Meet the Fam

When Emma got home, Regina was there laughing with her sister, as if she weren't there to kill her entire family.

She looked at the four of them and walked over to Kathryn and gave her a hug. "Emma! Well," Ruby shouted when she saw her best friend. "it's about time. "

"Emma," Regina said to her spooked girlfriend. "Where have you been? "

"Why? You, uh, surprised to see me?" Emma snapped at her.

Regina blinked, "What?" Then she looked around the room and her eyes darkened. "Where's Blaize?"

"I don't know," Emma said giving, Regina a pointed look. "Maybe she's having some car trouble." Then she stepped around Regina to make sure there was nothing amiss."Everyone okay?"

Ruby shrugged "Yeah, just a little hungry, dude. You're late."

"And dirty for my taste," Fred added. Emma looked down at her messed-up khakis.

"And your girlfriend has been just nothing but mean to me," Kathryn complained in jest, but Emma's eyes peeled and looked around between her sister and her handler.

She noticed her sister's laughing eyes and breathed out a relieved laugh. "Look out for her. So I'm glad everyone's getting along so well."

Regina smiled, "Yeah, your sister is awesome."

"Indeed." Fred agreed, planting a kiss on the side of Kathryn's head.

Emma scrambled for a distraction, "Hey! I've got an idea. Why don't we actually go out, huh, for pizza or something, someplace public, with lots and lots of people around?" she said nervously.

"Uh, Emma, I've been cooking all day," Kathryn stated.

"Yeah," Ruby interjected, "She cooked a pot roast, dude, which is my favorite."

"Maja, Manja!." Fred interjected. "Let's eat."

"Sit down, okay?" Kathryn said, leading Emma to her seat right next to Regina. "It'll be good."

They all sat at the table, and Kathryn and Fred brought out the food. There was a souffle and some varieties of vegetables on different platters at the table. Kathryn brought out the Pot roast and Fred made a noise of pleasure. "This looks great, baby. " Fred said taking a deep inhale of the food.

Regina smiled, "This looks delicious, Kathryn."

"Oh, it was nothing," Kathryn said just as politely.

"So, Regina, let's turn this up a notch," Fred stated getting ready to dig in. "Personal style. Tell us something about yourself."

"Well," Regina said and glanced at Emma. "I'm originally from D.C. I just moved here."

There was a knock on the door. "Oh, Emma had a friend from D.C." Kathryn stated as she went to answer.

"Connecticut," Emma mumbled.

"A former friend," Ruby interjected. "You know, the former because a: He was a jerk, and b: He's... well, he's dead." Ruby turned to Regina and smirked. "The girl Emma was dating before you- he stole her."

"Ugh, I just don't know how she could choose Daniel over Emma. Other than the obvious equipment issue." Kathryn stated opening the door.

Mal walked in with a fake smile on her face. "Hi. I'm Malory Blaize. I just moved upstairs. I thought I might bring something over."

"Oh, come in!" Kathryn said standing aside for Mal to come into the apartment. "Emma, you didn't tell me you're bringing another friend."

Emma's eyes widened at the sight of the older woman. "Hey. Hi. Yeah. It totally slipped my mind that my friend, Mal Blaize, was coming over, and we work at The Apple Store together." Emma said looking at the older blonde's murderous eyes. "Ruby, you know Mal from the Apple Store. I was telling her we were gonna have a get-together and that, you know, the more, the merrier."

Mal walked up to Emma and whispered in her ear. "You pull a stunt like that again, I'll k!ll you before she can."

Emma laughed nervously, "You kidder."

"Emma, we're going to need another chair," Kathryn said and Emma scrambled to go find one.

"You know what? I'm crashing the party. Maybe I should... I'll get it." Mal said, handing her dish to Kathryn following Emma to the other room. Regina narrowed her eyes as she followed them.

Mal pushed Emma into her bedroom and pushed her against the wall. She whispered menacingly in her face. "Strange. NSA ran a check on Regina Mills to see what we had... two years ago, she posed as a french diplomat. Infiltrated the inner circle of an arms deal. Killed the entire circle."

Emma blanched and asked, "With a bomb?"

"We don't know," Mal said with a shrug. "Her alias was Elana Truffaut."

Emma's memory flashed with the knowledge of that name. She gasped and looked at Mal, the fear clear in her eyes. "They were poisoned…. At dinner."

"Wonderful," Mal mumbled.

Kathryn followed into the room startling them both out of their conversation. Emma handed Mal the chair."Hey, sis... chair. Ta-da! So.."

"Thank you.' She said as the older blonde left the room, then turned to her little sister. "Emma. I mean, I knew that you had it in you, but she is... oh, she is... wow, she's really great."

"Yeah. She's... unpredictable." Emma said with a nervous titter.

"Hey, listen to me. You have no reason to be nervous. Okay?" Kathryn said, placing a hand on Emma's hand. "Now, you have a great girl out there. I mean, she even made dessert."

Emma froze and her eyes locked with Mal across the table. "Dessert?"

"Yeah," Kathryn said and headed out to their guests.

Emma had an internal freak-out and rushed out of her room. "Stop!" she shouted and searched the table for the desert. Everyone froze and looked at her. "We... uh, we didn't do a toast... yet. Which I... which I'll do right now." The youngest blonde raised her glass. "Uh... so, I'd like to propose a toast. To my sister. To my sister, and-and to... to a meal that looks so great. And Fred, you're great. And Regina. And Regina for a great dessert. And to Mal, Malory Blaize and-and her... and her... and her mini quiches, which are equally as great"

"And what about me, Emma?" Ruby asked.

"For what?" Asked Kathryn

" And to Ruby for her great comic timing."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"Cheers."

"Well, you know, that soufflé does look amazing," Kathryn said after taking a sip of her wine.

"You're right, honey. I can't even resist. " Fred said, grabbing his fork. And going to dig in.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait." Emma said. They all stopped to look at her like she was a freak, and she really would be embarrassed by her display except she was terrified of that Souffle. She could make it fail… what could she do to ruin it… " Who likes magic?"

"I do!" Ruby said enthusiastically.

"I know a trick," Emma said preparing herself for the berating she was about to get from her sister.

"Emma…" Regina said in a warning tone.

Emma reached out for the table cloth and her sister freaked. " oh, Emma, what are you doing?"

"Voila!" Emma said, pulling the tablecloth cleanly from under all of the platters on the table. And no one was more surprised than the intersection.

"Whoah!" Fred said impressed as they all watched the candle teeter back and forth on the table refusing to fall on the chocolate souffle next to it. "Ems, that was... "

"I knew you could do it, girl," Ruby said proudly.

Mal saw what Emma had been attempting to do, and bumped the table at the right time for the candle to fall into the desert. "Flambe!" Mal said

Emma acted quickly and picked up the flaming souffle and took it to the bathtub and drowned it. Kathryn raced after her sister. "Emma!" She watched the younger woman use her foot to douse the rest of the flames and Kathryn scolded her."Emma, look, no matter how stressed out you are, it is never okay to murder* a woman's soufflé?"

Regina swallowed her rage and turned to Kathryn. "Um, you know what? Let me talk to her."

Emma looked at Mal and pleaded for her to stay, but Kathryn led her out as well. Once they were out. Regina slammed the bathroom door behind them and pushed Emma up against it. She leaned on her pinning the girl against the door. "Tell me exactly what Mal said."

"Nothing. Everything's okay."

Regina pulled Emma against her and slammed her back against the door. Then twisted her arm and was poised to break it. "What did he tell you?"

"That you killed Dr. Whale and poisoned a bunch of french diplomats," Emma answered

She Turned Emma around pulling her arm up behind her. "They're blaming me for Whale?"

"If you're planning on hurting me, even to prove a point, I think you should know I have a very low threshold for pain," Emma whispered.

"And you believe Blaize?" Regina asked, pulling harder.

"Tell me. About. The French diplomats." Emma gasped out in pain.

Regina brought her down to her knees as she explained."They were french assassins, and they were after me, but I got to them first. And you know what? I'm kinda glad that I did." She leaned closer to Emma's ear. "Emma, do you really think that my name is Regina? I never asked you to believe me. I asked you to trust me." Regina took a breath. "This doesn't make sense. If Blaize didn't kill Whale, then... " Regina dropped Emma's hand and stepped away from her charge.

"What are you doing?" Emma said looking back at the woman that had her in a lock just moments before."

"I have to go right now," Regina said and headed out to the dinner party. She turned to the rest of the group and apologized. "Uh, I'm sorry. I have to go, but dinner was wonderful."

Emma rushed out behind her. "Gotta go. Be back."

"Yeah, well," Mal said, standing and dropping her napkin. "I better be going, too. This has been great." Then the older blonde rushed out behind Emma. "Thanks."

"Uh... you're welcome," Kathryn said as all three of them headed out.

"Regina, wait!" Emma said, running after her.

"You stay inside," Regina said. "Do what I say."

Regina went on to leave. Emma and Mal followed after her. "Do you think we were wrong?"

Suddenly they heard Regina shout. "Blaize! "

When the two blondes got to the gate, they saw a man placing Regina in the trunk of his car. "Hey, don't move," Mal shouted, then she recognized him. "Whale?"

Dr. Whale lifted a tranq gun and shot Mal in the shoulder. "Good to see you again, agent Blaize."

"Oh, my god," Emma said as she caught Mal in her arms.

"Yep, we were wrong," Mal said as she fell to the ground.

"Blaize, he's got, Regina. We've got to save her. " Emma said.

"Brilliant deduction, Nancy Drew. Now pull out the tranq dart!"

" Oh, I have a very strong aversion to needles," she said nervously.

"Do it!"

"Okay, uh, here we go." Emma took it out and tossed the needle aside as if it burned her. "That was the doctor, right? He's probably not dead?"

"And the sun sets in the west. Nothing gets by you." Mal said, rolling her eyes.

Emma picked Mal up from the ground. One, two, three. What's he gonna do with Regina?"

"He's gonna torture her until she tells him all about you." Mal starts walking toward the company car. "Come on. If we hurry, we can catch him."

"All right, where are we going?" Emma asked, putting her seatbelt on.

" I laced my quiche with microbots," Mal said, reaching for the car stereo.

"You're not kidding, are you?"

"I don't kid about quiche," Mal said. "We can trace him using the car's tracker. "

"Yeah, I think that only comes with the sports answered skeptically.

"We made some enhancements when your car was in the shop," she stated and searched the frequency for the trackers. "Got a signal. Let's go."

They ended up at Ruby's Granny's house. "Hey, Blaize, Blaize. Wait a minute. Why, why would he bring Regina to Granny?

"This is where the signals end," Mal stated.

"It's Ruby. She ate your quiches. "

"We're on the wrong trail." Emma peels off again not knowing which way to go. "I got nothing."

"What do you mean you got nothing?" Emma asked. "Then what do we do?"

"It's over. She's gone."

"No, no, no, no, no." Emma said and kept driving trying to use her logic. "Okay, this is our fault. We didn't believe her. Now we have to save her. Look, if you were a bad guy, what would you do?" Emma reasoned. "Fly Regina out on a plane? Would you use a boat or a-a-a what?"

"Chopper. Small airfield near the water. The closest I could find."

"Then do-do a satellite search using the touch screen and then maybe limit that to airfields that are within a certain range of us and then maybe limit that by if there's activity on the ground?" Emma stated.

"That's not bad," Mal stated doing as Emma suggested.

"Thanks. Yeah, I was just kind of, you know, spitballing, just kind of off the top of my head. I was thinking…"

"found it. Port of Los Angeles. Floor it." Mal stated

"Okay."

Emma does as she is told and in no time they arrive at the port. Mal asked Emma to stay in the car while she searched for Regina. And Emma tried. She really tried to wait. But she saw Dr. Whale slip out of a warehouse and she just knew That was where Regina was, She slid out of the car and began her search in a different warehouse than Mal.

Emma stumbled into a warehouse and found Sarah in chains Emma approached her handler as silently as she could. "Regina, are you okay?"

Regina mumbles behind the duct tape on her lips. Emma sighed. "stupid question. Okay, uh, should I... ?" She reached for the tape and pulled it off as gently as she could. "Sorry".

"Emma, you have to get out of here. "

"No, I'm here to save you."

"You shouldn't even be here; you're too valuable, and, besides, I have this well in hand."

"Uh-huh, yeah, 'cause it looks well in hand," Emma replied sarcasm in full display.

"Just find me something to pick this lock" Regina stated.

" I don't…" Emma started looking around the room and found a sharp wire on the ground and ran to get it. Then came back to her handler. " okay, here."

There was a sound by the door. Whale was coming back. Regina looked up at Emma. "Go, go, go!"

Emma stepped away and then noticed Regina's face. "The tape, the tape." She whispered and reached for the less sticky piece of tape and covered the Brunette's lips again. Then she turned and hid behind some cargo as Whale entered the warehouse.

"The helicopter's ready, agent Mills. This is your last chance" Whale stated, then looked at her squarely in the eye. "We're going to a special facility where they're going to torture you. Really torture, not this child's play. Or you could just tell me who is patient X." Whale pulled out a huge needle "Something for the flight."

Emma caught sight of the needle and nearly fainted. "Oh, Shit," Emma said.

"Run!" Regina shouted.

"Oh, crap," Emma stated realizing her mistake, and takes off at a run. Dr. WShale tossed the needle and made it fly past Emma's head and imbed really close to her. She stopped cold and turned to face him. Emma flashed on his face. " I know you. I know your secret." She said as her vision turned inward learning all there was to know about Dr. Whale. "You-you've been feeding American science to North Korea for years."

"Ah, patient X." Dr, Whale said, coming closer. "To think that my secrets are in that head of yours. It's an honor, really. Of course, to hell with honor. I'm here for the impressive dollar figure the human intersect will fetch. Who will I offer you to first?"

He pulled out his tranq gun and shot Emma.

While the Dr was dialoguing she noticed Regina picking the locks to her restraints. So Emma continued to see if she could keep being a distraction. But Whale was tired of the dialogue. He shot Emma with the tranq gun.

"Regina…" Emma gasped in surprise. "Regina…" was the last thing she said before her world went black.

"Don't worry, Agent Mills. I'll take good care of her".

Whale picked up the sleeping blonde and placed her in the helicopter, while Mal and Regina finally found each other, they ran out to see the Helicopter lifting off.

Mal raises her gun to shoot at a fuel tank. "No, Blaize, don't shoot," Regina stated pulling her arm down. "They have Emma."

On the Helicopter, Emma opened her eyes. She'd had her iPhone in her front shirt pocket when Whale had shot her and the dart did not go through. She had been faking the whole time and now was the time to make a move or she knew she would be lost forever.

She looked around as Whale sat in the passenger seat and gave directions. "Proceed to bravo coordinates. The ship will be waiting there."

Never let them take you to the second location. "It's about ten miles offshore. 15-minute flight." The pilot answered.

Emma looked beside her and the tranq gun was just within her reach so she snatched it and said. "Don't move! "

"You must be kidding."

" I want you to land the helicopter right now," Emma said calmly.

"It's heavier than you thought." Dr, Whale stated"

"What? "

"The gun. It's heavy." Whale moved to take it.

"Don't... don't!

"Give me back the gun."

"I'm not giving you the gun! " They continued the struggle, then Emma shot the pilot with a dart. The pilot went down.

" You shot the pilot, you idiot! "

"I didn't mean to do that," Emma stated. "Who's flying this thing?"

"You're going to kill us both. Whale said, pushing Emma down still trying to get the gun.

"Let me go." Emma said, fighting back. "get your hands off of me! Get off of me!"

Then the gun went off by accident again, and Dr. Whale is shot with a dart. Emma stumbles from underneath him and finally goes to the co-pilot's seat. The helicopter is out of control and is dangerously close to a structure. " Oh god! That's a crane" Emma said beginning to panic at this situation. She needed to be told what to do because this was freaking her out.

Just then her phone rang. She pulled it out and saw Mal's number. She answered quickly.

"Yeah, I'm here. "

" I told you to stay in the car." Mal scolded.

"You know what? Forget about the car. Tell me how to fly a helicopter." Emma snapped.

"All right," Mal sighed and got to business. " there's a collective in the cyclic control."

" What?"

Mal sighed. "One's the stick. One looks like an emergency brake. Grab 'em both. "

" Okay, okay, I got it." She does as she is told and shouts out. " This is not working! "

"Push the stick just a bit forward while doing the same thing with the emergency brake."

"Ground- not good. " Emma stated.

"Pull up! Pull up! Pull up on the emergency brake! Level off. Level off!" Mal shouts off the line.

Emma panicked "I don't know how." She screamed. "I don't know how to level off! "

"Listen, moron, you want to die?" Mal stated.

Emma had had enough. "Blaize put Regina on the phone. "

"Give me the phone, Blaize," Regina said on the other side. "Okay... uh, Emma, you're going to be okay. Now, I need you to focus. Uh, have you ever played any flying games before?"

"Flight simulators?"

" Yeah. Flight simulators."

"Yeah, sure, I've done those, yeah."

" Okay, which ones? "

" Uh, maverick of the skies…" Emma stated nervously. "uh, stealth fighter elite... uh, apache chopper patrol."

"Great. Okay, now remember that last one." Regina stated having heard the name of the helicopter in the title. "I want you to pretend like you're playing that game, okay? You're just in your bedroom, you're playing a game, and none of this is real."

Emma pauses and breathes, "It's just a game… It's just a game. Okay, I can do this. I can play this game. " She focuses on the controls and begins to play the game.

"Easy, Emma, easy". Regina stated.

"Uh... uh, is this one of those helicopters that can turn into a boat?" Emma asked hopefully.

"No, it isn't. Just ease to the right and goose the brake." Regina said, stepping forward and watching as Emma began to control the Chopper. "They designed the game exactly like the helicopter."

"I got it. I got it." Emma began to bank right and was headed toward more solid ground.

"Almost there, Regina guided, "A little more to the right."

"Keeping right. Keeping right." Emma repeated her instructions. "Goosin' the brake. It's just a game. A big scary video game. " Then Emma eased the chopper down and it touched the ground. "oh, thank you, god! Oh, yes! You are wonderful."

Emma was so excited to be on the ground she jumped out of the Helicopter as Mal ran to arrest the culprit. The blonde was still rejoicing. "And that is how... I do... that! That's how we do that. Go, team. Regina... see Regina. Up top on that one. My palms are a little sweaty, but... " She stated and finally noticed the angry face on her pretend girlfriend.

"What the hell were you thinking? " an Angry Regina spat.

"Clammy hands, got it, no good."

"Emma, the secrets that you know are incredibly important. You compromised everything when you stopped trusting me" She continued to Barate the younger woman.

" And when you got out of the car. " Mal added.

" Listen, I'm... I'm sorry, okay?" Emma stated.

" No, it is not okay." Regina stated "How could you think I was the double, huh? You know, I am not Daniel." The brunette was frustrated. Because she was caring about this intersect project more than she would most projects and this idiot frustrated her to no end. "Daniel betrayed everything that I believe in, and if you ever accuse me of that again, then I will walk away. Mission over. We all go back to Washington. And you do not want that to happen, Emma. That you should trust me on."

Emma watched the woman she was quickly falling for, walk away angrily. Yeah, she wasn't her real girlfriend but she really didn't want her to walk away angry. She looked at Mal who had caused Emma to mistrust Regina in the first place. The older blonde shrugged her shoulders and stated. "Way to go, ace. " Then walked on behind Regina.

Emma followed the two dejectedly determined not to fail again.

The next day, Emma headed to Daniel's Funeral. She caught sight of Regina at Daniel's graveside and she had tears in her eyes. Once Regina spotted her, she turned and walked away from there. Regina hadn't really discussed the real nature of her and Daniel's partnership. And the tears were a dead giveaway that he meant more than she had let on.

Besides, she was still angry at Emma for mistrusting her. Emma had spoken to Kathryn earlier that morning. Kathryn told Emma that she really liked Regina, and hopefully, the fight from the night before hadn't affected them too much. "I don't know... I don't know, sis. I... I... look, I really think I blew it."

Kathryn sighed, "Emma, just try apologizing. It goes a long way. Regina's special. She's different from your Stanford friends."

Emma headed to the Cheesecake Factory later that afternoon. "Hi," Emma said, coming up to a solemn-looking Regina.'

"Hey, Emma," Regina said, continuing to sort silverware.

"How is everything?" Emma asked. "I saw you at the funeral."

"Oh, yeah," The brunette acknowledged. " I had to go. After everything Daniel did, he was still my partner."

"Look, I'm not accusing you of anything... today," Emma said in appeasement. "Yesterday, yes, I may have laid it on a little thick with the accusation. But I'm really sorry about that. Instead of not trusting you, I should have been thanking you for saving my life and protecting the country and-and-and... and making a really tasty souffle."

Regina looked up at the blonde. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Emma smiled shyly, "It was our first fight. You know, it's a big step, if our relationship were remotely real."

"You know," Regina said, stepping closer to Emma, "with Dr. Whale gone, Emma, those intersect secrets aren't going anywhere. That means more missions, more danger, more secrets that you can't tell your sister or your friends."

Emma nodded. "I know that."

"Some people want to be heroes and others have to be asked. So... Emma, are you ready?" She nodded. "good."

"Hi," The sound came from behind Emma. The two women looked and Kathryn Fredrick and Ruby were standing there. " I hope we're not interrupting anything"

Emma smirked and turned back to Regina. "Uh... by the way, I thought we'd give that dinner another shot, maybe here? When's your break?"

"We knew you'd forgive her," Kathryn stated.

"Right…" Regina said and keyed herself out for the afternoon. She didn't care. " Next time, I'll cook my famous lasagne."

"Oh, and she cooks!" Emma stated her hands on her chest as they all walked to an empty table. "Lasagne huh?"