Regina entered her father's home and as usual, at this time of the morning, it was hushed. She saw one of the villagers about to exist his home. Regina made her way across when the villager bowed his head, and then moved away and heading out. Regina heading to her father's office. He looked up from his students and smiled when he saw Regina through the open door.
"I have some news," Regina reached into her cloak and brought out papers and handed them to Father Mills, who come around his desk.
"Ah, this is good. I am glad you are here. I want to introduce you to your new maid."
"I am afraid that my visits are going to be very limited."
"I see Nurse Blue had convinced King Leopold?"
"Yes, as we feared."
Father Henry put his arm around Regina and led her away from the office towards the back. He opened a door that led into pitch darkness.
"You have a cellar?"
"Yes, this home was gifted to me when a friend passed away, and he stored his collection of wine down there before the war, and now we just use it for storage."
"Where are we going?"
"To meet your maid," Father Henry replied as he lit the oil lamp and Regina followed down the stairs with him.
"Emma, it's just me," Father Henry called out as they descended.
"I'm in the wine room," Emma's muffled voice filtered back up.
"She sounds very young," Regina whispered.
"She's fourteen but works hard and has a good heart. I'm quite sure she will like you, and you will think she's a little too chatty."
"I am not chatty, Fath—" Emma come out of the wine room holding an old bottle and stopped dead when she saw Regina's tall form behind Father Henry. "What's in God's name is this fucking bitch doing here?!" She spat out, and then she turned and went back inside the wine room. Moments later, she come back out with a sword and aimed it at Regina.
Emma swore and glared at her sword to kill Regina, but Father Henry stood in the way, "Put your sword down, Emma, and what have I told you about swearing in my house?" Father Henry shielded Regina from an enraged young woman.
"No! Get the fuck away from you, Father or else."
Father Henry stood his ground, "or else what? Will you kill me too? Here? In my house?" Father Henry exclaimed in outrate, "Emma! This is not what I expect from you!"
"Sorry, but the sight of this bitch makes my blood boil!"
"The sound of your swearing is going to send me to an early grave! Haven't there been too many deaths already today?"
"This will be a justified death. Now step away from her."
"Do you think I can't call on my guards at this very moment?" Emma asked as she peered over Father Henry. She wasn't sure why she wanted to goad Emma, but she couldn't help herself.
Emma shook with rage and leveled the sword once more at her. Emma stopped herself from swearing and then glared at Regina. "What is this b- doing here in the holy of holies!"
"Since when my house has been the holy of holies?" Father Henry asked shaking his head in astonishment.
"Everyone sees you as some kind of a priest, Father H."
"My god, you are insufferable!" Regina exclaimed. "Father, I can't work with this child!"
"I am not a child, you fucking evil cripple!" Emma spat out, and before she could react Father Henry reached out and grabbed the sword from her hand. "Father!" Emma protested.
"I told you, no swearing in my house! Now sit down and listen," Father Henry pushed Emma onto a crate. Regina chose to stand as far away from her as possible.
"You can't expect me to be in the same room as this…" She was about to swear again but stopped herself, "with this…whore!" Emma gave up and threw her hands up.
"Why not?"
Emma looked at Father Henry as if he had grown another head. "Were you not there at the hanging? Where she … she did nothing when they were murdered, and …."
"I haven't forgotten, Emma. It's not what you think. You remember what I said it is best if our left-hand does not know what our right hand is doing?"
"Yesss," Emma let out a frustrated breath. "What does that have to do with …her?"
"Emma. Emma. Emma, you need to cultivate patience."
"Father, Father. Father," Emma mimicked Father Henry sarcastically.
"I need to get out of here before I kill someone," she tried to get up, but Regina had moved and was standing before here. She was pushed back down by the tall woman. Emma pushed her aways away in disgust. "Don't touch me!" She yelled, "I don't want your bloody hands on me."
"Stop behaving like a two-year-old and listen what Father before you give yourself heart failure. At this point, I vote for you to continue but I don't think Father Henry would like it," Regina told her, but Emma's response was about to bolt to her feet and spit at her.
"I knew it! You are the fucking spy!"
"My god, you are an imbecile!" Regina retorted and wiped her hands against her cloak.
"Emma!" Father Henry exclaimed and took out a handkerchief from his robe and handed it to Regina.
"It's all right, Father," Regina wiped the spit from her face. "We are dealing with a child having a temper tantrum. I understand her hatred even though she can't articulate it without sounding like a drunken whore."
"What would you know about hatred other than being the one doing the hating?!" Emma snarled and crossed her arms over her chest. "You are part of them and a fucking spy. You can fool Father, but you don't fool me."
Regina mocked Emma and shook her head, "Oh no! You brilliant child, you have found me out."
"Ladies!" Father Henry got in between Regina and Emma and glared at both in turn. "Will you please treat my house as peace and call it a truce? Emma, I think you owe Regina an apology."
"Like hell I do!"
"Emma," Father Henry shook his head, "you need to calm down."
Emma paced around in a circle trying to calm herself, "Father, if I didn't know better, I would say you were a collaborator."
"We now go from imbecile to moron," Regina muttered.
"Regina! I want both of you stop talking," Henry pleaded and pointed to the upturned crates. "Both of you sit down!"
Regina was exasperated and blew out a frustrated breath. She took an upturned crate and sat on it. Emma took a box and sat on it on the opposite side and continued to glare at Regina.
"Emma, this is Regina Mills."
"I know who she is," Emma spat out bitterly, "Queen Regina is the evil monster's spawn."
"No, you don't know who she is. And stop interrupting me!"
"Emma, what Father Henry is trying to say is that I am not the person you think I am."
"Oh, that's even better. I don't know who Father Henry is, you're not who I think you are, and you expect me to sit here and believe it?" She looked at Regina for a moment, "by the way, I am not who you think I am either. In fact, …"
Father Henry sat down and pulled Emma down with him, clasping his hands over hers to force her to stop talking about herself when she's about to tell her who she is. This is not his intention at all. "Do you remember Aunt Ruby had to warn the people when Evil Queen's militias were about to march into town?"
"Yes. She got four people out in time but what—"
Father Henry pressed his fingers to Emma's mouth to quiet her. "How do you think we got that information?"
Emma shrugged, pulling Father Henry's fingers away from her mouth. "I don't know. Maybe Queen Regina gave you the news," she said sarcastically. "This is even worse than I thought."
Father Henry looked at Regina, who nodded at him. Emma looked between two of them and sighed. "A few months ago, I approached Father Mills and gave him the news about the militias whereabouts and the town were being sought by the Evil Queen."
"Oh, how noble of you, Regina," Emma mockingly responded. "Is that your good deed of the week?"
"Emma!"
"What? Father, are you telling me that she gave you the information? Do you really want me to believe that?"
"Yes," Regina responded.
"Oh right, and I believe it because Queen Bitch tells me."
"Why is it so hard for you to believe?" Regina asked, she can be good, why can't Emma believe that I can be good.
Emma's eyebrows hiked in surprise, started yelling at Regina, "Oh, I don't know, could it be that you're the enemy! Living at the White Kingdom?! Took part of killing my people!"
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the sight of this fiery and fearless teenager made her want to applaud, which was a very odd reaction. Regina was tempted to laugh at the absurd threats and her statement was completely untrue but chose not to because it would only inflame the situation. She continued to smile when Emma stood up and stepped over her.
"I am going to kill you," Emma said very slowly. "It is not a threat."
"Not with that sword, you won't," Regina responded with a sneer forgetting herself and giving in to the nonsensical discussion.
"You have a smart mouth for a cripple."
"You're a feisty little thing, aren't you?" Regina asked, which only earned her a growl. "Feisty and stupid. Almost as entertaining as a two-year-old."
"Someone should shut that smart mouth of yours," Emma spats back.
"It won't be you. You can't reach it," Regina felt oddly heated with Emma at this very moment and then chuckled. Despite being annoyed with the teenager, Regina was actually enjoying this verbal challenge with Emma, as if - I am imagining things, of course.
"Regina is my daughter," Father Henry announced. Emma turned to him with a look of disbelief on her face. Emma blinked, "What? You have a daughter, and it's her? NO!"
"See, I am not Satan's spawn, I'm his spawn," Regina said on seeing Emma's green eyes darken in anger. The vein in her neck pulsed to such a degree, she was certain Emma was going to have a heart failure at some point.
"Regina! You are not helping!" Father Henry admonished, and turned to Emma, who noe appeared to be enraged by the news.
"You ... You don't have sex," I mean, I have never seen him with anyone.
Father Henry smiled, "there are more things in heaven and earth…"
"Huh?"
"It's a famous quote, by an English poet…" Regina began to explain but was silenced by the hate-filled look she was getting from Emma.
Emma let out frustrated growl. Shaking her head, she bolted up the stairs and out of the house into a downpour.
"Oh great!" Emma looked up into the heaves, now soaked. The rain fell heavily as Emma thumped the ground in frustration. She was cold and angry. Angry with Father H for taking Regina's side and mad at herself for not killing her when she had the chance. Emma splashed through the mud and sat on an old trunk on the muddy ground.
Father Henry stood under the overhanging shingle and sighed. "Emma, come back inside. Regina has left, and we really need to talk. Please."
"No!" Emma mumbled with her arms crossed.
"Getting wet won't help. You're going to catch a cold."
"So what?" Emma replied. "If I die from a cold or if Evil Queen kills me, what would it matter?"
"It would matter to me," Father Henry held out his hand, "come back inside. We have to talk."
"What's left to be said?"
"You would be surprised," Father H smiled as Emma got up from the trunk and made her way towards him. Emma accepted the cloth from Father Henry and dried her hair. She followed him inside the small office. With the cloth around her wet hair, Emma stood by the window, her head resting on the glass and watched the rain falling lightly against the pane. She sighed as she traced the drop with her finger, disappointment weighting heavily on her shoulders. "You've complicated matters."
"Oh, how so?"
"I was going to kill her," Emma said quietly. "I had it all planned out. I was going to avenge my mama's murder. Now you tell me she's your daughter. How can she be your daughter? You never married. I mean I have never seen you talking about … This isn't right."
"I have never lied to you about anything. Why am I going to start now?"
Emma shook her head, "I don't know. How can she be your daughter?"
"That answer is not for today. I want to talk to you about how you are going to work with my daughter."
"Yeah, right," Emma continued to watch the rainfall, "very useful, and I have the most useless magic ever made."
Father Henry got up and walked over to Emma, gently placing his hands over hers, "you can be influential in our struggle to win."
"If I was useful, why didn't I help Neal or even Killian Jones? How useful was I when others who have died?" Emma turned and looked at Father Henry, her green eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"You were useful at the battle with Evil Queen's mighty guards or destroying carriages."
"How do you know about that?"
"There is a lot I know about, Emma. Remember what I said about your left hand, not knowing what your right hand was doing. You cannot stop the war by yourself, my child. It's going to take the might of the Allied powers to deliver the deathblow to the Evil Queen. Just as a hand needs the rest of the body to accomplish its desired action, so do we. We need every good magical ally on our side to help us defeat the Evil Queen. You are useful."
"How? I haven't done anything, apart from a lot of crying and watching my friends die."
"You have been helping me to save your people. All those errands you have made were done to save our brothers and sisters. You were very brave, brave enough to have witnessed the death of your friends that left this earth knowing their lives were not in vain. You are here for moral support to your friends who still live. They still look up to you even you parents have perished. They put their hope and faith in you. It takes a lot of courage to continue when death is all around you. Don't cry for the dead. Cry for the living who need your help, your good magic. Remember the job I recommended you for?"
"Yes, how can I forget that?" retorted Emma sarcastically, "I don't want to go back there, Father H."
"Why do you think I recommended you to Regina?"
"Because I can clean and cook?" Emma replied bitterly.
"Indeed, you can but Regina is going to need someone to help her to get information she come across that would be useful in our struggle. She needs someone who knows inside of the castle by heart. Her husband has been watching her closely lately, so she might want you to deliver the information. So, what do you say?"
"I don't know … I mean I do not care if one of them is your daughter! I do miss it, but I don't want to go back there … not without my parents! It used to be my home and what you are asking me is a lot!"
"It doesn't matter that she's my daughter. I understand but what matters is that we need you. You need to put your emotions and understand that you will be doing your Kingdom a service and possibly saving your home, the White Kingdom. Can you see how you are needed here?"
"Yes."
"Killing Regina would only have caused more deaths to our brothers and sisters."
Emma shivered as the darkest memory of her life once again made its way to the surface to torment her, a torment so painful that she was not even aware of the tears silently rolling down her cheeks. Nor did she feel the embrace of Father H as he tried to comfort her. Emma was utterly absorbed in her torment and in her memories.
"It's going to be all right, Emma. We have lost too many loved ones, I know, my child. We can grieve for them, but they are in better place. Your parents will return one day."
Emma wiped away the tears and accepted the handkerchief Father Henry had handed to her. She nodded her thanks and sighed, "Remember that day my mama died?"
Father Henry Mills nodded.
"My belief in my good magic and in everyone died with her," Emma whispered. I don't know how to be me again and to believe again.
"I know, my child, I know."
"Regina is expecting you, so I suggest you go and get cleaned up and report to Granny," Father Henry stood up and wiped a tear from Emma's cheek. With a twinkle in his eyes, he chuckled. "And try to be meek and humble when you are talking to King Leopold."
Emma glanced up at a drawing on the wall. It had a shaft of light descending from above, illuminating her home. "Well, I'm about to go back and learn how it feels like …" God help me.
"You have a guardian angel, my child."
"Well, if I do then I need to report him for not being on the job," Emma replied as she continued to look at her painting she have done with magic, and she never done magic since then.
"I know I am still going to kill your daughter."
"I know you will."
"Right. You do know that when I say I'm going to do something, I do it."
"I know that."
"Good. I'll be going over to the Satan's lair," as he kissed on top of her head.