I don't own these characters; Disney/ABC does.
A/N: trigger warning for mention of rape, but it's a false accusation, which I have to assume still deserves a warning.
11: Hard Work
Emma wanted to sit back and watch Regina work as they hosted a housewarming party in their backyard. Regina was a great hostess, gliding through their guests, making sure everyone had everything they needed all the while showing off her noticeable baby bump in a red sundress. They would announce the baby at the end of the gathering.
The whole thing was impressive. When Regina first said they should host a housewarming, Emma had been so nervous. She did not know what went on at a housewarming. There were not enough shows with housewarming parties for her to have a reference. The best example Regina could give her was "it's like a baby shower, but for the house." Emma still had questions, but kept them to herself and just let Regina work.
Emma had been in awe, like when Regina swept in and put together Snow's baby shower because Emma had no clue what she was doing. Their housewarming was not as elaborate as the baby shower, but once again Regina worked it like she had magic. The backyard, living room, and dining room were all set up to hold guests, but the backyard was where the party was.
Snow had gushed over the backyard, as had Kathryn. Kathryn and Regina spent some time planning out a garden. Snow pointed out where a little play area for the children could go. Regina was all for that. Emma could not believe she had a backyard, let alone one that would soon have a garden and playground. How was this real life?
Soft music played, just enough to flow under the conversation. The weather was perfect, warm and clear. The crowd was similar to the people who attended their wedding, but with some new additions, like Merida Dunbroch. Hard to believe Regina worked a job that gave her an executive assistant and also hard to believe Regina liked the young woman enough to invite her to the housewarming, as it took Regina a long time to warm up to people. Emma had teased her about having a work friend. Of course, Regina teased right back.
"Hey, Mulan, glad you could make it," Emma smiled as she welcomed Mulan into the backyard.
With Mulan was a very pretty woman that Emma knew to be Marian from pictures Mulan showed her and an adorable child who Emma knew was Roland. They cut quite the family. It was a little weird to see Mulan in casual clothes. Even though they did not wear uniforms at the Sheriff's station, Mulan never wore jeans or sneakers like she did now.
Mulan smiled. "Thanks for inviting me." She held up a small wrapped gift.
"Thank you." Emma accepted the present. "And, of course, I invited you. You're an awesome friend. You've been helping me keep it together at work as stuff happens left and right in my personal life." Usually, she went to Ruby about things like that, but she was glad she opened up to Mulan as well. It really paid off.
A blush splashed across Mulan's face. "Let me introduce you to Marian and Roland." She motioned to the pair.
"Hi, I'm Emma. I'm sure Mulan complains about me all the time." Emma grinned as she shook Marian's hand.
Marian smiled right back as she gave Emma a pretty firm handshake. Emma should have expected that of Mulan's girlfriend, even though she looked like she could be on the cover of a beauty magazine. "She actually speaks very highly of you."
Emma wanted to melt. "Aw, you love me even though I'm an annoying pain in the butt?"
"I have never said that," Mulan replied with a frown.
"No, but Regina has. Let me introduce you all to her." Emma barely had to move to intercept Regina, on a mission for something or someone, constantly on the move so far. Emma wrapped her arm around Regina's waist and introductions were made. "Regina, you sort of know Mulan, but this is her girlfriend, Marian."
Regina blinked as she focused on Marian. "Marian, I thought you married Robin Locksley," Regina said, very casually, like she was already good friends with Marian.
Emma's brow furrowed. "You know Marian already?"
"We know of each other. I'm almost a decade older than Marian," Regina replied.
"I know I should be making fun of your age here, since you brought it up, but I have other questions. Do all nobles know each other or something?" Emma scoffed, looking between Regina and Marian.
"We're all aware of each other, although Regina, you have to be living the good life to be such a step behind. I never married Robin. I got close, but thankfully didn't go through with it," Marian replied.
Regina tilted her head as her brow wrinkled. "No? People talked about how it was such a great move for both of your houses. You were such a great match for each other and you had been together for a few years, so it seemed inevitable."
"But, no one talks about Robin's behavior, what he did to impress his friends, which I caught onto just before the wedding, but not before…" She glanced at Roland. He was another reason the noble class had been abuzz about Marian and Robin getting married. They were properly scandalized when she had a child with him before a wedding. Hell, before he even proposed. "Of course, this was the reason my family wanted me to marry him in the first place." Marian shrugged.
Regina nodded. "Understood and from what I've heard you traded up, anyway." Regina glanced at Mulan, who Emma did talk a lot about, but then Regina turned her attention to Roland. She bent down to his level and smiled at him. "Would you like to meet my and Emma's son? He's a little older than you, but he has a lot of great toys he wouldn't mind sharing."
Roland grinned, showing off deep dimples. "Yeah!"
Regina waved Roland and Marian on, leaving Mulan with Emma. Emma introduced Mulan around to the rest of the party that she was unfamiliar with, which was everybody. Mulan mostly kept to herself. She knew Ruby in the sense that she went to the diner every now and then, but that was the closest she had to knowing anyone beyond Graham.
"This is my work bestie," Emma told everyone as she introduced them to Mulan. "She likes to make sure I'm doing things right."
Mulan flinched each time. "It's not like that…" She waved her hands and tried to argue.
"The only reason I haven't crashed and burned yet," Emma insisted.
Mulan blushed, but everyone took Emma at her word. Also, everyone delighted in Mulan, who was actually kind of shy and Emma was not sure what to do with that information because she had seen Mulan tackle a full grown man once and force his face into the dirt as she cuffed him before he managed to assault his elderly mother. Mulan did not play.
Mulan blew out a breath once introductions were done. "This is a lot of people."
"Is it too much for you?" Emma looked around. She did not think it was a big crowd. Snow and her family, Granny and Ruby, Ashley and her family, Graham, Tinkerbell, Kathryn, Maleficent, and Merida.
"It's not. I just have to get used to everyone. You know how it is to be new," Mulan replied.
Emma could not help grinning. "Damn right I do and you were there for me, showing me how to do it right when I screwed up."
"You still don't do it right."
"If I did, you wouldn't talk to me again, which would be a shame."
Mulan shook her head. "I'm starting to get how you landed Regina."
Emma smirked. "I can be smooth when I want, but I promise you that's not how I landed Regina. So, you want to get something to eat?"
Emma had wanted to grill, but she did not know how and did not think a big party was the time to try. She and David would play around with grilling in about a month or so. Regina handled finding a caterer, which was not Granny's. Emma was shocked Regina and Granny did not come to blows over that, but they always seemed to work things out.
The food was set up just inside the house, even though the party was really outside. It was not a bunch of fancy things, despite Regina's noble upbringing and half of their guests being nobles as well. No, it was just foods Regina could have made on her own if she was so inclined, like white rice, and yellow rice and beans, fried chicken, stewed chicken, pulled pork, beef stew, fries, and of course hot dogs and hamburgers for anyone who would eat like Emma. There was also salad, cole slaw, and corn on the cob.
"I could eat," Mulan said.
Emma nodded. "You and me both." She moved to show Mulan to the food.
-8-8-8-8-
The second Regina got Roland inside, he spotted Henry in the corner with Nolan, building with blocks. He was gone before Regina could even introduce them. Henry welcomed Roland as if he knew the little boy already. Regina and Marian smiled at the sight.
"Well, I suppose they'll get along swimmingly," Regina said.
Marian nodded. "I hope we can do the same. Mulan's quite taken with Emma's friendship, so maybe our sons can be the way our partners are."
"Mulan was a big help to Emma adjusting to life at the Sheriff's office."
"And Emma's helped Mulan adjust to life in Storybrooke. She's only been here a year. Poor dear followed a girlfriend here only to have that girlfriend leave her for a boyfriend, who Mulan also used to be in love with."
Regina arched an eyebrow. "I never would've guessed someone like Deputy Hua had such an interesting love life. She's so… dependable."
Marian laughed. "Yes, well, her kind nature gets the better of her. Anyway, having Emma around helped her get back on her feet and she's learning how to make friends."
Regina nodded. "Emma has that effect on people."
"I'm glad for it. Not just because of Mulan, but also because of you."
Regina stared at her. "Me?"
"Yes, as you pointed out, you're older than I am and while we never really met or interacted, I've admired you from a distance. My family… we're originally from Castia. Grandmother married into the Enchanted Forest stuff, but we never…" Marian shook her head. "We always had our heritage, so to see you, it was like a taste of home, even though I had never lived there. And, then not seeing you… it reminded me how the Enchanted Forest can swallow you if you're not careful, if you don't do the 'right' thing."
"But, it didn't swallow me."
Marian smiled. "Oh, I know. It took me a while to learn, but I eventually did. You clawed your way out and, damn it, it made me admire you more. Even when the whispers about you flew and they were saying what you did for a living and judging you, I still admire you because you were living. I wanted to live, too, and that's how I met Robin. Sure, things didn't end well, but for the first time, he helped me breathe, which led me to Mulan, who makes me blossom. Anyway, I'm saying all of this because I know the Enchanted Forest is trying to crush you again, but there are nobles rooting for you. There are people waiting to see what you do, so they can stand with you. It's actually nice to be old enough now to stand with you."
Regina was not sure what to say to this. It never occurred to her that anyone, let alone a younger woman, might be watching her plight, might be drawing inspiration from her. And, now, here they were, somehow together in her living room, just when she needed support to help Emma stand against Leopold and keep from crumbling over whatever Cora might try.
"Thank you for saying all of that," Regina finally managed to speak.
"No, thank you." Marian focused back on their sons, who were still getting along like old friends, despite Henry's years on Roland. It was a wonderful sight, made even better where just out the window, there was Emma with Mulan, helping her engage with Ruby and Snow.
Emma liked to connect with people when given the chance and then liked to help her people connect with other people, bringing support to those who needed it, whether they realized it or not. I cannot fail this woman. Regina put her hand on her baby bump. I cannot fail this family.
-8-8-8-8-
The day progressed well until it did not. Killian and Lily had the nerve to enter the backyard through the back gate. They walked in like they belonged here. Emma almost swallowed her tongue from outrage, stopping mid-joke in the story she was telling Ruby.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Emma barked as she marched up to Killian and Lily. How the hell did these two find out where she lived? And how dare they show up when her entire family was there!
Killian, dressed in all black as always, grinned and spread his arms wide. "Love! How could you hold a party and not invite us?"
"Because it's not that kind of party. Of course, the way your breath smells, you pre-gamed before you got here," Emma replied. Of course, Killian drank to put on his socks, so it was no surprise he was already drunk. "How dare you show up like this?" Emma glared at both of them, daring them to take one step deeper into the backyard, so she could lay them out and say they were trespassing. "Who the hell told you where I live?" I'm gonna kill Neal if this is him!
Lily sucked her teeth and glowered right back. "Oh, now you're too good for us?"
"No, I just happen to care about me a lot more than I used to," Emma replied, shoulders squared. Who the hell did Lily think she was?
Lily curled her lip. "So, we were only good enough for you because you felt like shit?"
"Considering the way you treat me, I thought that was obvious," Emma answered. She had to have low self-esteem to stay around people who openly acted like she was a freak of nature.
"Is everything all right over here?" Regina seemed to appear by Emma's side.
A smirk slithered onto Killian's face. "Why, hello there, darling. I don't believe we've met." He put his hand out. Well, his feelings were about to get hurt.
Regina glanced down at the offered hand and curled her lip, disdain dripping from her entire being. "And yet here you are in my backyard, antagonizing my wife, and offering me your questionable hand when it's clear basic hygiene escapes you."
Killian had the nerve to laugh as he pulled his hand back. "Wife? Brought the product without testing it out, eh?"
Regina's glare would have killed a more self aware man. "Tested many times. Not a single complaint. I'm more than certain the same can't be said of present company. Now, how about you leave before the woman you just insulted arrests you?"
Lily scoffed. "Emma doesn't have that kind of power. Who the hell would let her join a police force?"
Emma's blood boiled and motioned to her t-shirt. "Storybrooke's Sheriff Department," she said. Her shirt read "Property of Storybrooke Sheriff's Department."
Lily had the gall to look Emma up and down with a sneer. "Someone made a con artist like you an officer?"
"You've got a lot of negative things to say for someone who went out of her way to come to my house uninvited," Emma said.
"I was invited! "Lily went into her pocket and yanked out her phone. She shoved the device in Emma's face.
Emma sucked her teeth the moment the screen came into focus. "You know damn well I wouldn't send out an e-vite! I text."
"It doesn't matter! I was invited here to find out my friend doesn't want me at her housewarming!" Lily hissed.
"We're not friends! You treat me like garbage! Case in point with finding out I have a steady job! Killian insults me in front of my wife, but not before hitting on her. Neither of you called to find out what this party was about or who would be here. You just tried to ambush me and bum-rush your way in here. You're not my friends. I'm skeptical you even like me a lot of the time," Emma admitted.
Regina stepped in before this scene got worse. "Look, this is not up for debate. This is a private function. You were not invited regardless of what your phone says. Now, unless you want this to get worse, considering the fact that half the Sheriff's department is here, as is my attorney, I suggest you go on your way."
Right on time, Graham and Mulan stepped closer. Kathryn did the same and Maleficent moved with her, more than likely just because they had to protect Regina. Even Snow eased a little closer. Emma had told her a little about Killian and Lily, but not a lot. She did not like to think about them, especially not when she was enjoying Snow's company.
It was then Emma realized Ruby was actually right at her back. She should have expected that. Ruby probably followed her over. She had not told Ruby anything about Lily or Killian. She actually did not think about these two clowns when she was with Ruby. But, Ruby was protective of her.
Lily pointed a rigid finger at Regina. "You haven't heard the last of us."
"I imagine so, which is more than a little disappointing," Regina replied. "Now, see yourselves out or shall we up the ante?" Up went the eyebrow and her smirk was definitely daring, dangerous. Fucking sexy.
Lily and Killian looked at each other and then back at Regina and Emma. Neither moved. Time seemed to stand still. And then Lily and Killian turned to leave. Emma breathed a sigh of relief she had not known she was holding. Regina took her hand, helping hold her together and calm her down at the same time.
"No one's ever done that for me," Emma said in a whisper.
"Done what?" Regina replied.
"Stood up for me to people who treat me like they do. I mean, I know I say they're my friends, but I'm very aware our relationships are very toxic and I don't want them to be part of my new life," Emma explained.
Regina squeezed her hand. "Then, they don't have to be. You have real friends, true friends. Now, let's go steal back this show before this ends up being the thing everyone talks about."
Emma nodded. "This is true. One second, though." She leaned in and gave Regina a soft kiss. "I love you."
Regina smiled. "I am aware. Now, let's do this." She took Emma's hand in hers.
Emma and Regina rejoined the party, who went back to doing what they were doing, pretending they had not been ready for war. "All right, everybody, it's time!" Emma announced as she waved everyone to gather around.
"First and foremost, please thank you for coming to our housewarming. We appreciate your presence and gifts," Regina said.
"Very happy you decided to celebrate with us," Emma added.
Regina squeezed Emma's hand and smiled. "And we're finally ready to share our good news with you."
"That's right, I knocked Regina up!" Emma put her hand on the baby bump.
Regina sucked her teeth. "We're having a baby."
"Cheers!" David wasted no time raising his beer bottle.
Everyone else followed suit and the brief unpleasantness of Killian Jones and Lily Page were forgotten. For now, anyway. It was better than nothing. At least, the housewarming was nice and they got to say their news without a bunch of whispering. Emma considered that a win.
"How do you think they knew our address, though?" Emma asked, later that night, as she and Regina cleaned up.
"I'm sure Rumple sent them the invite. Leopold has hired a man who will harass you without you ever seeing him and will muddy all the waters until there seems to be nothing but darkness," Regina replied.
Emma nodded, even though she did not get it. How did calling Killian and Lily to her house muddy any waters? "So, his plan is to annoy me into not being Leopold's daughter? If that's the case, Leopold could've done that himself."
"He just wants to create confusion, so he can then control the narrative. He can create a story, like you're a liar and not Leopold's daughter and also a man, while you're trying to put out the eight other fires he started."
"Will that work?"
"We won't let it," Regina replied.
Emma could not help the smile that overtook her face and she wrapped her arms around Regina. They exchanged a soft kiss and Emma sighed. "Thank you for being here for me."
"No place I'd rather be." Regina held her tight, held her up, and held her down. Leopold did not stand a chance, even with Neal's lying dad helping him out.
-8-8-8-8-
Of course, Cora knew the news before it even broke. She called Regina several times. Regina did not pick up, but she left a voicemail each time. That was abnormal behavior. She listened to the last one.
"Regina, now is not the time to be childish. You married a rapist!" Regina did not hear anything else, could not hear anything else. Who the hell said Emma was a rapist? "Oh, that bitch."
Regina was at work in her office, but all of that stopped for a quick internet search. Typing in "Emma Swan" brought up quite a few results, but the top one was an article "Con artist claims to be billionaire noble's bastard daughter" and "Con artist, Emma Swan, raped me." Regina clicked into that one and found that Lily was not named, but it was obviously her. She claimed "Emma" had a habit of "pretending to be a woman" and then revealing her "male genitals" during intimate moments. She went so for as to claim Emma had gotten her drunk and high and then raped her. She actually used the word rape. Bitch.
"Kathryn…" Regina called her in a heartbeat. "I need you."
"I'm seeing. I'm on my way to the office. You there?" Kathryn asked.
"I am."
"Do you think Emma knows?"
"Probably not. She doesn't really keep up with the news, not even celebrity gossip."
"All right. We'll come up with something as soon as I get there. I'll need to know all the facts."
"Of course." Regina's phone beeped. "I need to go. Snow's calling me."
"All right. Good luck with that call. See you soon."
"Yes, soon." Regina went to the call with Snow. "Yes?"
"I was going to call Emma, but I figured she didn't know because she doesn't keep up with nobility."
"You did the right thing, but I'm surprised you know."
"A reporter actually emailed me, wanting a statement about how my father was conned out of millions by a man posing as his daughter. Could you believe that!"
Regina frowned. "I can. Did your father authorize this?"
Snow sighed. "I don't know. I haven't spoken to him since the rigged paternity test. I guess if he would lie about that, why not this? He's going to ruin Emma for daring to be his daughter. How awful."
Regina's stomach turned at Snow's distress. While she had no love for Leopold, she could sympathize with having a grand image of your father. Regina still idolized her father, even though she understood he could have done so much more to help her in life. Snow was still trying to hold on, but Leopold seemed intent on making it damn near impossible.
"I'm not sure what his play is here. All of these things can be proven false, unless he plans to forge everything. He does have the money for it." That would make things difficult, but it did not match his righteous indignation. Leopold thought he was right about Emma, so he should not need to forge things. Of course, that did not stop Rumple from messing with the paternity test.
Snow was quiet for a long moment. "Does he have the heart for it?"
Regina sighed. "You would have to ask him that."
"You know what, I will! I'm tired of him acting like Emma is wrong! Emma deserves a good father and I know he can be that or he's a horrible person and just lied to me my entire life. Either way, he will tell me what the hell is going on! He can't just torture my sister right in front of me and expect me to be fine with it!"
Regina hated how her heart broke for Snow. This was not about Snow, but it actually was. It was about Emma and Snow and Leopold was too stupid and stubborn to realize that. "I wish you luck in getting answers from him. I'm going to sit down with Kathryn and see how we can handle things."
"I'll call you back with news."
"Thank you and good luck."
"The same to you."
The call ended and Regina continued her news search about Emma. There were dozens of short articles since yesterday. Regina could hardly process this. She could not even begin to imagine how Emma might take things.
"Regina." Maleficent poked her head in the door, war face on. "What do you need me to do?"
Regina smiled. "You've seen?"
Maleficent curled her lip. "It came up on my newsfeed. Disgusting really. Your mother?"
"I don't think so. This isn't her style. She'd go after me by confronting Emma in person, trying to scare Emma away, not attack like this. This is more than likely Rumple and Leopold."
Maleficent sucked her teeth. "Her own father. If I hadn't seen your mother in action, I'd never believe parents could eat their own like this. Does Emma know?"
"Of course not. You haven't seen news of her punching someone."
Maleficent snickered. "Do you have a plan?"
"I'm still scanning to see what's being said and when Kathryn gets here, I'm hoping she can give legal advice."
"My PR team is at your disposal if you need them."
"Thank you." What the hell did I do to deserve these women in my life? Regina did not know, might never know, but she would be eternally grateful.
"How bad does it look?"
Regina sighed. "Being accused of rape and being called male might hurt the most as those are things she's had to deal with all of her life and it's from a friend."
Maleficent scoffed. "I'd hardly call that party crasher a friend."
"It's so obviously her, right?" Regina was glad to know she had not looked with a biased view.
"Yes, very clear, unless Emma is hiding other hateful friends in her past."
Regina shrugged. "It's possible, but she's only mentioned three to me. One tried to warn her this would happen and the other two you saw in action."
"At least it's clear she's learned how to make better friends. I'm sure we can rally those troops as well."
Regina hummed in agreement. She continued to scan articles until Kathryn arrived. Kathryn did not even bother going to her office, just putting her things down in the chair next to her as she sat down in front of Regina.
"Let's sue literally everyone." Kathryn threw her hands up.
Regina was hardly surprised that Kathryn's plan was to attack. For once, she did not mind. She needed people to understand they could not go after Emma and hurt her while Regina was around.
"You don't even know who everyone is," Regina replied.
"But, I know they're all lying and I know they can't back any of their lies with something substantive. So, let's just sue everyone. I will personally build you a legal team to take on Leopold's lying ass. This is going too far. What type of man does this to his child?" Kathryn scowled.
"I can't say he is a man, especially since I know he hired Rumpelstiltskin to help with this campaign."
Kathryn gasped. "What the actual fuck? Who would hire that demon to go after his child?"
"Yeah, which is probably why we got this avalanche. He's trying to bury Emma under all of this garbage. This way, when the truth does come out, no one will know what to believe. In fact, they'll probably believe the worst because he'll have put so much trash out there."
"Well, we won't let him."
"I think I might leave early, just to get to Emma before someone asks her about this."
Kathryn nodded. "Let's come up with a bare bones plan and then you should go."
"All right. I also want to listen to some voicemails from Mother — Cora." She gritted her teeth, upset that she still kept using that title. "I think she wanted to warn me." She wanted to see what Cora might know.
"Can't have her golden goose too tainted."
Regina chuckled. "Little does she know she killed the golden goose a long time ago." She was just a tool for Mother to climb the social ladder. To Hell with that and to Hell with this. She was ready to fight until her last breath and Emma was not one to back down. Added to that, they had other people who loved them and had their backs. They would not go gently into that good night.
She and Kathryn settled on a strategy of "tell the truth." Everything she and Emma said could be verified by sources. Leopold could not buy everybody… right? Kathryn also wanted them to try to get the truth out there as soon as possible before Rumple had a chance to throw some other outrageous nonsense into the media. That seemed doable.
Cora's voicemails proved helpful, and a tad amusing. Toward the end, she had gone from angry to panicky, so scared Regina was actually in the line of fire. She feared with the combined might of Leopold and Rumple, Regina would never recover. Of course, Regina did not want to be part of that world anyway, so it did not matter. Not to mention, Cora one day would have to accept, she was the reason Regina would never recover in the peerage.
Regina drove to the Storybrooke Sheriff's Station and was happy to see it was peaceful as always. The second she stepped into the station, Graham took her by the elbow and redirected her to his office. He closed the door behind them.
"They called you, didn't they?" Regina asked.
"Demanding to know if I purposely hired a rapist!" he hissed to keep his voice down.
"Well, I hope you hung up on them, first of all," Regina replied.
"Of course I did. What else was I supposed to do? Although I was tempted to curse them out. I mean, I've only known Emma for a short time, but rapist?"
"She is not."
He looked at her like she was an idiot. "I am aware. I had to give her a background check before I hired her. But, what the hell is that about?"
"If you remember her two friends from the housewarming…" Regina rolled her eyes.
His mouth fell open. "No! Why the hell would they do something like this to her?"
"I'm going to assume money and revenge. I'm sure someone is paying good money for these stories. Does she know yet? Did anyone contact her?"
He shook his head. "After the first couple of calls, I discreetly unplugged her desk phone."
Regina breathed a sigh of relief. "Good thinking. Thank you for that. And she tends not to answer unknown numbers on her cell, thinking one of those friends is trying to talk to her when she doesn't feel like talking to them."
"So, how are we approaching this?" He gazed at her as if she had all of the answers.
"The plan is to just tell the truth if you ever decide to deal with a reporter. You did your duty. You gave Emma a background check, you know what's in her past, and that's it. She's not a rapist. No one's even made an accusation until today."
"I know, but that's going to be impossible for her to walk back from. No matter what, now that it's out there, people are going to be suspicious. Why the hell would someone do something like this to her?"
"Because people are awful. I hate that woman probably doesn't even realize what this does to actual victims of sexual assault." Regina shivered. "Things like this makes it hard for true survivors to be believed."
He nodded. "Yeah, which sucks. Not to mention, they'll think I'm covering for her because she's a cop. We have to be able to prove Emma is not a rapist."
"Hard thing to prove, Graham, but I will try my damnedest. But, you'll stand by her, right? This is going to be so hard."
He scoffed. "Regina, not only did I hire Emma because she deserves the job, but I like her. She's a good person. All of Storybrooke knows that and none of this is fair to her. What's happening?"
"Her father's trying to ruin her for daring to be his daughter."
Graham shook his head. "Gee, and all my father did was walk out on me. Who would've thought that was the better option?"
"Tell me about it." Regina had always assumed her mother was the worst with her "lessons," especially the one that led Regina into prostitution, but with this move, Leopold moved up the ladder of horrible parenting, all the way to the top.
"All right, so we're hoping the truth actually prevails."
"Yes."
He rubbed his eyes. "You know we're screwed, right? People don't care about the truth."
No, they really did not. After all, Leopold still did this to Emma, still convinced he was right in the face of science. Right now, they would try their best weapon and probably go with Kathryn's suggestion of "sue everyone." But, as Graham pointed out, Emma probably could not come back from this. She would always be viewed as a lying criminal.
"Is it all right if I take her home? I want to tell her in my own way," Regina said.
Graham nodded. "Yeah, I think she's mostly done. It was all paperwork today."
Regina chuckled. "Her least favorite part of the job."
"She gets it done, though."
"She's happy here, Graham."
"I know and I'm happy to have her. Storybrooke is happy to have her. We won't let them tear her down."
"I hope that is true." Living in Storybrooke was the happiest time of Emma's life according to her. She and Regina made plans to raise their children here. Please, let this town hold her together.
Graham opened the door for Regina and Regina smiled at him as she stepped out. She barely made it anywhere before Emma popped up, probably coming from the break room. Emma's face lit up as soon as she saw her and Regina's heart broke yet again. Fuck Leopold. How could he do this to her?
"Regina, what are you doing here?" Emma asked and then her face fell, eyes wide with horror. "Henry's okay, right?"
"Yes, he's fine."
Emma twisted her face to the side. "Do we have a doctor's appointment today that I forgot?"
"No, this is different. We should go home. I already cleared it with Graham for you." She held out her hand for Emma.
Emma's face scrunched up even more. "You cleared it with Graham?"
"Yes, it's very important. You know I wouldn't interfere with your work otherwise."
Emma nodded. "Just lemme get my stuff."
Regina bobbed her head and Emma was quick to get her things. Regina took her by the hand and they stepped out onto the street. Things seemed clear until a person ran up on Emma as she stood at the passenger door of Regina's car.
"Emma Swan?"
Emma arched an eyebrow. "Who wants to know?"
"Me and millions of others would like to know how you managed to trick a brilliant businessman like Leopold White out of millions?"
Emma turned to Regina. "The hell?"
"Get in the car, Emma. I'll explain on the way home," Regina replied. She wished she had more time to make Emma comfortable, but that would be too easy and life was never easy.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: Regina and Emma fight back with some surprising help.