Chapter twenty-three

"Are you okay?" Emma asked Regina as they walked.

Regina simply nodded and continued walking. Emma looked over at Snow who was resolutely looking forward.

Emma sighed and grabbed Regina's hand, stopping her from walking. Once the others had gotten a few steps ahead, she continued towards camp.

"You can tell me Regina," Emma said, her hand still clasping hers.

Regina was silent for a moment longer, before she said, "the ogre."

Emma tilted her head, "what about it?"

"I was a weak coward," she replied, refusing to look the blonde in the eye.

"No, you were afraid, you know like a human being," Emma retorted with a cheeky smile.

"I could have thrown a fire ball, I'm stronger than an ogre," Regina sighed.

"Look at me," Emma said, she stopped walking and grabbed her other hand, "you're allowed to be afraid from time to time."

"And what if being afraid gets someone killed?

"It won't, because you will go all badass queen and fry their ass," Emma laughed. Regina narrowed her eyes, "if you're ever afraid then you can call me, and if I'm afraid you're sure as hell the first person I'd call."

"And what is the great and powerful saviour afraid of?" Regina asked seriously, though Emma could see a smile coming through the facade.

"Hmm...I'm afraid of horses," she offered. Regina looked offended and Emma sighed, "you're going to make me ride a horse aren't you?"

Regina nodded, "it would make me feel better," she offered, with a small pout.

"So I save you from an ogre and I have to face my fear?"

"Well I can't have you calling me every time you see a horse," Regina chuckled.

"Fine, you can give me riding lessons back in Storybrooke, but you have deal with the next monster."

"Deal," Regina leaned up and placed a small kiss on her girlfriend's lips. At this exact moment Snow turned around to witness the traumatising scene before her.

Mulan looked at the woman curiously as her face contorted in anger and she marched over to the other women.

"Stay away from my daughter!" she shouted.

Regina looked away from Emma in surprise, "what?" she laughed.

"I am not okay with you two being together, its...wrong!" she replied angrily.

Emma looked between Regina and Snow and let out an exasperated sigh, "you were not this angry the last time you found out."

"What?" Snow asked.

"When I came out last time, you still shouted, but you weren't this bad," she replied, still holding Regina close, though it was more for Snow's protection at this point.

"You can't be with another woman Emma."

Emma let out a puff of air in frustration, we have already been through this she thought. "You know we already have an heir," she bargained.

"But you can't have more," Snow retorted, not noticing Mulan had slipped away, pulling Aurora with her, they were only a couple minutes away from camp and she was going to need help for what she had planned.

"Yes, actually we can," Emma answered. Regina looked at her in shock and the blonde let go of her to rub her hand nervously across her face, "I broke the curse with Regina, meaning we are true loves, so we can have children together" she said, then turning to Regina, "and you need to unclench, it doesn't need to be anytime soon."

Regina rolled her eyes and turned to Snow, "can we just move to the part where you accept your daughter for who she is, we both know that you listened to your mother more than your father."

"What?" Emma whispered.

"Eva was tolerant of everything and Leopold hated everything, which makes for a very confused little princess," Regina sneered.

Snow's face went red with anger, "and what did you teach me, mother?"

Snow and Regina each narrowed their eyes, neither noticed Emma's cringe, why do people keep reminding that she's my step-grandmother?

"Obviously, not to keep a secret!" Regina shouted.

"I was ten!"

"Whoa, okay. This is getting out of hand, Mary Margaret we've only kissed like four times, we're barely even in a relationship," Emma offered.

"You shouldn't have kissed her at all," Snow shouted, "you should have been raised here. You should have been a princess, married a prince, and had children. You should never have grown up alone without your father and I, it is all her fault!"

Hurt flashed across Regina's face and Emma laid a hand on her shoulder.

"You believe in true love, right?" Emma asked in a calmer tone.

Snow reluctantly nodded.

"If Regina had never cast the curse, then Henry wouldn't have existed, she would over thirty years older than me, and let's face, Storybrooke is a hundred times better than the Enchanted Forest. Plus she was given a second chance and one of the first things she did was to try and reunite you and David. She regrets what she did, but you have to get over it, because at the moment you're not giving a very good case for choosing you over her," Emma ranted.

Snow made to retort, only for a dart to sink into her arm. As she fell to the ground unconscious, the other two just about had time to look at each other, before a dart hit each of them.

"What happened?" Emma asked groggily.

Sitting up, she looked around to be met with what looked like a dim cave.

"Mulan turned on us," Snow said through clenched teeth.

"Why?"

"She figured out who Alexis Thompson is," she replied.

Emma looked down to see Regina still unconscious, kneeling down, she ran a soft hand down her face.

"Regina," she whispered gently, ignoring Snow sighing and turning away.

"Emma, what happened?" she asked croakily.

"Apparently, I'm a terrible liar, are you okay?"

Regina nodded, and took Emma's offered hand to be pulled up.

"Where are we now?" Regina sighed, noticing that their bags must have been taken away from them.

Emma looked around, and the colour drained from her face, "damn it," she whispered.

"What is it?" Regina asked worriedly.

Emma sighed and called out, "Cora!"

Regina's mouth fell open as she looked between Emma and the shadowy corners of the cavern. Eventually said woman emerged with a smirk on her face.

"Yes dear?"

A/N I decided to not include Gold going to New York (it would literally be him handing Neal a letter anyway) and the rest of this section will probably be in the Enchanted Forest, with small parts focused on Henry and Charming in Storybrooke, though I'm probably going to skip over a lot of what happens there :) please feel free to let me know what you thought of the chapter :)