."

"Was it hard? Taking care of him by yourself?"

"Yes and no. It was easy when he was a baby, it got harder when he was older actually. When he started to hate me. I didn't know why he began to withdraw from me at the time. But children are not easily fooled, he must've seen into my heart and known who I was. When he got the book he made the connection between me and the Evil Queen easily."

"He doesn't hate you, Regina. He loves you, you're his Mom."

Regina tensed uneasily, remembering the last time Emma had said that to her- and what it'd led to. "Perhaps. I think a part of him will always hate me though."

"Maybe we all hate our parents a little. We think they're perfect and when we find out they're not we hate them for it."

"Miss Blanchard, may I have a word?" requested the Blue Fairy.

Mary Margaret scanned her eyes over the classroom, gauging the chaos with a practiced eye. A classroom of children was like an army that could rise up with little warning if you weren't paying attention. The students were busily working on art projects and Ri and Em were going around helping with paints and glitter. Well, to be fair, Ri was helping the children and simultaneously trying to prevent Em from making a bigger mess than they already were.

Outside in the hall, Mary Margaret left the door cracked so she could still hear the class.

"Is something wrong, Blue?"

"Princess, I must warn you. You cannot allow this to go on any longer," said the Blue Fairy seriously.

"What do you mean?"

"You must keep those girls apart."

Mary Margaret's mouth parted curiously. "Em and Ri?"

"Yes."

"They're just kids."

"You know who she grows up to be. You know better than anyone of the evil deeds she will one day perform. We have a chance to stop it happening. To prevent all of it."

"Are you serious?" hissed Mary Margaret. "You want me to help you convince Ri not to cast the curse?"

"Yes."

"We have no idea what effect that could have! If Regina never cast the curse none of us would even be here, Storybrooke wouldn't exist."

"Precisely. This is our way of getting home - where we belong."

"What about my daughter?" said Mary Margaret coldly. "And her son. They grew up in this world."

The Blue Fairy steadied her gaze. "This is a war and sacrifices have to be made."

"Are you saying-!" Mary Margaret yelled, before dropping her voice lower. "Are you saying I should sacrifice my family - their happiness?"

"You were born a Royal. There is the price for having power over others. Sometimes you must make difficult choices for the good of all."

"No," said Mary Margaret firmly. "Find another way."

"I think young Henry already has," said The Blue Fairy. Her smile spoke of amusement but her tone was ominous.

"What are you talking about. What does Henry have to do with it?"

The nun replied somewhat evasively. "He came to me asking for help."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because now that magic is back and there's a supply of fairydust I can fulfill wishes."

Mary Margaret suddenly wondered why that hadn't occurred to her before. "What did Henry wish for?"

"It matters not. I refused to grant it."

The Blue Fairy turned on her heel and walked away down the hall, leaving Mary Margaret pondering over what had been revealed.

Whatever strange things were happening in Storybrooke lately were all connected to Henry somehow. It had to be connected to Em and Ri appearing in Storybrooke as well. But why would Henry wish for that?

What was it that Em had said? "After the first lie don't trust anything that comes after that"... Mary Margaret wished for Em's ability to detect a lie right now. She wasn't sure if the Blue Fairy was telling her the truth. Blue had lied to her once before... when the curse was coming she'd told her that there was room for only one passenger in the magic wardrobe portal. If not for that lie, the Snow White would've traveled to this world together with baby Emma and then her daughter wouldn't have had to grow up alone.

Had the Blue Fairy really not granted Henry's wish?

"He must've found another way," Mary Margaret murmured, looking through the glass of the classroom window to see Henry and Em throwing glitter at each other.

"I was waiting for you, Emma."

Regina's face was still sticky from her earlier tears and her voice was husky from overuse as she told Emma everything. Perhaps it was time to extend a little trust in return for earning some. Or at least after this she could rest knowing that someone had heard her side of the story, even if it did pale in comparison to the common knowledge of what she'd done as the Evil Queen. Emma might never understand it fully but maybe she'd see her differently now.

Regina went on. "When I got to Storybrooke, after a while I realised I didn't win at all. Everyone else was living like a zombie except me. What is the point of victory if no-one knows it? I wasn't happy. Nothing was real, but at least I didn't have to be her any more. I had no-one to talk to for nearly twenty years, until Henry said his first word. It was 'Mama'."

Regina handed Emma a photo of a toddler Henry just after he'd dumped a bowl of cereal over his head. Emma smiled at it fondly, though still hanging on Regina's every word.

"But as he got older he stopped talking to me too. I didn't even know he'd found out he was adopted until you showed up. I knew you had escaped and I expected your return for 28 years, as the prophecy foretold. I was waiting for you to come and free me from the curse."

"You did want the curse broken," said Emma in awe.

Regina shrugged lightly. "I was going to kill you afterwards."

"Right," Emma snorted.

"But when I saw you... I knew it was over. I knew you were her daughter. But you were Henry's mother too. You know, sometimes you look just like him when he's mad at me. Mr Gold was wrong when he told me Henry has his eyes ... he has yours. You fought with me tooth and nail over everything, like you weren't even afraid of me."

Emma laughed at that picture of herself. "Of course I'm afraid of you, Regina! You're dangerous as hell. Sometimes I feel like I'm carrying you across a river and you're gonna sting me and sink us both."

"I'd hardly sink myself, dear."

"But if you wanted the curse broken why did you try to stop me?"

"To stop you from finding out the truth of who I was. To stop Henry from finding out. I had to fight you. I didn't want you both to look at me the way you do now. I knew the first day we met that Henry would never be mine while ever you still lived."

"What do you want, Regina?" asked Emma, knowing the answer already.

"My son. I want him back."

"We can share him?" offered Emma. "I'll have the left half and you can have the right."

"Emma," said Regina sharply.

"Oh. You wanna chop him the other way? You can have the top half then, it talks too much."

Regina pushed the obnoxious blonde in the shoulder and shoved her off balance. "Stop it! That's my child you're talking about."

"I know," Emma said, happily riling her up while trying to fend off the attack. "He's kinda cute isn't he? We should totally keep him. I think I could die for him. Or kill."

"I could kill you right now."

"You won't."

"Don't tempt me."

Emma was trying not to smile too much. "Thanks for showing me Henry's things."

"You're welcome," Regina said stiffly. "For what it's worth I am … sorry for ruining your life, Emma. Even if we did get Henry out of all this."

"Yeah, he was worth it though. And hey, the kid could've done way worse than you and me! I'd do it all over again if we had the choice ... otherwise he wouldn't even be the same person. You should've seen the look he gave me last night - it was all you. I thought he was gonna call me 'Miss Swan' and demand that I give him some paperwork."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? I suppose in a way he has inherited traits from both of us."

"Yeah. Sorry he's such a brat," teased Emma lightly, knowing it would ruffle Regina's maternal feathers. "Guess that's my fault."

"Genetics is a powerful force," said Regina dryly.

"So is love," said Emma, unable to stop a smile tugging at her lips this time. She couldn't quite meet Regina's eyes after she'd said it and so she missed seeing a slight smile directed at her.