Double Trouble 16

A/N: No notes today except to say thankyou! Oops, paradox... Thanks to Thingol for the physics consult ;).

Chapter 16 'Mini-me'

"One way or another I'm gonna find ya I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha..."

Emma jabbed at her phone screen to answer the incoming call. "David, what is it? I left work early-"

"Where are you?" her father's voice said over the phone.

"I'm with Regina, at her place."

"Good. We need one or both of you to come here and discipline Henry..."

Emma and Regina appeared outside the front door of Mary Margaret's apartment in a swirl of purple smoke. Once the smoke disappeared, Emma arched her eyebrow at the provider of her magical transportation.

"Why didn't you just land us inside?"

"Because that would be rude," answered Regina matter-of-factly.

Once they were inside the apartment David and Mary Margaret noticed their arrival with immediate relief. They were standing on either side of Henry like they were interrogating him. He sat at the dining table with his face grumpily propped up on his fists. His whole body projected 'I'm in trouble'.

"Oookay, kid," said Emma, amused at the expression on his face. "What've ya done?"

"Nothing," said Henry indignantly.

"You're lying."

"Ugh, I hate your superpower!"

"Yep, I suck. Now, tell me what's going on."

"No."

"Ok. Then I'll sic your Mom onto you. I bet she and I could do a pretty decent Good cop/Bad cop routine and get you to behave. Don't forget that she used to be the Evil Queen..." Emma hinted with as straight a face as she could manage.

Regina curled her lip, but there was less disdain in it than usual. "Thanks for that, dear. You're assuming he'll do what I say."

Henry raised his chin defiantly. "Mom's idea of grounding me is sending me to my room, where all my comics are. I like reading."

Emma groaned. "Mary Margaret, David, tell us what is going on?"

Mary Margaret explained to them about the Blue Fairy's visit and how she had let slip that Henry had come to see her to request a wish. Even though they were told that Henry had not been granted his wish, she and David suspected that he'd found another way to get what he wanted.

"Uh huh," drawled Emma, getting the picture. "Someone told you 'no' so you found a way to get around them. It's like you're Em version 2.0."

"Henry, what was your wish?" said Regina.

Henry twisted his mouth sideways and kicked the chair legs under the table.

Mary Margaret answered instead. "He wished that you and Emma would be together."

"No, I didn't!" denied Henry, without realising he'd walked straight into the trap. "I wished that Mom and Emma could have some time to understand each other."

"We could have time to understand each other?" repeated Emma, cringing. "So this wish of yours somehow resulted in our teenage selves appearing in Storybrooke to help us understand each other's pasts?"

David shook his head. "No. The Blue Fairy said she didn't grant his wish."

"She can't," said Regina bitterly. "After my father lost his title, our patron was reassigned and all wishes were forfeited henceforth. No-one of the Mills family can be granted one anymore."

"So you never made a wish?" asked Emma.

Regina's expression soured. "I was never granted a wish. Now my son has been refused also."

Mary Margaret shook her head slowly. "Blue was not pleased that young Regina is here from the past but now she's working it to her advantage."

"What do you mean?" said Regina.

"She wants us to prevent Ri from casting the curse, to try to convince her not to."

David sighed. "We think that's why Storybrooke is shrinking."

Emma's jaw dropped and she felt a sense of dread without knowing why. "Uhh, I don't know what the hell you mean by that ... but it does not sound good."

David told them about getting the call from Leroy to meet the dwarves out near the town line. "When I got there, Leroy told me that Doc had lost his memory but they weren't even that close to the town line."

"Where were they?" said Emma.

"On the road out of town, about a hundred yards from the 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign."

"So the magical border is shrinking?" said Emma, horrified.

"Is it shrinking uniformly?" asked Regina. "By a hundred yards everywhere along the border?"

"We don't know! We can't know!" said Mary Margaret anxiously speaking in a rush. "Obviously we can't see the point where the magic stops and memories are lost. If it shrinks even further we won't even know until it hits more people. It's at the outskirts now but what happens if it gets all the way to the populated areas?"

"This is a disaster," said Emma seriously. "If the magic border shrinks completely, everyone will lose their memories and go back to their cursed selves - permanently."

"Except you, me, and Henry," Regina pointed out.

"Yes, and that would serve you well, wouldn't it Regina?" said David. "With nobody remembering you were the Evil Queen it'd be just like going back to before the curse was broken. You'd get to start over."

Regina's derision at that idea was evident. "Except that I'd lose my magic and the two most important people would still know the truth, my son and -"

"Emma," supplied Henry.

"What if we work on a way to bring back the lost memories?" suggested Mary Margaret.

"Yeah," said Emma brightly. "Mr Gold invented some potion to go over the town line when we went to New York. Maybe we can use the same thing. Or maybe we can find a way to get Belle's and Doc's memories back somehow."

"Then even if the border does shrink we can give the potion to everyone and recover the lost memories," said David enthusiastically.

Regina glared disapprovingly at how they continued to run away with their stupid idea, confident that everything would fall neatly into place. They really were irritating, the whole lot of them. Obviously it was a family trait.

"You got a cauldron, Regina?" teased Emma slyly. "Can you whip us up some hocus pocus?"

"A chemistry kit would be more appropriate," said Mary Margaret in the same tone.

"There isn't a magical cure for tragic events just because you want there to be!" said Regina, losing patience with them.

"There has to be something we can do, Regina," said Mary Margaret gently.

"Why?" Regina said mockingly. "Why does there have to be something that solves all our problems?"

"There will be," said Henry confidently.

"Sweetheart-"

Henry grabbed his mother's arm earnestly. "Mom! Believe me, this is what you don't know cos you've always been on the losing side-"

"Thanks, Henry," said Regina wryly.

"This is what Good knows that Evil doesn't! There is always a way, it's just hard to see it at first. No matter what happens the heroes always win. You're on our side now."

Emma gave the former Mayor a shit-eating grin. "The kid's right, Regina. Welcome to Team Awesome, where we bungle around until we figure it out."

Henry grinned happily. "Emma's the Saviour. She broke your curse, she can do this too."

"Er... yeah. I got this," Emma said shiftily.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Well, now I feel reassured."

David brought the conversation back to the problem at hand. "Is there a way to know where the border is right now?"

Regina inhaled slowly as she considered it. "I could go to find the border and use magic to identify it visibly so that we can track it's progress. Hopefully it's shrinking slowly enough that we'll have time to stop it or even reverse it."

Emma looked at her sharply. "You can't go there!"

"Why?"

"You don't have a cursed self. You can't risk losing your fairytale identity - it's your only identity. And if you go too far past the border you'll lose your magic won't you?"

"Most likely."

"Forever?" said Henry. "Or just until you come back, like Mr Gold?"

"I don't know," admitted Regina. "I've never tried to leave town. I've never crossed the border, even before I had my powers back."

"Why is this even happening?" Emma blurted out. "What the hell does it mean?"

"The girls. It's gotta be Ri," said David.

Regina nodded. "She's starting to doubt whether she should cast the curse."

"Wait," Mary Margaret held up her hands in alarm. "What happens to Em and Ri if the border shrinks all the way?"

After they'd spent the afternoon with Mary Margaret's class at school, Em and Ri went to the movies. Getting permission from Mary Margaret had been a cinch for Em since all she had to do was pout and plead and look pathetic. There was only one movie theatre in town and for some reason it was playing only films released in 1983. Em grabbed Ri's hand and concealed them both so they could sneak into a showing of Return of the Jedi.

On the screen, Princess Leia asked, "But, why must you confront him?"

"Because, there is good in him," said Luke. "I've felt it. He won't turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him. I can turn him back to the good side. I have to try."

Em had seen the movie several times and she took it upon herself to give Ri the full Star Wars education, complete with quoting the whole movie in time with the dialogue. She especially liked Vader's voice and making the kkkcchhhh noise. The whole thing was rather confusing for Ri, the worlds and ideas on the screen were so foreign to her... and yet there was something about it that resonated with another story she'd read.

Em dug her hand into the popcorn bucket and came up with nothing but Ri's hand.

"I think we've run out of the popped corn, Em," said Ri.

Em grinned and produced another bucket that was hidden on her other side. "Ta-da! Em's popcorn never runs out."

"This world has strange food," said Ri, with a fond smile. "You're starting to fill out a little, Em, and you look much healthier, compared to when I first met you."

"You saying I'm getting fat, hey? Oh no, watch this part! Yoda's about to die," whined Em, eyes glued to the screen.

Yoda's unique voice and grammatical constructions filled the near-empty theatre. "Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny..."

"Do think that's true, Em?" asked Ri quietly, turning away from where the poor little green creature was dying.

"Huh?"

"Do you think Regina can't be saved? That she can't be good again one day?"

Em turned to Ri to stroke her cheek with the back of her fingers. "Is this still bothering you? It may be your future, Ri, but it's Regina's present. It's up to her now. Try not to worry until it's your time."

"But maybe I can help her see. Maybe I can help her remember me. Emma told me there was a chance to help her change but she missed it. Maybe I can get Regina to let her try again."

Em sniffed in annoyance. "Emma let her down? Big surprise."

Ri shook her head. "No, Em, it wasn't like that. I think Emma offered herself to Regina but she pushed her away."

"Really?" Em peered at her curiously. "But Ri, you're her, can you think of why she would do that?"

"Yes," admitted Ri. "I'd push you away if I - " she stopped herself going further.

"It's ok. You don't have to say."

But even though Em told her not to worry, Ri still couldn't stop thinking about Regina's past - her future. She didn't know why but when she felt things she could never seem to let go. It seemed her heart could never forget. Today, that lady in blue had again reminded her of all the horrible things she'd read in that book of Henry's, the things that she would do to people one day and the curse that would tear a gaping hole in her heart.

She knew it wasn't her yet, but it was her. She was Regina already.

Em turned her attention back to the movie for a few minutes but she was surprised when Ri's lips suddenly pressed to hers. It felt different somehow and it wasn't just the delicious sting of salt. Ri was acting more confident but it seemed like she was feeling less so. It was dim in the movie theatre but when Em broke the kiss she could still see the darkening of Ri's eyes as though they begged her.

"Em? Take me away. I want to forget."

Em grinned happily in surprise. "Anything you wish, princess. Let's get out of here!"

Em and Ri left the movie theatre hand-in-hand and headed to a place that Em had remembered seeing a few blocks down main street. Even though it was growing late, the front lights of the building were still on and the Welcome sign was still lit. Em knocked on the door.

While they waited, Em hung her arm around Ri's neck and pecked a kiss on her cheek.

The door opened, revealing a tall brunette dressed scantily in clubbing clothes and smelling of cigarette smoke.

"Baby Emma," said Ruby curiously. "And...?"

Em placed a kiss on Ri's temple. "My girlfriend Ri."

Ruby nodded with a knowing smile. "Bet you guys aren't supposed to be out this late huh."

"Not really, but Em will take care of me," said Ri.

Ruby was fascinated by this younger version of Regina Mills, this trusting girl who was apparently smitten with Baby Emma. She would definitely be asking older Emma all about this later, she had a feeling the Sheriff was holding out on her about the Mayor. Those two were so obviously hot for each other. In the meantime, enabling this pair's shenanigans seemed like the thing to do.

"What can I do for you?" offered Ruby.

Em bared her teeth in a grin and winked. "I'd like a room."

"What happens if Ri goes back to the past and decides not to cast the curse?" said David. "Storybrooke shrinks and disappears? Are we all just going to appear back in the Enchanted Forest? Or stay here without magic and without our real memories?"

"If our memories changed we wouldn't even know it had happened," said Mary Margaret.

"Me and Regina would remember how it was the first time around," said Emma. "Like with the clocktower."

"What clocktower?" said David blankly.

Henry sighed impatiently. "The one you don't remember."

"We just went over this," said Emma in the same impatient tone as the boy. "It was there and now it's not."

"But what happens to Henry? If you never came to this world, Emma, you might not have met Neal and then -" Mary Margaret broke off abruptly before saying anything that might scare Henry ... like that he could be the next thing to disappear on them.

"That can't happen," said Henry, following her logic anyway.

"Why not, kid," said Emma grimly.

Henry twisted his mouth and shrugged. "Because. I have to be born cos I'm already here. Ri has to cast the curse because Mom already has. It's like in my space-time assignment ... events are their own causes. You can't change the past because it's already happened. The only thing that changes is your perception of it."

"But things are changing here, Henry. It's not stable like you're saying," said Regina gently. "If it was then we wouldn't have been able to change the past at all. If the timeline is stable then anything we changed in the past must have been part of the present timeline all along."

Emma squinted. "So... Em and Ri are here from the past but they have to go back for us to be here at all? Then why don't we remember any of this?"

"It depends on whether we're living by Terminator rules or Back to the Future rules," said Henry.

David laughed. "What?"

Henry shrugged again as if it should've been obvious. "Well, in Terminator they went back to change stuff in the past but it was stuff they'd already changed, so the future was the same … in Back to the Future when they went back to change stuff in the past the timeline got overwritten and the future changed."

"Okaaay, how did you do this, kid?" asked Emma suspiciously. "You may not have made your wish but you sure as hell got it to happen somehow. You know too much. And you watch too many movies. Did you have something to do with this?"

Henry didn't answer. Emma was listening too carefully.

"Have you accidentally invented time travel or something?"

"Nope," said Henry straight-faced. "That's probably not what's going on. It's because space and time are the same thing."

"Huh?" said Emma blankly.

"Okay. If you're not moving, you're still moving through time at a constant rate. If you are moving you're moving through space and time ... but if you're moving through space fast enough, like speed-of-light fast, you can move faster through time as well."

David groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Henry..."

"It means you can go forward in time but not back."

"So Em and Ri are stuck here?" cried Mary Margaret. "They can't go back?"

"No," said Henry simply. "They have to go back cos otherwise Emma and Mom wouldn't have grown up to be here now."

"Oh my god, kid, which is it!" said Emma, frustrated by the apparent paradox. "Can they go back or not?"

"Well, I'm not sure," admitted Henry. "Em and Ri are here from different worlds and different times."

"Just before a major event happened for each of them," said Regina uncomfortably.

"They both had their heart broken," murmured Emma in agreement.

Henry nodded. "Yeah, and if there are two events separated by enough time they can be related by cause-and-effect. But if there's enough space between them there's not enough time and so they don't occur in each other's future or past."

Emma gave him a side glance. "Enough space? Are you saying that me and Regina are from different universes? Cos I could've told you that. Her universe is crazy."

Regina gave Emma a face that threatened like stormclouds.

"Nuh uh," said Henry confidently. "I'm saying that future events can affect past ones. So because I was born, Mom had to cast the curse and you got pregnant, Emma."

"Wait a sec, Henry," said Mary Margaret. "Haven't you got that the wrong way around? Shouldn't it be that you were born because the curse had already happened and Emma had already gotten herself pregnant?"

"Nope. The past, the present, and the future are all the same. Mom and Emma did it so I could be born. The curse had to happen for me."

Emma snorted. "So what you're saying, kid, is that all of this is about you. That you're the center of everything that happens? You are such a mini-Regina, I can't believe it. That's actually hilari- AAARGH!"

Emma rubbed her shoulder where she'd been punched. "What was that for?"

"You know why," snapped Regina.

Emma grumbled under breath.

"Okay," said Mary Margaret. "So we still don't know how Em and Ri got here or how to get them back or why they're here in the first place."

"Even after Henry twisted our minds into pretzels trying to explain it," said David ruefully.

"Yeah, kid, thanks for nothing," said Emma in mock annoyance. "You little nerd. Who's been teaching you these crap physics theories? They don't make sense!"

Henry shrugged. "The internet."

"Oh. Then they must be correct," Emma grumbled sarcastically. "Those stupid theories all contradict one another! Are you sure you haven't got some of the details wrong, kid?"

"This time travel stuff is really confusing," said David with an apologetic smile.

"Yep, don't try to think about it too much," said Henry, secretly enjoying the adults' confusion. "Time stuff is - was - or will be - confusing enough to talk about, especially when Em and Ri get back."

"Where are they anyways?" said Emma.

"They went to the movies after school," said Mary Margaret.

Regina shook her head slightly. "Shouldn't they be back by now? It's getting late."

Emma frowned as she accessed her magic sense. "I know where they are."