5 years later…
Emma checked the magazine of her rifle for the third time, while listening to her mother brief them on the mission. The S.W.A.N unit was going into the biggest battle it had ever faced. Up ahead was a small village, hidden in the forests near the Canadian border. It served as the home base for a massive human trafficking ring, one they had been chasing for the past 2 and a half years all the way from Mexico to Jamaica to Columbia to Thailand to England and finally here. Thanks to Jackson's contacts in INTERPOL, they were able to keep up with their whereabouts and do other missions at the same time. To say Emma loved this job was an understatement. Because of her mother's deal with the FBI director, their unit quickly rose to a high profile status, often dipping their toes into various areas, like terrorism, human trafficking, animal trafficking, drug trafficking, murders, abductions, protecting high profile clients, working with other agencies on cases, they did some of everything. It was the most exhilarating job she had ever had.
Emma checked her body armor and made sure to pull out her swan necklace and kiss it. Regina would be home with their little girl by the time they got back. She couldn't wait to see them.
"Listen up." Grace said. "I want this done clean. In and out. The man we're looking for is Marco Dawson. Do not kill him if you can help it. You all know his name and face. Emma, you and Ivar head up the middle. Get into the main building and free the people inside. Protect them until we secure the area." She called out the rest of the team, telling them where to go and when. "Lily, you're our eye in the sky. Keep them at a distance."
"Yes ma'am." Lily grinned, looking down at the impressive sniper rifle in her lap. She glanced at Emma. "This is gonna be fun."
"Only a dragon would think walking into a warzone is fun." She retorted. "Just watch my back."
"I got you, Emma. Relax." She patted Emma's shoulder. "You'll be back with Regina soon enough."
"I know." She sighed and checked her weapons again. She had a rifle, a couple pistols, some hidden knives and a taser. Her protege, Ivar, was the explosives expert, or rather someone who found out that he liked to blow things up. She took a deep breath as the truck came to a halt. Her mother took point as they stepped out and she dropped into a crouch, looking around.
"Fan out." Grace commanded. "Get to your positions. Reinforcements should arrive in an hour. Hold the place until then."
Emma nodded. "Let's go, Ivy." Ivar glared at her, but followed nonetheless. During the recruiting process, she hadn't been too surprised when Lily offered her services to the team, as it had been their dream when they were little to work together. Ivar was a bit of a shock though. With a touch of magic and after a bit of training he was finally granted credentials to join the team, with Emma serving as his mentor. He was smart, she had to give him that. A very talented strategist and an excellent soldier, but he was still learning how to work with others and to follow orders.
"Stay close to me." She commanded. "Switch to your coms and stay low." He nodded, touching the small mic in his ear to cut it on. She cut hers on and started forward. Behind her she heard Lily's mechanical hooks as she rappelled up into the trees to find a good vantage point. Ivar followed at her heels as they moved into the forest, making little to no sound as they crossed the soft, spongy earth. It took them about 10 minutes to reach the place. The village seemed nice and quiet at first glance, but the truck load of men and women being brought in threw that out the window. Emma watched the new arrivals being ushered into a large building in the center of the small town. "We're gonna have to be stealthy. How many do you see?"
"At least 50. No telling how many is inside." Lily answered in her ear. "Let's clear out the rear of the building, get you two in there."
"Good plan. Once you're inside, we'll draw fire." Grace agreed. "Move in."
Emma and Ivar started forward, cautiously but quickly moving across the open area and into town. She heard someone cry out and looked up at a man rushing in their direction. A moment later she heard a sharp pip and he dropped dead. "Thanks, Dragon."
"Told you I got your back." Lily chuckled.
Emma smirked. She and Ivar made it to the door of the main building without any more problems but they had to move quickly before the dead guy's body was found. They managed to slip inside just as the alarm was raised and she could hear Lily cursing as she sniped repeatedly to keep control of the situation. Inside the building, Emma's jaw dropped at seeing all of the people that had been tricked and captured and kidnapped to be brought here. They were still being guarded by at least 20 more guys and at the other end of the compound she spotted Marco Dawson himself screaming commands into a walkie talkie. Ivar pressed a button on his vest, jamming the walkie's signal. Emma nodded left for Ivar to take out those in that direction and moved right. She sheathed her rifle on her back and pulled out a pair of knives. Taking out the lackeys as silently amongst all the people was relatively easy. A few slit throats and concussions later she whipped out her rifle again and shot the two men around Marco. He whipped around and glared at her, pulling out a gun and grabbing the nearest woman to press the weapon to her temple.
"Back away! I will kill her! I will not go to prison!" He roared.
"Calm down, Dawson. Put the gun down and we can talk about this." Emma said.
"You will not send me to prison!"
"Drop the gun!" Ivar snapped, coming up behind Marco with his own rifle pointed at the back of his head. "On your knees! Now!"
Marco glanced behind him and then at the woman in his arms. He scowled and Emma saw his hand flex, prepared to pull the trigger. Ivar fired, hitting him in the leg and tackled him to the ground. Emma handed him her handcuffs and helped the woman to her feet.
"Marco Dawson, you are under arrest for about 300 counts of human trafficking."
Emma touched her coms while Ivar read the man his rights. "We've got Dawson."
"Secure the area and maybe give us a hand." Grace said.
Emma and Ivar tied up Marco and swept the area again for any hostiles. Finding none, she left Ivar to guard their prisoner and stepped outside into the fire fight. Lily was picking off men from the trees and Grace and the rest of their party had formed a defensive position near the front of the town. She slipped in behind the enemy and opened fire, taking them out. One guy managed to get the drop on her as she was reloading and knocked the gun and ammo out of her hands. He pistol whipped her hard but she managed to stay on her feet and take him down with one of her mother's judo throws. She knocked him out with a few good punches and got kicked in the back by someone else. She whistled and a trio of giant furry shapes came flying out of the trees. One leaped and grabbed the gun out of the man's hands, one dived into his legs and the other slammed into his chest, knocking him down. She quickly grabbed her gun and shoved the magazine in it. "Stand down!"
"I got him." Another of the team approached and handcuffed him.
Emma nodded and whistled, smiling as the three giant German Shepherds ran up to her. "Good work, guys."
"Check our perimeter, keep all hostiles in check. I want two guys on Dawson right now and those people out of the building right now!" Grace yelled out to the team, making Emma smile, glad to see her mother back in her element. She could run a courtroom with ease, but out in the field was where she belonged. "Em, you good?"
"Yeah."
"Radio backup, let 'em know we got everything squared away."
"On it, Chief." She radioed her mother's words to the reinforcements, who arrived by the truckload within the hour.
"Good job." Grace said, approaching her daughter after their job was done.
"Thanks, Mom." She smiled.
"Don't you have somewhere to be today?"
"Yeah, but I probably won't make it."
Grace smirked. "You can't miss this. The boys will be so upset." She glanced around and motioned to the chopper nearby. "Take it. Tell Frank where you need to go. Can't miss bring your mom to school day. Joey and Henry will be so happy to see you."
"You serious?"
"Go ahead, Em."
Emma grinned and hugged her mother. "Thanks, I'll finish the paperwork and be done by the time you get back. Oh, and you have a visitor." She motioned for her mother to turn around. Among the flood reinforcements was someone she knew her mom hadn't seen in 2 years. Grace turned and quickly donned a smile as Sergeant Alexander Swan saluted her. After a brief return to bounty hunting, her father received a call from his old command for some help. Since, he had been training at his old base and then overseas on a covert mission. Now, he was home again. Grace wasted little time in jumping into his arms and taking them both to the ground.
"Welcome home."
"Yeah, except this isn't home. I go all the way back to the house and then find out you're in Canada?!"
Grace laughed and kissed him. "I told you I was working." She stood up and helped him back to his feet.
He grinned at her. "You look so cute after a battle."
"Hey Dad." Emma came to give him a hug. "Bye Dad."
"Tell Regina and the kids I said hey and that we'll be by a visit soon." He glanced at Grace. "Not too soon though."
She smiled. "Got it." She called for the dogs and got into the helicopter, hoping they would make it in time.
After a quick nap on the chopper and a shower and change of clothes at the office, she got dressed in a jeans, long boots, a short sleeved black shirt and made her way to Henry and Joey's school to talk to their Criminal Justice class. She made sure to wear her FBI tags, her credentials and brought along her vest just in case.
Henry beamed when she stepped into the classroom. As well as Elias. He and Henry were pretty much brothers at this point, the best of friends, both of whom had taken an interest in the family favorite occupations. Elias was more interested in the the Air Force and the military like his grandpa however, whereas Henry wanted to join the FBI like his mother and grandma.
Emma let out a low whistle and her trio of companions trotted in and sat down at her feet in a straight line facing the class. "Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Supervisory Special Agent Emma Swan of the FBI SWAN Unit. These are Agents, Regal," She paused as the liver colored shepherd let out a bark. "Royal," The red and black shepherd let out two barks. "And Noble." The all black shepherd let out three barks. "All three are members of the unit as well."
A girl in the front raised her hand. "The unit is named after you?"
"Actually, it's named after my mother, Grace Swan. Before she joined the FBI, she was a detective that had earned an impressive reputation so she got picked up by the feds. She created the unit from the ground up, resources, recruitment, everything, so they named the unit after her. Now, we deal with some of everything, from serial killers to terrorism to human trafficking to protecting high profile individuals. We have a lot more freedom than usual branches of the bureau."
Hands quickly went up to ask questions, ranging from dress code to good stories to had she ever shot anyone. She simply told them about their latest case and how she had to fly back here in a helicopter. It made her happy, giddy almost, talking about her work, helping people, traveling to new places, building a reputation. It wasn't exactly what she thought it would be when she was younger, it was a little bit better. After a few minutes of questions, she presented a slideshow about the FBI, its many branches and what the teenagers would have to do should they ever want to be in the SWAN unit.
"So, how does your husband feel about your job? You know, being around all these badass, awesome guys in suits doing all this stuff?" One guy in the front asked with a smirk.
"What would they have to do with anything?" The girl next to him asked. He only grinned at her. Henry and Elias started smirking, knowing that Emma wasn't married to a man at all.
"Actually, me and my wife," She replied. "Could care less about the awesome guys in suits and stuff." She smirked at the boy's surprised expression. "She could probably do half the things I do without a second glance."
"Does she make more than you?" The girl asked.
"Hell yeah." Emma scoffed. "She just won the Kentucky Derby last year with one of her champion racehorses. That's like $2 million in 2 minutes. Right now, she's on her way home from Dubai after winning three different competitions in the Dubai World Cup, including the main event. That's 10 million right there. So don't think she needs me, dear." She laughed. "Any other questions?" She stayed for a little while longer, answering more questions and passing out t-shirts and pens and letting the kids pet the dogs after they did some tricks and stuff. It was nice, interacting with the kids. Regina was usually better than she was.
"Maybe you should bring your wife back next time." The same guy from before said just before the bell rang. "We don't care that it has nothing to do with Criminal Justice."
"No." Henry glared at him. "I don't need you lusting after my moms, Brad."
"What'd I say?" He smirked.
"You're all dismissed." The Teacher said.
Emma smiled as her son and nephew came to give her quick hugs while the rest of the class filed out. "Thanks for doing this, Mom." Henry said.
"No problem. Cut it pretty close though."
"When does Mom get back?"
"Should be back now. Why don't we go see if she's there?"
"You're signing us out?" Elias asked. "Whoo!"
She smirked and put her arm around him. "I'm sure Jack and Z are fine with it. Let's go, boys." She whistled for the dogs and lead them out of the school and drove them home. It was a bit more than a home though. They chose a house just down the street from the one where she grew up. It was nice and big with a big backyard and more than enough space for them. They had done some remodeling after they bought it and it now seemed a perfect blend of her and Regina. The outside was simple and painted white. The inside was a mix of Emma's simple nature and Regina's elegant one. It made Emma smile every time she saw it and it just brought her peace whenever she stepped inside it. Just like it did now.
Emma dropped her overnight bag at the door as the boys and dogs raced inside. She heard happy cries from the kitchen and quickly followed the sound, finding her little girl delicately stroking the top of Regal's head with a smile. Myra was her name, just like Emma's aunt. She was the most beautiful thing in the world to her and had a beautiful heart to match. She was a small, smart little 3 year old with long ebony hair like her mom and green eyes like her other mom. "Mommy!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, running to Emma, who laughed and picked her up.
"Hey there, my little Swanling." She grinned.
"Mommy, that's a weird name."
"And it's your name. How was Dubai?"
"Magical!" Myra grinned. "You like my dress? Mommy bought it for me. She bought me a whole truckload of stuff and we got to give some monkeys some baby bananas. I didn't know bananas had babies."
"I do. It is perfect and I'm glad you had fun." Emma laughed. This was her child. She created this amazing little girl. It still astounded her to this day. She put Myra back down at her request and her daughter moved off to watch tv in the living room. "Where's your mom?" She asked, following her.
"Upstairs in your room."
"Thanks, kid." Emma happily skipped up the stairs and made her way into her bedroom. She closed the door just as Regina stepped out the bathroom, towel drying her long onyx-colored locks. She was dressed in a form fitting little black dress that she liked to wear around the house since it was so comfortable. Then again, the woman was comfortable in 6 inch heels, but she looked sexy either way. Emma grabbed her and kissed her. Regina almost squealed in surprise when the blonde picked her up and carried her to the giant bed and dropped her. She kissed her wife again and again.
"Hello to you too."
"We might have to quit our jobs." Emma said.
Regina instantly frowned. "Why?"
"We can't spend 2 weeks away from each other ever again."
The former queen scoffed and pulled her back down for another kiss. "You are so dramatic."
"I heard about your wins. Congratulations!" Emma grinned, covering Regina with kisses. Regina laughed and pushed her head away. "I say we go out and celebrate."
"Yep, that's it for our season."
"What do you mean?"
"Majesty got injured. I used magic on her but I decided to give her a break. King and Braulio are breeding this year. Making us more money and hopefully some future champions as well. I had no idea people in this world, with all manners of cars and trucks would pay so much for a horse. I have 32 offers for breeding already, the lowest costing almost $10,000! It's crazy." Emma smiled, watching Regina light up, talking about anything she was passionate about. If it wasn't horses, it was learning. Growing up, Cora chose what Regina learned and it was often something no one would ever really care about unless you wanted what Cora wanted. Regina loved learning about some of everything. Since their marriage, Regina had learned two languages, two different styles of martial arts, gotten two degrees, learned to play the piano, gotten certified to scuba dive, could drive a motorcycle, a boat, a jet ski, a plane and a helicopter and was currently becoming more of a master in the kitchen than she already was. Add that to Jockey of the Decade with almost 13 consecutive wins, 2 Kentucky Derby wins and the owner of two Triple Crown Champion horses, you got one kick ass resume. There was no stopping Regina Swan.
"You are fucking amazing, woman."
"I am well aware." Regina smirked, sitting up in her arms. "But it has been a long 2 weeks. We should definitely call a member of your family to watch them while we make up for those 2 weeks."
"We could call Mal and Grandma."
Regina scoffed. "They just left Africa and they're going all the way to Ireland. I doubt you want to wait for them to get back." The lovestruck pair of blondes had done nothing for the past 5 years but travel and enjoy themselves to the utmost degree, only returning home for the holidays and important milestones in the kids' lives. Mal was the perfect godmother, always sending gifts to Myra from wherever she was in the world which could've been anywhere on any given day. "What about Lily?"
"Nope. She's probably either at the office, or flew out to Dianah. She's in Japan for her UFC championship match." Regina sighed, letting her head fall back on the bed. "Dad might be willing but he just got back so...won't be seeing him and Mom for a while."
"I would imagine so. 2 years is nothing compared to 2 weeks." Regina suddenly grabbed her shirt collar. "Don't you ever leave me for 2 years."
"Yes ma'am." Emma smirked, pecking her lips. "So, how was the trip?" She leaned away and started to get undressed. She wondered about the rest of her siblings, but they were each doing their own thing. Jacob was now the chief of his BAU unit and was probably stuck in the office doing paperwork. Jackson and Zelena lived down the street, but they were usually gone during the day to assist with matters concerning INTERPOL at their second base nearby. Evie was busy at the hospital, being the new Assistant Chief of Surgery. Belle was building her own library and Ruby worked as Regina's assistant, when she wasn't building her dream house with her two new mates. Even Max was busy being the chief of his precinct. Storybrooke seemed to be fine, the only problem remaining was Maedhros who refused to leave the town because then he would be powerless without his dragon form but continued to try and push for power, still angry about Mal kicking him to the curb. It was a situation that Emma planned to deal with in the far future.
"Great for the most part." Regina leaned back on the bed, watching her movements closely and bringing her thoughts back to their bedroom. "The city was beautiful, the race was invigorating and our tiniest had the time of her life."
"You talked to Kael yet?" Kael was the young boy who helped Regina at her stables. He was only 10, but he was enamored with horses and racing, just like Regina was. Unfortunately, he was also an orphan, only allowed to go to the stables once a week. It didn't surprise her when Regina wanted to adopt him. They had secretly been filling out the paperwork for the last few weeks so they could and she knew he would just lose his mind when Regina told him that his hero was going to give him a home and a new brother and sister.
"Tomorrow, I will. He'll lose his mind." Regina smiled. "And your trip? You didn't get shot again, did you?"
"No, I didn't. The pups saved me." Emma laughed, walking into the bathroom to change into yoga pants and a long sleeved black shirt. She returned to the bedroom to find Regina picking up her clothes and putting them in the hamper. The brunette then proceeded to flop on the bed next to Myra, who had wandered in while she was in the bathroom.
"You know, Henry and Elias are 16 years old, why don't they take Myra to the movies. Would you like that, dear?" Regina looked down at their daughter, smiling as she ran her fingers through Myra's hair.
"I don't care." She shrugged.
Regina rolled her eyes. "Would you like to go to the playground?" She asked. That seemed to catch her attention more, but she still shrugged. "Would you like to take the dogs-"
"Yes!"
"Well, hurry before it gets too dark. Tell Henry and Elias to take the dogs too."
"Ok." Myra grinned, racing out of the room.
"You really can't wait, can you?" Emma let out a smirk and moved to sit on the bed. Regina raised a finger for silence and waited a moment. Henry and Elias burst into the room.
"Myra said we can't get dinner if we don't take her to the playground." Henry said.
"Myra!" Regina called. Their little girl quickly peeked in. "That's not at all what I told you to say."
"I was just sweetening the deal, Mommy." Myra beamed.
"Stop being a con artist. Henry, you know I'm not going to let you go to bed hungry. Now, all three of you please hurry up and leave."
"We're going. Jeez." Henry muttered.
Regina waved her hand, closing the door after they'd gone. "That's your daughter right there." Emma smirked.
Regina chuckled to herself. "In Dubai, she said she wouldn't wash her hair unless I gave her cookie. After some back and forths, I promised her a box filled with cookies if she washed her hair. She agreed. I conjured a box just big enough for two cookies, both half the size of the original cookie. She was not pleased."
Emma laughed heartily at the story. "I think Mal might be behind that."
"I think you're right. She's becoming a sly little thing."
"You talk to Ivar?"
Regina chuckled again. "Yes, he called me as soon as he could. Thank you for mentoring him."
"It's no problem. He's a good agent. But I wasn't surprised. He came from you." Emma leaned her forehead against Regina's, liking that Regina didn't mention Giselle. She was not Emma's favorite person in the world and she wasn't of her interest. She liked Ivar, him having grown on her over the years, but she usually stayed away from Giselle. Even though she knew that her wife and the redhead sometimes met, although it was must less frequently than before Regina invited Giselle to go with her to a race in Europe 2 years ago. Whatever happened, Regina didn't like to talk about, and Emma didn't really care since Regina put the woman in her place herself. "You know something?"
"What?"
"The old Regina would've never let Henry go to the park alone."
Regina rolled her eyes. "He has to grow up sometime, as much as I despise it, he's not my little prince anymore. Besides, it's a nice neighborhood...and everyone knows you're family so I doubt anyone is stupid enough to hurt him."
Henry called upstairs that they were leaving and the women waited for them to close the door before looking at each other with lustful gazes.
"Clothes." Regina said, her voice dropping a couple octaves.
"Yes, ma'am." Emma stood up and quickly removed her shirt. Regina pulled her between her legs, impatiently pushing up her bra and taking one of the blonde's nipples in her mouth. Emma enjoyed the feeling for a few moments before backing away to try and take off the rest of her clothes. Then the phone rang… "I swear to-"
"Just ignore it." Regina said, but the phone wouldn't stop ringing. In the end, the former queen scowled as she got up and walked around to her nightstand and picked up her cellphone. Emma pointed to her ear and Regina nodded, cutting it on speaker. "Gold, what the hell do you want, you are interrupting something very important. Most likely a thousand times more important than this conversation. Make it quick."
"Hello to you, Former Madame Mayor, but we have a problem, information I had not wanted to divulge to you if it were not necessary."
"Then speak." Regina commanded.
"Someone is on their way to find you for one reason and one reason only. It will be a woman, black of hair, beautiful, but you will know that something is off about her. She will be looking for your grandmother, Emma." Emma frowned and walked closer. "Rose probably does not know her, but she knows Rose. I'm assuming that being with Maleficent, they don't stay in one place."
"Besides a house in Morocco, no." Emma said. "Why?"
"Because that's why she's coming to you, because of your relationship with Maleficent. She will play nice, try to butter you up, inquire about your family, but she won't care. She only wants to know about Maleficent. It will lead her to Rose. Do not let her know where she is."
"Who is this woman then?" Regina shared a concerned look with Emma. "And how do we know this isn't some trick?"
"Because I would not waste my time if it were a trick. We both know that. This woman is dangerous, she is evil. Think about my evil, and your evil and Mal's evil, combined times 10. That's not even close to how evil she is. Do not tell her where Rose is."
"Who is she?" Regina demanded.
"Fiona Black." And with that cryptic message, Gold hung up. As soon as he did, there was a knock at the door.
"I've heard that name before." Emma frowned, trying to place where she'd heard it.
"That's the name of Rose's mother." Regina said. "I asked how she seemed to know about our true stories and she said they were told to her by her mother."
"I wouldn't know. As far as Grandma was concerned, we didn't have a great-grandma."
Regina frowned, grinding her teeth and pushing the angry vein in her forehead. Emma reached into her nightstand, pulling out the glock she kept inside and lead the way downstairs. Regina followed at her heels, just as wary as she was. She opened the door and resisted the urge to point the gun at their visitor.
"Giselle?" Regina let out a sigh. "What are you doing here? You almost got shot." She took Emma's gun and put it away.
"I just wanted to talk to you." Giselle frowned. "Why, were you expecting someone else?"
"Yes." Emma said, turning and heading back to the stairs to go back to the bedroom.
"What is it?" She heard Regina ask.
"Well, I wanted to talk you about something private but I had to help this lady-"
"What lady?" Emma asked, racing back to the door.
"Just some lady looking for Rose. I told her she didn't live here." Giselle shrugged.
"Did you tell her where Grandma was?" Emma asked slowly. If something happened to her grandmother because of this, she was going to shoot this Fiona lady and Giselle.
"Well, I didn't know for sure. You said they were going to Ireland, right, Gina?"
Regina immediately looked at Emma. "She wouldn't be able to find them in Ireland, would she? It's a pretty big place…"
"I'm not taking any chances." Emma said. "Did the woman give a name?" She asked Giselle, who nodded.
"Fiona Black."
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