A/N Hey guys, thanks for all of the ideas, they were really helpful XD I now have another arc planned, so I hope you guys enjoy :)
I especially need to thank TheElephantInThePrideParade, who has become my kind of consultant for this part of the season XD most of the ideas in this chapter and the next couple are theirs.
And as usual I need to thank my beta QueenApples for helping to edit my first longer chapter haha
Chapter forty-six
"How did it go?" Henry asked excitedly.
Emma smiled at the boy sitting across from her in the diner booth, and replied, "didn't you ask your mom?"
"She said it was perfect, just making sure that you feel the same," he said with an encouraging smile.
"It was better than perfect, apart from the whole terrified thing."
Henry let out a bark of laughter and dug a fork into his pancakes, "mom said that you said the horse riding was awesome."
"The riding, not the horse," Emma said petulantly, "what time is your mom coming anyway?"
"Miss her?" he smirked.
The blonde tilted her head with a small smirk, and replied, "yes."
Henry rolled his eyes playfully, and finally answered her question, "she just needs to pick up some papers from her office, she shouldn't be too long."
The pair then fell into a comfortable silence, each of them thoroughly enjoying their breakfasts, only to be interrupted by a familiar face.
"Hey Neal," Henry said brightly.
"Hey kid," he returned, and stood awkwardly in front of them for a second.
Emma's eyes fell upon the door, wishing Regina would show up, which usually made her ex scurry away, but the brunette didn't arrive, so she internally sighed, and asked, "do you want to join us?"
Neal nodded vigorously, and before Emma could suggest that he sit next to Henry, he slid in next to the blonde, a moment later, Ruby placed a coffee in front of the man.
The wolf shot Emma a questioning look, and she just shrugged in reply.
Ruby returned with an exasperated look, and walked back over to the counter where her 'friend', Belle sat.
"So...how are you liking Storybrooke?" Emma sighed, shifting as far into the corner as possible.
Neal looked down at his coffee for a moment before he answered, "It's alright."
"Found a job yet?"
Neal nodded awkwardly, "my dad gave me Belle's old job since she's working at the library now."
They fell into a somewhat oppressive silence, each of the Charmings looking to the door and hoping for an interruption.
Finally it seemed that the younger of them had enough of the silence, and he quickly jumped up, "I need to use the restroom," he announced before he quickly ran away. Though he had been spending more time with his father, he still found it strange to even think about the fact that he had a father. Whenever the pair was together they always fell into small talk, and they had certainly never spent any time around his mothers, which Henry could tell must be a difficult subject for Neal.
Emma shot her son a dirty look and he just mouthed 'sorry' and ran away.
Emma looked to her supposed first love and offered a strained smile, and returned to looking at her coffee.
"So...you're a time-traveller?" Neal whispered looking around to make sure that no one was listening.
Emma looked at the man critically, and saw the tell-tale signs of disbelief, and tried not to laugh at how hopeful he looked for a response in the negative, "did Henry tell you?"
"He may have mentioned it, but it's just his imagination, right?"
Emma considered her options, and she knew instantly that she couldn't have another parent trying to convince Henry that he's crazy, just because she didn't really want to talk to her ex, "nope."
Neal nodded, and seemed to be taking a moment to process this, and finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind for a while, "so you have magic?"
Emma nodded slowly, and they once again fell into silence. The blonde knew that it wasn't a subject in which Neal was comfortable, but he had seemed to get over it eventually in the other timeline.
"You know I missed you, right?" he whispered after a moment, and Emma guessed he was trying to decide whether he was going to allow the new information to bother him, and she noted that he still looked rather tense about the subject of magic.
The blonde let out a breath of frustration, and said as calmly as possible, "was that before or after I got out of prison?"
"Emma..." he began.
Said woman quickly cut him off, and added, "I don't want to talk about this Neal."
"You told me you loved me, you can't just tell me that you fell out of love with me," he said defensively, trying to shift closer to her.
The blonde quickly put her hand out to stop his advancement, and replied, "I didn't fall out of love with you, I just fell in love with Regina."
He seemed to completely ignore the latter part of her statement, and asked, "so you love me?"
Emma continued to hold up her hand preventing his attempt to get any closer, and replied, "not in that way anymore."
"Why?" he asked rather childishly.
"You haven't exactly done anything to win my trust."
Neal sighed, and didn't seem to think his next words through and replied, "and the Evil Queen has?"
Emma's hand dropped to her side. She knew for a fact that Baelfire lived in the Enchanted Forest centuries before Regina was even born, so there was no way that he could have been personally affected by anything that she did during her time as the Evil Queen, so his statement had clearly just been out of spite.
Before she could retort in anger, he took the opportunity of her lowered hand, to lunge forward and connect their lips, only to be quickly met with a fist to the stomach.
"What the hell?!" the blonde shouted, gaining the attention of everyone in the diner.
Neal clutched his stomach, looking around the faces staring at him in surprise, he tried desperately to hide his embarrassment.
But his expression quickly turned to fear as he saw the unreadable expression of the woman standing at the door holding a folder.
Regina looked around the diner warningly, and reluctantly people began to turn their attention back to their breakfasts. Once they all had, she almost glided over to the booth, which Neal had already jumped up out of, wearing a very guilty expression.
"Regina..." Emma began weakly, hoping to at least prevent a heart rip, but the other woman just quickly held up her hand to stop the blonde's protests.
"What was that?" she asked Neal in a deceptively calm voice.
The man looked between the pair, and noticed Henry standing outside the restroom door watching the exchange apprehensively.
Regina followed his line of sight, and saw her son.
She took a deep breath and allowed some of her anger to fall away, preventing the fireball she wished to throw at the man from forming, and then looked back to Neal for an answer.
"I-I kissed Emma," he said, trying to sound confident about his decision.
"Why?" she shot back in a warning tone.
"Because...I love her."
Emma jumped up out of the booth and stood next to her girlfriend, making Regina visibly relax, "that doesn't change the fact that she is in a relationship," the mayor replied as calmly as possible.
Neal looked between the two women, noticing once again that the entire diner had their eyes upon the scene, and he decided to just bite the bullet and air his thoughts, "we all know that it isn't going to last long."
A shocked silence fell over the diner, everyone in town had begun to put some trust in the queen, and they were all very aware that it was because of her relationship with the saviour. There wasn't many who would dispute that they made a perfect couple, not in the least because of the look of pure anger on the mayor's face in this moment.
"What makes you think that?" Emma asked, clearly insulted, she took her hand off Regina's shoulder.
"Well...we just make more sense, Emma," he replied almost pleadingly, "we have a son together."
"You think biology is going to convince me?" Emma scoffed.
"Well you can't exactly deny that Henry isn't actually your son," Neal replied.
Regina looked at Emma, knowing her next words would probably cut deep, but she just received a nod of encouragement from her girlfriend, "what's his favourite colour?"
Neal furrowed his brow, "how would I possibly know that?"
"It's green," she countered, "his favourite subject at school? Favourite superhero?"
"I don't..." Neal began nervously looking around the diner at the judging faces.
"English and Wolverine," Emma contributed with a small smile, at least I know more than Neal.
"I agreed to allow you to see our son, Mr Cassidy, but I can just as easily take that right away from you. You have barely known him for a month, and yet you are trying to convince me that you have more right to see him just because you share DNA?" she asked incredulously.
"He's still my son!" he defended, though it was sounding rather weak.
"What's his full name?"
Neal's eyes widened and he looked to the ten year old for help, but the boy just remained standing behind his two mothers and looked to his father expectantly.
"Henry...err...Henry..."
"Henry Daniel Mills," Ruby called from the counter, she figured the man at least deserved to have some of the embarrassment relieved, even if she was on Regina's side with this.
"It's not my fault I don't know this!" Neal finally shouted, "I didn't even know that he existed."
Henry's eyes widened, and he looked up to Emma who refused to meet his eyes.
"Emma?" the boy asked tentatively, "is that true?"
Emma nodded slightly, and Henry quickly grabbed his backpack and made a run for the door. The blonde threw her head back in exasperation, and ran after him.
"What is wrong with you?" Regina shouted at the man who looked somewhat shell shocked.
"He deserved to know."
"He's ten!"
"I have the right to make decisions for my son," Neal retorted.
Regina was about to reply, but instead, she just clenched her fists.
They stared at each for a moment, before Regina just decided that she didn't need to be democratic in every situation, and retracted her fist, without hesitation she punched him straight in the nose.
As Neal fell back against the booth clutching his face, Regina turned on her heels and went off in search of Henry and Emma.
Emma quickly shot Regina a text to say that she found Henry, saying that she could handle it, and the slowly approached his castle.
"Your very predictable kid," she commented as she inspected the previously demolished structure.
Henry looked up from the opened book on his lap, and deadpanned, "you're from the future, that's not fair."
The blonde chuckled slightly, and hopped up to sit next to her son, "I guess you're right. Is that the new storybook?" she asked with a furrowed brow, looking at the image of she and Henry walking down Main Street.
Henry nodded and handed the tome to the older woman.
"Looking for anything in particular?" she asked as she skimmed over the passage next to the picture.
"I'm seeing if you lied to me in the other timeline."
Emma nodded in understanding and replied, "I told you that your dad was a fireman that died a hero."
"I know," he said hollowly, "I kind of wish that you'd lie to me again."
"You're not mad at me?" she asked in shock.
Henry shook his head, and replied, "Neal is a jerk. This says that he sent you to prison."
"He also sacrificed himself in the other timeline to save me, he just has a lot to adjust to, at heart he's a good guy. He made a pretty decent dad as well."
"Really?" Henry perked up.
"I thought you read the book," Emma laughed.
"I was focusing on the parts about you and mom," the boy chuckled.
Emma nodded in understanding, and explained, "he taught you how to sword fight."
"Awesome..." Henry trailed and seemed to be in deep thought, and Emma nudged him with her elbow.
"What's up, kid?"
"He just seems like a bad guy, he told mom that I'm not his son," he replied sadly.
Emma brought her arm around his small shoulders, and said rather solemnly, "as bad as it is, she's heard that a few times. Trust me, she doesn't believe it."
"Did I really do all the stuff that this book says I did?" he asked and turned to the page with the words 'I found my real mom' standing out amongst the others.
"You didn't do it, Henry," Emma answered, which earned her a look of confusion, "a different version of you did it."
"Are you talking about multi-verse theory?"
"Sure..." Emma laughed, "the point is that you can't feel guilty for something you never actually did. Even if it was somehow your fault, you've more than made up for it."
"So if I'm a different person...could Neal be?"
"What do you mean?" Emma asked with a tilted head.
"He just seems like a horrible person," Henry shrugged.
Emma thought back to the diner, and decided this was definitely something she needed to talk to Regina about. Neal did seem outright vindictive, and he looked physically angry at the thought of magic, "I'll look into it," she assured.
Henry nodded, and leaned his head on his blonde mother's shoulder, "I should probably stop running away," he thought out loud.
"You will eventually," Emma chuckled, and brought her arm around him, "it's in your genes."
Regina ran her fingers across where the small cuts on her knuckles once were, since she had quickly healed the small wounds earlier, and sat back in her desk chair.
She had been informed that Neal's nose wasn't broken, she just wished that she had given the man more than a nose bleed, but she decided to take what she could get, especially considering that he would probably be in her life for a long time.
Her phone buzzed, and she grabbed it to read, 'on my way, just finished some paperwork ;)' Regina raised her eyebrow at the words. She would seriously question them if she wasn't looking forward to lunch with her girlfriend.
Regina sighed in relief and quickly replied, 'see you soon, dear', and tried once again to concentrate on her work, but she found herself distracted again.
She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Her mother had assured her that Captain Hook would no longer be an issue, Gold had left town without attracting Greg, and Neal didn't get a chance to be engaged to Tamara, but she still felt this foreboding creeping upon her.
She blew out a breath of frustration, and finally began absentmindedly typing some environmental report about the park.
Eventually she found herself typing the last word, and furrowed her brow realising that it had been half an hour.
Grabbing her phone again, she saw that she hadn't missed any calls or texts, and rolled her eyes.
Clicking call button, her eyebrows instantly shot up as the familiar female voice told her that the number had been disconnected.
She stared blankly at the phone for a moment, and quickly called the station.
"Sheriff's station," David answered.
"Where's Emma?" Regina asked without pretence.
"She's with you, right?"
Regina clenched her hand around the phone, and briefly wondered if it would smash, but quickly put that thought aside, and ground out, "she's sitting right in front of me, I thought it would be hilarious to ask anyway."
For a moment she was sure that she could actually hear the saviour's father roll his eyes, but he just replied, "maybe she's caught up at the diner."
Regina quickly clicked off the call, and phoned Granny's.
After a short conversation, she heard all she needed to know: Emma never made it to get their lunch.
Various scenarios ran through her mind, she quickly dismissed the idea that the blonde had ran away, because frankly she knew that at this point it made no sense. That left the situations in which someone had hurt her love, and they would regret it if it was the last thing she did.
Emma opened one eye slowly, and instantly closed as the light attacked her iris.
She vaguely remembered being called to get Pongo just before going to the diner. One trip into the outskirts of the forest, and something hitting the back of her head later, was all she could remember.
Finally, she decided that she had to open her heavy eyes and inspect the situation.
She could tell that she was in some kind of cabin, with wires trailing across the floor.
While trying to moisten her mouth, she attempted to move, only to find an inch in any direction was as far as she could go. Then she saw the thing that confirmed what had happened to her.
That black arm band was bound upon her biceps, and she suddenly registered its oppressive effects. She seriously began to feel sympathy for the fact that Regina had gone almost three decades without her magic, because without it flowing through her veins, she felt almost hollow.
"Greg?" she managed to call out, though her dry throat maybe it sound hoarsely pathetic.
"Impressive," a male voice came from next to her.
Emma turned quickly, and winced as the pain flooded her synapses.
Swallowing hard she took in the image of the familiar man. Seeing his smug expression, she wanted nothing more than to punch it off, not least for what he had done to Regina.
"You know, for a time traveller, you were very easy to outsmart," he pointed out.
"What do you want?" Emma growled.
Greg tilted his head, and smirked, "I don't want anything, just doing a favour for a friend. It just so happens that I also have the opportunity to make the Evil Queen miserable at the same time."
Emma violently jerked in her binds, wishing to break them and attack her kidnapper, but at his howl of laughter, she stopped and took a deep breath.
"Where's Tamara?"
Greg furrowed his brow, "who?"
Emma took a deep, calming breath, what's the point of knowing the future if so much is different?, "she was your partner. I assumed she was your 'friend'."
"Oh no, you wouldn't have had to be a time traveller to know who he is," he said cryptically.
"What?" Emma sighed, the throbbing in the back of her head making everything sound more annoying than it really was.
Greg pointed to the other side of the room, and the blonde scowled at him, before turning to see what other goon she had to deal with this time.
As the familiar man stepped out of the corner shadow, her mouth dropped open, and she just about managed to stutter, "N-Neal?"
A/N So a few people have asked for longer chapters, and since I can't update every couple days as I had planned, I've decided to make this a once a week fic (maybe twice depending on my schedule/amount of inspiration) and have chapters about this length. Do you guys like that plan? Is this about the length you were looking for?
Reviews would be much appreciated, and once again thank you all for helping to free me from the writings block XD haha