Double Trouble 20

Chapter 20 'Point of view'

"That'd look good on you." Emma's voice was low and she was standing very close behind the slight form of a familiar brunette who apparently hadn't detected her presence yet.

Regina jumped visibly and rolled her eyes in recognition. She kept her attention firmly focused on the rack of clothes she was looking through without turning around.

"Anything would," said Regina archly. "Exhibiting your random magical talent I see. Am I about to regret answering my phone?"

"Where's Ri?"

"In the change room."

Emma went around to stand in Regina's line of sight. "Em is at home moping all day, I'm checking my phone every five minutes to see if you've deigned to answer any one of my messages... and you two are here, shopping at Miss Muffet's Teen Boutique?"

"She wanted a dress."

"That's your big cure for her broken heart, Regina?!"

Regina looked annoyed. "If it makes her feel better then why does it matter?"

"Because. Shopping is stupid."

"I'm not at all surprised to hear you say that," said Regina, making an obvious show of looking Emma up and down. "Given your complete lack of attention to matters of appearance."

"Thanks. As if I haven't noticed you checking out my ass," said Emma immaturely. "What'd you mean before on the phone about Ri getting overwhelmed?"

Regina ignored the question and went over to look at some other dresses Ri would like. "How's Em?"

"How do you think she is?" said Emma sarcastically. She shrugged and let her arms slap against her sides. Seeing her younger self so depressed was a disheartening reminder of what her life used to be like and Regina's casual treatment of the question was grating.

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

"She's hurt of course! Do you think someone who's never been loved before - by anyone - can just brush that off easily? She put herself out there and got rejected."

"That's not what happened."

"Uh yeah it was. Em told her she loved her and Ri got upset and disappeared. That sounds like a rejection to me - and I would know."

Regina pinned her with a fierce gaze. "I told you-"

"-what, to never speak of it again? Yeah well, you should've made it a promise instead of a threat, Regina. You can't keep Henry away from me any more, so now I have no incentive to shut up just because you want me to."

"My son was taken from me," hissed Regina at a whisper, glancing around the near empty shop. "By you. Now you're keeping him away from me."

"Even if I was it'd be exactly what you were doing to me last year. You just don't like the game when you're not winning... But I'm not keeping him from you! We're having this argument over and over, fighting over our kid. I thought we were getting somewhere the other day at your place. We need to talk. I can't keep doing this."

"Of course you can't," sneered Regina.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emma glared at her, waiting for an answer but of course she didn't get one.

What was with the two of them? Things could be calm one minute and a squall at the next. In coming to find Regina she hadn't intended to start an argument. They hadn't seen each other since the other night, when they'd caught Em and Ri together, and the unspoken implications for their own relationship were awkward as hell. Despite what'd happened, fixing the teens seemed to be the easier of the two right now.

Their staring contest was broken when Ri appeared near them. Emma's head whipped around at the younger version of Regina and her jaw dropped seeing the girl's new outfit.

When Ri spoke she was subdued and cheerless. "Hi Emma."

"You are so not wearing that," said Emma, staring at the teen in awe.

"You don't like it?"

Emma shook her head slowly. "It's-"

Ri had on a knee-length light-coloured dress with a black lace overlay. It was strapless and cut straight across her front, the tight boned-fabric followed her waist in a V until it flared into the skirt. She had on tights for warmth and a pair of ballet flats that Emma knew couldn't possibly belong to Regina, who she'd never seen wear anything other than heels (even when she'd twisted her damn ankle, the stubborn woman).

Regina handed her credit card to Ri and told her to go to the counter to pay for the dress and instructed her to sign her name.

"You can't get her to sign for you," said Emma snippily.

Regina gave her a patronising look. "She's me. It's hardly identity fraud, Sheriff."

"You can't let her wear that!"

"Why not."

Emma stammered. "It's like - it's - it looks like - it's a corset! It's showing her off- she's too young. She's gonna freeze outside."

"It's not a corset, it's a bodice. She picked it and I am not going to tell her she can't have it. You're being ridiculous. I can't decide if you're acting jealous or over-protective."

"Regina," growled Emma. "She's a young girl. You think it's ok for her to walk around like that and be ogled by every guy in town?"

"How is it her fault if men can't keep their eyes away? I wore far more revealing outfits than that, I assure you."

"Yeah, when you were the Queen and you had power and protection, not when you were-"

"-actually yes, when I was her age."

"Yeah great. So we should just encourage her to believe that her beauty and marriage value is all there is to her. Let's just water the seeds your mother planted then! Did you learn to use it to your advantage early?"

Regina smiled humourlessly. "You don't understand that world at all do you? You use whatever you have... you go as far as it takes."

Emma snorted. "We are not there anymore. We're here, in the real world where things make a bit more sense-"

"Not for much longer if the border keeps shrinking."

"I need your help with that-" Emma hissed.

"Why don't you ask Mr Gold? Perhaps he can help give you evidence of my guilt since apparently I'm responsible for everything that goes awry in Storybrooke. Have you any other unsolved crimes to blame me for, Sheriff? A burglary or maybe even a murder? Allow me to suggest 'Regina Mills in the conservatory with the wrench'. Clue was a favourite of Henry's." Regina's sass was at full-strength. "He can teach you how to logically assign blame if your detective skills are lacking."

"I'm not blaming you for it, I need your help!" Emma shoved her frustration deep down and became solemn. "Regina, in all seriousness Ri was really upset about what happened and she's still torturing herself over casting the curse. I'm worried for her. I need to know how far she'd go to try to prevent it."

"That won't occur to her."

Emma was partially relieved. "I hope you know yourself that well."

Regina shook her head with reproach, although it was hard to tell if it was for her self or others. "She won't even think of such a thing. She'll destroy everyone around her but not herself. Her life doesn't belong to her and it's not hers to control. She still thinks that her parents hold custody of it until she gets married and after that she'll belong to her husband."

Emma gritted her teeth and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like 'fuck that'. "This world might suck, but that one sucked worse. For you at least."

With that derailing of her vindictiveness, Regina seemed to be taken aback by the apparent empathy for her past.

They both spoke suddenly at the same time. "Emma, we should-"

"Regina, can we-"

They were interrupted when Ri came back holding the store bag, still wearing her new dress and a dove grey pea-coat of Regina's. She handed the credit card back to her older self and glanced at the tense adults who had hastily stopped talking, looking from one to the other.

"Is something wrong?" said Ri.

Emma softened her tone. "Ri, are you ok? The other night you were pretty upset."

Ri tried to smile but it was watery and thin. "I'm fine. Is Em-"

"She misses you."

Ri's eyes filled with tears. "I miss her too. Emma, are you really mad at me for what I did?"

"No, Ri -"

She didn't get the rest out because Ri threw her arms around her in a hug. The few times that Emma had gotten to hug Regina she was so stiff and reluctant that it was a fight to get to hold her. Even though Ri was much more pliant and it wasn't quite the same, she still felt the same urge to protect the girl in her arms that she did with the older version.

Ri sighed. "Oh, you feel so much like her... almost. I'm so sorry I hurt Em! I didn't mean to, I - what's that phrase she uses for overreacted?"

"Freaked out."

"Yes! That's it. Where I'm from, girls aren't supposed to do what I did. Not if they ever hope to get married. I was afraid of what would happen."

Emma stroked her cheek gently. "It's ok if you're scared. Em's just - she didn't know and she's scared too."

Ri looked down shyly. "I am scared. It feels like there's something wrong with my heart that time doesn't fix."

Emma opened her mouth out of curiosity but before she could ask, Regina interrupted. "Emma, it's nearly three-thirty. You have to go pick up Henry."

"Er, can you get him today? I want to talk to Ri for a sec."

Regina schooled her expression tightly, hiding the surprise that flashed across her face. "But he'll be expecting you."

"He's been asking for you since you left the other night," said Emma pointedly.

Regina didn't need to be offered it twice and she was out the door in seconds, leaving a handprint on Emma's shoulder as she ran out. That tiny hint of a truce made Emma smile long after she was gone. She knew Regina was desperate for time with Henry but wasn't going to force it if the boy was still reluctant to be around her. Hearing that he had missed her and wanted to see her must've given her hope that the relationship between mother and son was on the mend. No matter what Regina thought, Emma wasn't barring her from being with Henry.

They left the shop soon after Regina did and headed home. Ri couldn't help her giggles however, trying and failing to hide them behind her hands as she snuck glances at Emma.

"What," said Emma, sending a sly smile sideways at the teen.

Ri grinned coyly. "She likes you. Do you like her?"

"Careful, Ri, you're gonna get busted for insider trading."

Ri stopped her and cupped a hand over Emma's ear so she could whisper something.

"Is that so?" said Emma, breaking a smile.

Ri nodded fervently and pressed her lips to Emma's in a chaste kiss.

"Ri -"

"I know. I'm not the right one, I'm not your Regina. I just didn't want you to forget."

Emma sighed. "Trust me, I haven't."

"Don't give up. You're closer than you think."

Emma was warmed by the sweet girl's words, she was heartbroken herself and yet she still had enough heart left to care for others. She really wanted Ri to understand one more thing before they went back to Em.

"Ri. You're a beautiful girl and the dress is pretty but that's not why we like you... our favourite parts are here-" Emma tapped Ri's forehead and then laid one fingertip lightly over her heart.

"-and here. Getting married isn't as important as being loved by someone who knows how truly lucky they are to have you."

Ri's smile filled her whole face and for the first time Emma noticed a physical difference between hers and Regina's - there was no scar on her upper lip.

Standing outside the school gates among the throng of parents, Regina was highly annoyed at herself for feeling apprehensive. She wasn't bothered by the looks she got from some of the peasants though, it was her own son who was the reason. He hadn't lived with her for months and in that time he'd seen far more of her bad side than her good side - if she even had one. No wonder he avoided her, he was probably scared of her.

Things had been fractured between them for a while before Emma turned up in Storybrooke and then it had hurt so much to be replaced in favour of his "real" mother. Of course Emma would be the favourite, the fun one, the partner-in-crime who snuck around with him behind her back. Good heroic Emma. The Saviour.

Regina could hardly compete with that.

But she was his mother too and she'd thought that Henry had seen good in her in all the time he'd been with her. Maybe it was nothing compared to finding out that she was the Evil Queen though. Defending her would be a huge burden for a child, she knew that, but when Henry continually brushed her off despite her efforts to change she couldn't deny that it'd hurt worse than anything the others had done or said to her.

It was jarring that Emma had essentially given her permission to collect her own son from school today, but at this point Regina would take it. She was afraid of seeing Henry's reaction though, in case his face fell in disappointment or he refused to go with her. What if he-

"Hey, Mom. What are you doing here?" Henry appeared at her side, wearing his school backpack.

Regina twitched and had to stop herself from going to hug him, knowing better than to embarrass him in front of all the other children.

"I came to pick you up."

"Where's Emma?"

Regina smiled tightly. "With Ri. How was school?"

"Okay I guess."

They started walking away from the school but Henry wasn't satisfied with silence when he was dying to know the answers to questions Emma hadn't been able to give.

"Mom, what happened the other night? Everyone left and then you and Ri didn't come back. Em's really sad all the time and Emma's been cranky and she keeps hogging all the icecream. I don't know what's going on. Why is everyone upset?"

Regina was a bit gobsmacked by the barrage of awkward questions, not knowing how to answer.

Henry gave her his lopsided look. "Let me guess. You and Emma had a fight and so did Ri and Em."

"Ri and Em will work things out. It was just a misunderstanding."

"What about you and Emma?" said Henry slyly.

"That's different, that's -" Regina broke off, trying to hide it but she could see that her son wasn't buying it.

"Grownup stuff?"

Things between her and Emma were so undefined right now, she wasn't sure quite where they were at. They were strangely close but there always seemed to be something holding them back. As usual, the major cause of tension between them was disagreeing over their son but perhaps once that linchpin fell they could start to work on their relationship - whatever that was. Regina was not ready to have that talk with Henry though, she wasn't even sure if she was ready to talk about it with Emma.

"Mom, can I ask you ... What if someone does something bad but it's for a good reason, is the person still bad?"

Regina frowned, wondering if he was talking about Mary Margaret's treachery. The reminder of her mother's death pained her.

"What if they did something really bad like casting a curse, but everything turns out ok in the end. What if it ends up better than it was before? Are they still bad then?"

"Sweetheart, I didn't cast the curse for a good reason," admitted Regina, feeling mixed pain and hope at how her son was trying to rationalise what his mother had done.

"I know. You were trying to take away the happy endings. But in the book nobody actually got their happy ending in the first place! Cinderella lost her prince, Dreamy lost Nova, Princess Abigail lost Frederik, Rumpelstiltzskin lost Belle-"

"Henry-"

"-you lost Daniel, and Snow White and Prince Charming lost each other too."

Regina winced. "Not for long."

"It seems like no-one was really happy there. But in this world maybe the happy endings are possible, everyone has another chance. Including you."

"I can't-"

"Sure you can. You did bad things but it's all going to turn out ok, I know it. You've always been good, sorta, I just didn't see it before. Emma gets it cos she used to be bad too. But she's the Saviour, she's here to bring back the happy endings. Maybe she'll help you get yours."

Regina smiled widely in spite of herself, thinking about Emma. Even when she was Em she hadn't been "bad" on the same scale that Regina had been, no matter how hard Henry tried to connect them. She hadn't missed her son's transparent attempts at matchmaking either, of course a child would want his parents to be together, but maybe he was right. In a way, perhaps the curse would give her a happy ending after all. Was it really possible?

"You look just like her right now," said Henry, peering at his mother knowingly.

"Who?"

"Ri. You have the same smile."

"Em," said Mary Margaret in a firm voice that stopped the teen in her tracks as she headed for the door. "It's getting late, it's cold, and you are not going out."

"You can't tell me what to do," Em muttered stubbornly under her breath. But even so, she didn't leave. Instead she scuffed her feet and went over to plop on the couch roughly.

The front door to the apartment opened shortly after, revealing Emma and Ri. From the couch, Em took one glance at them before looking away in another direction, studiously ignoring them all.

Mary Margaret greeted them both from her position at the stove. "Ri honey, it's wonderful to see you back! You two must be freezing, come in and get warm. Hot chocolate'll be a second, Emma. I'm just waiting for the milk to boil. Do you want some too, Ri?"

Ri glanced at Em before answering. "Can I have mine plain with vanilla?"

"Do you want cinnamon with your hot chocolate, Em?" asked Mary Margaret, without getting an answer so she asked again more sternly. "Em, I asked you a question."

"No, I do not want hot chocolate," said Em, stroppy at being forced to talk.

Emma placed a comforting hand on Ri's arm when the teen's face fell at getting the cold shoulder. Despite missing Ri desperately, her younger self was still smarting from what happened the other night and Emma was worried about what she might say to Ri before she got over it. She knew it was up to them to work it out, but she was half tempted to keep Ri away until she was certain Em was finished with her black mood.

"Nice dress, Ri," said Em snootily. "Where'd you get it - the Evil Queen's closet?"

Hurt flashed across Ri's face more at the tone used than the content. "No. I got it from a shop. At home it takes a week to wait for the dressmaker but here they have dresses ready-made. There were so many to choose from too."

Em crossed her arms grumpily and slouched further down the couch. She was determined not to look at her, figuring it was a trick to get her attention.

"Well, I bet half of Storybrooke enjoys the view."

"I'm not wearing it for anyone else," said Ri haughtily. "For your information, Em, this is the first dress I've ever worn that wasn't picked out by Mother. I chose it myself so I don't care if you don't like it because I do."

Em merely picked up her aviator sunnies from the coffee table and replaced her glasses with the reflective shades.

Ri went with Emma to sit at the kitchen bench and when the drinks were ready, Mary Margaret placed the mugs in front of them.

"Mm, you sure you don't want chocolate in it, Ri?" said Emma, cupping her hot drink gratefully. "And cinnamon?"

"No, I like it this way." Ri took a sip of the hot milk and felt the warmth suffuse her from inside.

"Plain vanilla? Boring," teased Emma.

Mary Margaret reached over to swat Emma's shoulder playfully. "Leave her alone, you!"

"I love vanilla," said Ri quietly.