I don't own these characters; Disney/ABC does.

13: Toxicity

Regina was about to open a link Mulan emailed her, but there was a knock on her door. She looked up as it opened and scowled. Who the hell let Cora in here? Of course, no one was probably crazy enough to stand in Cora's path either. It was fine. Regina would get rid of her. She did not have time for Cora anymore.

"Regina," Cora Mills said, standing in the doorway in all of her glory. She looked like the wealthy noble she was. It was like she was trying to prove a point, to remind Regina exactly who she was. Regina knew, but no longer cared. There were bigger problems right now.

"Mother," Regina replied, hissing out the title. She did not want to start an all out brawl like she knew would happen if she called her mother by her name to her face, but no matter what, she could not control her tone. I don't need this right now.

Cora curled her lip as she glanced around the office. "So, this is what you're doing with yourself now. Whoring just not paying enough, I assume?"

Regina scowled. "Someone recognized my talent."

Cora actually openly laughed. "She recognized your talent elsewhere as well, yes?" She had the nerve to sound smug.

It took all of Regina's willpower not to counter that was her mother's talent as well. You don't need to fight her. She's irrelevant. She's just baiting you. Cora seemed to like her attention. "I have to assume you want to see me for something to come all this way." Yes, remember, you came to me, not the other way around. You always come to me now.

Cora glared at her. "Watch yourself, Regina. You could've had power. Instead, you've decided to work a dead-end job to support a felon, who is on her way back to prison, if she's lucky. You know for a fact you don't have the allies, intelligence, or overall power to beat Rumple. And your precious criminal put herself in Leopold White's crosshairs and I know he comes across as a sweet old man, but he didn't make all that money in business being sweet."

Regina found herself out of patience. This was all pointless. "I don't know what your play is here and I honestly don't have the time or energy for it. Can you see yourself out? For all eternity if possible." She turned her attention back to her laptop.

Cora stepped inside, slamming the door behind her. Regina did not flinch. This spoke volumes of how far she had come since the last time she faced Cora. Emma made me so much stronger.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Cora demanded, glower on full force, like she was trying to burst Regina into flames at that very moment.

"I could ask you the same question," Regina countered, gaze just as hard.

"Don't push your luck, Regina. I am your only salvation," Cora said.

"That's where you're wrong." Maleficent stepped into the office and she wasted no time glaring Cora down.

"Excuse you. I am speaking with my daughter," Cora said.

Maleficent folded her arms across her chest. "No, believe me, the entire noble world remembers when you disowned Regina in a very public fashion, so I don't think you're speaking to your daughter. You're under the impression you're speaking to a possession, which is far from the case. She doesn't belong to you."

"I am not, nor have I ever been, your possession, Cora." Regina said the name with clear disdain and watched with satisfaction as Cora's face twisted with blind fury that could go nowhere. "You are not my salvation. If anything, you've been my damnation from the time I was born. Now, I'm standing tall and making a name for myself without any help from you."

Cora curled her lip. "By marrying a criminal? You're the laughing stock of the world."

"As has been the case since you publicly disowned me. And had that not been it, the fact that the only work I could get because you blocked all other avenues was through an escort service would've been the next thing to make a laughing stock. Please, take credit where credit is due," Regina replied.

Of course, Cora did not deny any of it. She had purposely made Regina's life impossible. "You chose to go that route. All you had to do was—"

"Come crawling back to you and discard my child to do what you asked? I'd rather crawl naked through broken glass slithering on my bare belly like a snake," Regina stated.

Cora sniffed, turning her nose up. "Yes, and we see where that's gotten you. You clearly can't function properly on your own or make the best decisions, or you'll marry the worst sort. You don't know what you're doing."

Regina smirked. "Time will tell how that works out in all areas. If Leopold's a teacher like you, this will work out better than anyone could've imagined."

Cora shook her head. "You'll regret this."

"I somehow doubt it," Regina replied dryly. "What I have regretted is waiting for you to realize how a mother should act toward her child. I regret waiting for you to love me properly." It felt good to get those words out, even though she knew they would not matter. "You can't love properly, not me, not Daddy. You're heartless."

Cora had the nerve to flinch, like she was insulted. "You've had your chance, Regina. Remember that." She then pushed by Maleficent to storm out.

Maleficent sucked her teeth. "I have to say, seeing the high and mighty Cora Mills in the flesh is as off-putting as people advertise."

Regina chuckled. "Now, imagine growing up with her, as your mother and you're her only child."

Maleficent winced. "I don't even want to. It's a miracle you survived."

Regina sighed, reality starting to weigh in. She had just openly made an enemy of Cora fucking Mills. There were few things off limits in the noble world, but that was one of them. What have these women done to me? Gave her a backbone, apparently. Forced her to believe in herself and in them.

"Was this a wise move on our part?" Regina asked. Even if it was not, it felt so damn good. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. A burning anxiety that had always been just under her skin, sizzling in her belly, had finally gone out. She was not even sure if she knew how to live without that constant, nagging terror of Cora Mills lurking just under the surface of her life.

With a scoff, Maleficent waved the matter off. "Don't worry about your mother. One problem at a time."

Regina nodded. "Now that you say that, Emma's coworker sent me something she feels I should watch immediately. I hope Emma didn't punch someone." She clicked the link.

Maleficent chuckled. "I hope she did."

Regina turned her attention to the video and Maleficent moved so she could see. Regina tilted her head as she took in the scruffy man on screen. She knew him.

"Wait a moment, isn't this Rumple's wayward son?" Regina asked.

Maleficent shook her head. "You'd know better than I would. While he's older than you, he's younger than I am, so therefore I didn't really run in the same circles. Is he really saying he's the reason Emma went to prison?"

Regina nodded as she listened, utterly amazed. "This is Neal. Neal Cassidy is Baelfire Gold. Small world. So, guess he's not done pissing his daddy off."

"Nobles and their kids, huh? I think I'm just going to eat my young."

"And what exactly do you think nobles are doing?"

Maleficent chuckled. "Well, this has to be a kick in the ass. His son is trying to unravel his hard work and putting it out there that Rumple manipulates the system. That's going to bring attention he doesn't want."

"Not to mention, I'm sure he didn't mention his son knowing Emma to Leopold or any of this sorted business. This business deal is about to have some problems." To think someone as brilliant as Leopold White put together a scheme that would fall apart in less than a week really showed how anger could ruin the best of plans.

Maleficent grinned and tapped her fingertips together. "Where's Kathryn? We need to make this so much worse."

Regina nodded. There had to be a way to use this to their advantage. But, they might not need to. Regina moved onto a video showing Emma speaking to reporters outside of the Sheriff's station. It was not the best interview, but she gave them enough to poke around and it seemed like they were already poking.

"They've been busy this morning," Regina muttered as she noticed new articles from mere minutes ago, quite a few based on Emma's few words from that morning. All of them ended with being "this is a developing story," so they would be adding to it.

"This must be selling, but then again, people do love the drama of the nobility and Leopold is a billionaire, so that adds to it."

"Plus, he has always been seen as this saint and now the cracks are setting in. You know people love a good downfall," Regina replied, having felt it firsthand. In quiet moments, on bad days, she could still hear people jeering at her, still feeling bruises from her time as an escort and nobles thought it was fine to abuse her because obviously no one cared about her if her own mother could throw her to the wolves.

A predatory grin took over Maleficent's face. "But, I still want to make it worse."

"Let's give it to the afternoon."

Maleficent nodded. "Right. I still need Kathryn, though. We now have to prepare for your mother trying something, so I want to make sure all of our I's are dotted and t's are crossed. I'm not going to ask about finances because I know you're on top of that."

"Always."

"So, let's meet in my office in an hour and solidify our battle plan."

Regina nodded and Maleficent was gone. They had already worked out what they were going to do should Cora try something with them, but it was sooner than they imagined. Hopefully, they would survive that unstoppable force. Regina was not sure she could handle any more acts of God in the form of bad parenting.

-8-8-8-8-

Emma groaned as she disconnected a call and rubbed her eyes. Work was a distant memory and it was barely noon. Mulan had escaped to the outside world, patrolling. Graham was in his office, probably handling annoying phone calls as well. Why do these people even care about this bullshit? Before she could exhaust herself further with answers to that question, Ruby made her way inside and flopped down in the chair in front of Emma's desk.

"Regina called in an order for you and asked that I come by and check on you," Ruby said as she put the bag down in front of Emma.

Emma eyed the bag with suspicion. There was a fifty-fifty chance the lunch was healthy since they had not been eating the best in the past couple of meals. Ruby chuckled, which meant it was more likely healthy. Emma groaned.

"It's, like, kale salad, isn't it?" Emma asked.

"Oh, you know your wife well, but I took pity on you. There's a burger and fries in there as well. Figured you earned it," Ruby replied.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't know about that, but I'll take it." The day was looking up. She dived into the bag and pulled out two containers. She did not even frown when the first one she opened was the kale. She would eat it later… maybe.

"How's the media thing going? We've got reporters hounding customers outside the diner to find out about you."

Emma arched an eyebrow. "Outside the diner?"

"Yeah, they were inside for about ten minutes before Granny got fed up and things got ugly. They're rude ass people, you know? You can't come in and just accuse my best friend of being a rapist and con artist and think I'm gonna serve you. Ashley dropped more hot soup in ten minutes than I've seen her drop in the whole time she's worked at the diner. Granny almost got her gun. You know we've got your back."

Emma nodded. "Helps make this whole stupid thing more bearable."

"Your dad's an asshole for this whole thing, but it looks like it might already be biting him in the ass."

"Just because of Neal?" Emma could not believe that.

"Not just that, but someone chimed in on social media that the source of your rape allegations to find out the person they came from has a habit of outing you to strangers for her own amusement. You didn't see that?" Ruby asked.

"Nope. I've been busy telling the truth to all the damn reporters who keep calling me." She was not sure if it made a difference as she did not have time to check any media sites, be they official or social.

"Dude…" Ruby pulled out her phone and opened it right to where she wanted Emma to see.

Emma read the thread as quickly as she could. Several people chimed in defending her. They called Lily out by name. They accused Lily of trying to make money and hurt Emma in the process, which was something not beyond Lily's scope. There were people who had met her and Lily and decided she was the one who needed to be protected, not Lily. Wow.

"This the chick who crashed your housewarming, right?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah. She was my friend until I met you and got to find out what a real friend is like. You'd never do anything like this."

"No, but I promise you if I ever see her, I'll deck her for you. There's tons of stuff out there about her now. Beyond how she's doing this to hurt you and make money, it's come out that she's also a petty criminal, or at least she was as a teenager. I know from you that doesn't mean she's still a criminal. Her ass is definitely still petty, though."

"Yeah, I don't think she'll ever stop being that. Regina thinks Gold sent her and Killian to the house to start something like this."

"Glad that blew up in his face quick."

"I didn't think it would. I've seen a lot of women believe Lily and look at me like I'm the lowest of the low for not telling them immediately about my junk. Like I should be all 'hey, let me buy you a drink. By the way, I have a dick.' As if that's normal."

Ruby nodded and grabbed a fry from Emma's lunch. "I think this is going to bite the media in the ass. They were quick to jump on you being the bad guy, but three days into the smear campaign, there's already tons of people calling bullshit. People at the diner keep joking, 'damn, I didn't even get a chance to fake-believe the lies.' So, that's nice."

Emma nodded and was about to say something, but her phone went off. Unknown number. Probably a reporter. She answered it. She would drop a few more truth bombs before cursing them out. But, then she blinked as the caller identified himself. It was the lab where she and Snow did their DNA tests. The test was "leaked."

"We are so sorry about this."

Emma snorted. "It's fine. Nothing to apologize for, unless, of course, someone could use this information to kill me. That would be bad."

"That's highly unlikely."

"Okay, cool. You might want to find the leak, though. This might mean you have someone on your staff willing to sell personal medical information."

"Oh, they will be found."

"Cool." Emma ended the call. "Snow's going to sue the shit out of those guys."

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"DNA people leaked me and Snow's test, which reveals we're totally sisters who share a single parent and it ain't our mothers. So, either somehow her mom and my mom both met the same random stranger a couple of months apart and neither of us belong to Leopold or he boned a stripper with no protection and is now trying to malign his daughter. Take your pick." Emma shrugged as she picked up her burger and took a huge bite. She hummed through each chew. So good.

"Wow, this might be my new favorite show. Can we muddy the waters and tell everyone I'm your sister, too?"

Emma chuckled. "You just want chaos."

"At this point, I think that's what everyone wants. It's nice to see the town rally behind you, though. I mean, I know you haven't lived here that long, but you get to see you've built up a lot of goodwill. I guess all that playing in the park was good for something, huh?" Ruby laughed.

"I like it here. I like the people here. Every day I go out, I feel good, even when I'm at work. Do you know how many times I've chased after Pongo and just laughed once I finally caught him?" Emma bit her burger again.

"Dozens, I'm sure. One day, Doc will put a leash on him."

"No, he won't. Pongo would rip his arm off. I've seen Pongo charge over to Regina from down the block. You'd think she had bacon in her pockets."

"Oh, he likes her?"

"Yup. Anybody who sees it thinks it's adorable and she likes him, even though she likes to act annoyed."

Ruby nodded. "Oh, she's gonna cave on getting you the puppy eventually, huh?"

"Pretty sure she is. I'm not going to say anything, though, just let Pongo keep selling it. But, yeah, I like Storybrooke. It's home. I like to think I've gotten in good at Henry's school, too. Teachers smile when I come to pick him up. I like this place." Emma felt like she had to keep saying it, so she could hold onto it.

Ruby stole another fry. "And this place likes you." She offered Emma a smile that relaxed her in ways Emma had not realized she needed.

"You know, I never knew what home felt like, but that's what this is. It's home. What do I do with that information?"

"You live and you enjoy this, enjoy life." Ruby smiled at her.

Emma nodded. "I think I can do that." She bit her burger again. She had everything she ever wanted. She definitely could enjoy life. Leopold be damned. Lily be damned as well.

Ruby ate another fry. "Did Leopold really think this would work? Like get the world to hate you and then… what? Arrest you? Sue you? I don't get it. Like, what was his plan here? How does this un-daughter you if you have proof he's your biological father?"

Emma was almost done with half of her burger. "I dunno. I guess if he wins and makes people believe I'm not his daughter then nothing he did in the past happened?"

Snickering, Ruby arched an eyebrow. "Is that how it works?"

"Hell if I know. Maybe he's just big mad and doesn't know how to express that, so he thinks burning my life to the ground will change things." She scoffed and then chewed. "Little does he know, can't burn my life to the ground. This little town and my little family are it for me and he can't take that apparently."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, so, I came over to catch you up on diner gossip, too. Like I said, most people are on your side, barring more information comes out about you being a horrible person, which we all doubt will happen. They're not sure what's going on with Leopold claiming he's your father because they've never heard you mention it. I'm with them on that, but I know he is because Snow's mentioned it. They don't think you'd be conning him and not name dropping all over the place… or you'd be wasting your time working for our little sheriff's department. If you could con a billionaire, wouldn't you have more money?"

Raising an eyebrow, Emma laughed. "Are you saying I'm a bad con artist?" She licked ketchup from the corner of her mouth.

"Clearly doing something wrong. Of course, there's speculation you got your house from the con."

Emma nodded. "What about the baby? They think the baby's mine?" The town was aware of Regina's pregnancy in the sense that they saw her and it was getting more and more obvious. Emma was proud of their unborn child and wanted everyone to know she definitely had a hand in that.

"I think that's actually a forgotten element. No one is really debating if you're a woman or man or anything else. Criminal seems to be the only thing, and they don't think you are, despite the criminal record being paraded out. I mean, that social media post this morning helped explain things. Oh, tons of people think you made the right decision by dumping Neal and picking up Regina."

A laugh escaped Emma. "There was a lot of time in between that, but yeah, it was nice to get rid of him. Well, really I wasn't rid of him until Regina actually. I wasn't rid of my past until Regina. I always let it come back to haunt me. She helped me move on, even though it's back biting me in the ass now."

"It's not your fault, though."

"Which is a nice change of pace. Usually, I do invite this kinda misery in."

Ruby patted her forearm. "You're doing the best you can."

"I'm trying."

"You're doing good. Town's still with you. We know you."

"Thanks." Emma grabbed a handful of fries and shoved them in her mouth.

"Okay, I gotta get back to work. I'll catch you up on any real gossip later on. Take care."

"You, too, and thanks for the burger."

"Anytime."

"You'd be a good fake sister," Emma said with a laugh.

Ruby just winked and then left. Emma was alone with what was left of her food. She finished up and tried to focus. It was hard. She managed to answer a few emails looking for statements. One of them was about an old foster family, trying to claim she had been unruly. Yeah, she was unruly after their little bastard son tried to look at her while she was in the shower. Maybe I should talk about how horrible the foster system is while I have a chance. It might help some other poor kid.

So, she took her time to craft an email responding about how that foster family had treated her, how other foster families had treated her. She mentioned having one social worker who actually cared and tried to help, making sure to name her, so she could get credit for being an amazing human being. Afterward, she decided to check on her sister and then her wife.

"Hey, Snow, how are you doing?" Emma asked. Throughout all of this mess, she did not even get a chance to really make sure Snow was all right. This had to be a lot for her, too. Surely she was getting all kinds of calls about Emma.

Snow sighed. "Exhausted." She sounded the part. "Shocked. Can't believe my own father is doing this to my sister. This is just insane."

"It is that and getting crazier by the minute. Did the DNA lab call you?" Emma asked.

"Yes, they did. It's fine. I'm the one who leaked the test," Snow answered as if it was nothing.

"Oh." Emma blinked, more surprised than she ever imagined she could be. This was possibly the greatest thing Snow could ever do for her. "You did? When?"

"This morning. I wanted to do it before seeing Dad. I was supposed to see him yesterday and just couldn't bring myself to do it. I can't look at him right now. I can't even make a statement because I'm so mad, Emma. I don't know what I would say. I feel like I would just curse. I can't believe he would fucking do this!" Snow yelped. "See?"

Emma blew out a breath. He's got her cursing. Damn, I never thought anyone could be this mad for me. It proved just how much Snow cared about her. "Yeah, that was crazy. Are you on your way to see Leopold?"

"I'm at his house right now. I finally gathered enough wits to go see him and he has the nerve to not be here! He's ruining your life and out there living his own like it's fine!" Snow sobbed.

"Are you okay?" Of course, she could hear that Snow was far from okay and it broke her heart. How is this not enough for him to stop being an asshole?

"Of course I'm not okay! Are you?"

Emma sighed. "I'm trying to be."

"Emma, I just… I know he's not a father for you, but he was my father."

"He is your father."

Snow sniffled, but then snarled in a way Emma did not think was possible for her. "He can't be if he would do this to my sister. He hasn't realized how much his actions twisted both of our lives. He's not the only person who matters!"

"No, he's not," Emma said.

Snow took a deep breath. "I'm such a mess, Emma. This whole thing is so crazy. It's been so crazy. Every stupid move he had with your existence has been crazy and I'm just sick of it. I'm sick of living this lie he created."

Emma was not sure what any of that meant. "So… what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to tell him how he fucked this whole thing up and that I never want to see him again!"

Emma frowned. "Snow, he's your dad." While she never had a dad, hell, even a good parent, they seemed pretty damn important and Leopold meant so much to Snow.

"Is he, though, Emma? What if it's just another show for his ego, for his reputation? What if everything he's ever done for me is a show? What if him loving my mother was just a show? You know, she was a kind and pretty noble, on his level as far as bloodlines go, so it made for a nice looking marriage to the outside world."

"Snow… I'm sorry…"

"You don't apologize! It's not your fault! It's all him and I'm tired of pretending it's not! This is all him!"

"Snow, you didn't drive yourself there, right?" She would go pick Snow up if that was the case. There was no way she could let Snow drive in such a state.

"No."

"Good." Emma released a long exhale. "I know you're supposed to be coming over tonight." Regina said as much last night, but did not have a lot of details. "Are you going to bring Nolan and David, too? We could have a family night. No matter what, we're still a family."

Snow sniffled. "Yeah, we are."

"Can't wait to see you." And she meant. She wanted to see Snow, comfort Snow, and show her that they could get through this together.

-8-8-8-8-

Regina was more than happy to cook for family night considering everything that was happening. Henry picked a movie and a game. It would be a nice distraction, especially considering how upset Emma had been because Snow was so upset. So, they were going to watch Encanto and eat food from Regina's homeland, even though that was not the setting for Encanto. It was close enough and it would be nice to have a piece of home through all of this.

"Wanna play history trivia?" Henry asked, head buried in their game closet.

"So, we can all lose to you and your mom? No, thank you," Emma replied.

"Scrabble?"

"Your Uncle David is not going to play Scrabble and there's too many of us if he does."

"Hey, we have Uno! We almost never play."

Emma grimaced. "Uno destroys families, kid. Ruins friendships. Or at least it did when I played in middle and high school."

"I think we'll survive. We're pretty strong. You might have to sleep on the couch, though." He shrugged, like it was no big deal.

"Dude, you're willing to sacrifice my comfort for a card game!"

Henry looked her up and down. "You'll live."

Regina chuckled at the exchange as she moved around the kitchen. She had played Uno a few times with Henry years ago. It had not gotten out of hand. What was Emma talking about?

Snow, David, and Nolan showed up just as Regina put all the food on. There were tight hugs. Snow had clearly cried the whole way there. Her face was red and puffy. She had not bothered to put on makeup and even her clothes were not her usual fare. She had on a plain, white sweatshirt, which was too big and had her hands tucked into the sleeves. Her short hair was not even brushed. Regina's heart actually went out for Snow and she would never forgive Leopold for making her feel sorry for someone so annoying.

"Crazy that we were here less than a week ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago," Snow said.

Emma wrapped an arm around Snow's shoulders. "Don't worry about it. We've got a fun night ahead of us… until we start playing Uno anyway. Then, I'm sure it's every man for himself and I'm not sure my marriage will survive because Regina is competitive." Emma grinned.

Regina smirked at her. "You know what you married."

Uno turned out to be the perfect game to play for family night, though. Yes, it was competitive. Yes, Regina was mean. Yes, Emma was definitely sleeping on the couch and David was probably never going to be allowed back in the house, which was not even Regina's decision. But, they all forgot how awful the rest of the world was.

Henry got to stay up an extra hour, just so things could cool down after their Uno tournament. Then, Emma put him to bed while Regina poured some wine for Snow and David. They gawked at her, like they were not supposed to drink because she could not.

"It's fine. I figured you both needed it," Regina replied. "Besides, if I put juice in a wine glass, I can almost trick myself that I'm drinking with you."

David chuckled. "Thanks." He took a gulp of wine.

Snow nodded. "Thank you so much for this."

"No matter what happens with this, you're family and we're here for you just as you're here for us," Regina replied. And she meant that.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Leopold tries to save face, but it might be too late.