Chapter 9

"If you get too tired, we'll go home right away. One word from you and we'll pack up our stuff and leave, okay?"

Emma had to grin and turned to Henry in the back seat, who returned the grin and rolled his eyes. "You've been telling me that ever since you got up this morning," she then indicated, turning to the driver's seat where Regina was sitting. "I'm fine," she then assured her for what seemed like the hundredth time. "But as soon as anything changes, I'll let you know immediately."

Regina's tense shoulders relaxed a little, barely noticeably, and she parked on the side of the road in front of the Charmings' house. Before exiting, she checked her makeup in the rearview mirror and ran her hand through her hair again.

"You're beautiful, no enhancements needed," Emma said, leaning in and kissing her on her in dark red lipstick covered lips.

"Okay, I'll be at the door," Henry excused himself and slid out of the back seat.

Emma grinned and kissed her girlfriend again. "He acts as if he wouldn't have thoughts about girls."

"Thoughts of girls his own age are different from watching your own mothers kiss, aren't they," Regina mused, but enjoyed the brief moment of intimacy no less.

Emma just shrugged and opened the door. "He'll survive it." Holding the bouquet of flowers they had brought for her mother, she stood on the sidewalk a moment later and slammed the car door shut. When Regina also got out, she eyed her up and down. Her girlfriend was wrapped in her long, tasteful black coat, from which a tight black skirt and stockinged legs protruded at the bottom. The high heels on her feet completed the look and made her appear taller than she actually was. Emma wore jeans, a sweatshirt, and chucks on her feet; she saw no reason to dress up like that for a family night out. But she could understand Regina. Even if the three of them got along, she, David and Snow would never be best friends, and so Regina carried her perfect outer appearance of the unflappable mayor right into their apartment. Only in her own home could she be found wearing a casual look. Therefore, it had been no miracle, how one had eyed her in her sportswear.

Arm in arm, the two crossed the street and joined their son who was waiting for them at the door.

"You both look great, Moms," it came from Henry when they were within earshot.

Emma had to laugh. "Yeah, just as great as the Beauty and the Beast from the picture books, you mean."

Regina turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Who am I in this, again?"

"I'm ignoring that question because of its rhetorical nature, all right?"

"Then I don't know how you come about that statement," Regina replied coolly.

Emma looked down at her, then at herself. "You look as if you had tickets to the opera. I look like I have tickets to a football game."

"Yes, and it would be strange if it were the other way around," Henry objected. "You're both perfect in your own way. Can we go in now? I'm cold."

Both Emma and Regina had to laugh at Henry's pragmatic answer, so Emma now slid her key into the lock and entered the house first. Arriving at the apartment door, she rang the bell. Although she had a key for the apartment as well, she didn't want to just barge in when they were invited to dinner.

"Glad you're here!" was the first thing out of Snow's mouth as she stuck her head out the door. Emma and Henry were hugged tightly by her, while she and Regina at least pressed their cheeks together briefly. "Are the flowers for me?"

"Hardly for Dad," Emma laughed, handing her the bouquet.

While the three of them put away their coats and shoes, Snow was already hurrying back to the kitchen to organize a vase.

Emma was glad that they were once again among themselves at that moment, since it was only thanks to Regina's grip on her arm, which stabilized her, that she didn't stagger uncontrollably to the side again after taking off her shoes. She gave her a grateful look and then followed her mother into the kitchen. "That smells fantastic already. Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Don't you dare! You're our guests. Off to the living room with you, David and Neal are there," Snow demanded immediately.

Complying with the request, they shortly greeted Emma's father and her little brother and took seats with them on the sofa and in the armchairs. A fire was burning in the fireplace, spreading a pleasant warmth throughout the apartment.

"I was a little surprised when you promoted me so unexpectedly and put Hook by my side," it came after the first short small talk from David, who had his son on his lap and was playing 'hop, hop, rider' with him.

Emma sighed and took a sip from her water glass to delay answering. "Well, the time out was spontaneous and I didn't think you'd mind if I supplied you with a replacement right away," she explained, feeling Regina stiffen beside her. She knew she would have preferred to let the truth out right away, but if she did, both of her parents had to be present. She didn't have the strength to break the news twice. And besides, she didn't want to ruin the evening before it had even begun.

"It's okay, Emma. I think he's fitting in just fine. When I talked to him yesterday, he sounded very excited about the job."

"Well then, everything's perfect," she nodded, catching herself again sipping the water out of sheer nervousness.

David rose to his feet to the displeasure of Neal, who let out an indignant, "Daddy!"

"I'll see if I can help Snow."

"Give him to me," it came right back from Henry, who reached out and embraced his uncle a moment later, making Neal beam again.

When David had left the room, Regina immediately turned to Emma. "Tell them!"

"Regina! It's not that simple, okay? This isn't a plain announcement you make to your parents incidentally. This is a drastic thing. I know you probably would have just presented your mom with a fait accompli regardless of her feelings, but you guys also had a more than complicated relationship and that's putting it mildly. I get along well with my parents, they take care of me, and I have to tread lightly and not barge in." Emma looked her urgently in the eyes and hoped she would somehow be able to understand her.

Regina expelled her breath and averted her eyes from her. "I know. It's just this sneaking around that gets me down, you know?"

Emma nodded and leaned against Regina. "Yeah, I know. Me too."

"Well, maybe it won't be so bad," Henry responded. Meanwhile, Neal was bouncing gleefully on his lap instead of David's.

Questioningly, Emma looked at him.

"You were scared too, before you told me, and in the end you felt better about it and so did I, didn't you? Secrecy is never the better option, even if the truth is sometimes brutal."

Emma looked at Regina and shook her head. "Sometimes I don't know which one of us is the adult."

"You certainly aren't, that's for sure," she teased her.

Emma's smile froze on her lips when she saw her parents standing beaming in the doorway. "Mom... Dad... How long have you been standing there?" she asked in alarm. They hadn't said anything specific in their conversation, so it wouldn't have mattered if the two of them had heard something. But she couldn't reconcile their happy grins with her thoughts.

The two came over to them and sat down on the couch across from Emma and Regina.

"What did I tell you?" Snow asked turning to David and smiling at him.

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Aren't you going to let them talk first?"

Emma just looked back and forth between her parents even more confused. "Guys, what's this all about?"

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to eavesdrop on your conversation. We wanted to let you know that dinner was ready, but you were so engrossed that we didn't want to interrupt," Snow explained, taking her husband's hand.

At least now Emma knew they had been listening. But therefore, she understood even less the joy that had ensued in both of them.

"Yeah, uh, no problem. But will you let us in on what's got you in this high spirits?" she asked cautiously.

"Actually, your mother and I thought you were going to tell us yourselves tonight."

Emma swallowed dryly and found, to her annoyance, that her glass was empty by now. She exchanged a glance with Regina, but she looked just as perplexed as she did. "Sorry, we have no idea what you're getting at."

Snow beamed, stood up, and wrapped her arms around Emma's neck. "I'm so happy for you guys! And I really mean that. I know your relationship upset me a little at first, but by now... You belong together, and it's great that you want another child together!"

"What?" it came shrilly from Emma, who recoiled from the embrace and looked at her mother in horror. Beside her, she could see Regina slowly lowering her face into one hand, shaking her head and muttering, "For God's sake."

"Well, you know. Yesterday, when we ran into each other?!" Snow said, looking at the two of them as if that explained everything. "David saw you at the hospital a few days ago, and then when you were there together yesterday..." She smiled and reached for one hand each of Emma and Regina, as if to give them her blessing.

Henry looked back and forth between the parties, seeming to long for somewhere else by the look on his face. He was glad his hands were busy holding Neal.

"Did you really think we wouldn't figure it out? Or did you think we wouldn't be okay with it?", Snow wanted to know.

"Mom, it's not that. I mean..." Emma shook her head, as if that made it easier for her to sort out her thoughts. "We're not planning on having a child together," she finally clarified.

Snow let go of their hands and her smile changed to an embarrassed expression along with flushed cheeks as she sat back down next to David. "Oh, I'm sorry about that," it came softly from her, "What...was it you wanted to tell us then?"

"Henry and I are going to go set the table while you guys sort this out," it then came from Regina, who stood up. Emma looked up at her pleadingly not to leave her alone with them, but she only gave her shoulder a quick squeeze for encouragement. "We're next door."

Emma's breath quickened as her girlfriend and son left the room with Neal, leaving her alone with her parents.

"Now we're really curious," David commented, propping his forearms on his thighs so he could lean a little further toward Emma. "The second guess from us was wedding plans and honeymooning in the south where you need vaccinations?!"

Emma groaned and hid her face in her hands for a moment before looking at them both seriously. "No plans, okay? Can you guys please stop making one abstruse suggestion after another and just let me finish?"

David nodded, while Snow's expectant gaze seemed to pierce her. The fact that the two of them didn't seem to have the slightest suspicion made it worse.

"You're right, we were at the hospital. I was there, Regina accompanied me," she began slowly, tugging at a thread that had come loose from the side seam of her pant leg. It took all her willpower to tear her gaze away from it and look her parents in the eye instead. "I didn't want to drag you guys into this, but it's not going to be avoidable, so... I have cancer." The sudden silence in the room was so stifling that Emma shifted uncomfortably in her seat after only a few seconds.

David's gaze was completely expressionless, while Snow's face had turned into a mask of sheer horror. Tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn't make a single sound either.

"Can you please say something?" Emma asked, reaching out a hand helplessly to her mother. "I know this sounds bad at first. But I have an excellent doctor, there's already a treatment plan in place, and I'm working on getting back to tip-top shape," she assured them. Since they still didn't move, Emma got up and sat on the sofa next to her mother to put an arm around her shoulders.

The kind gesture caused Snow to cling to Emma, now sobbing loudly into her sweatshirt.

Gently, Emma stroked her mother's back, looking at her father, who had finally awakened from his stupor as well, eyeing his daughter as if seeing her for either the first or last time.

"Mom, it's...going to be okay." In her mind, she slapped herself for saying such things, but she couldn't just let the situation escalate and had to calm her somehow, if only for the moment. "I went to the doctor in time, I have a really good chance of being cured."

"First we lose you for almost 30 years and now we might lose you forever," Snow sobbed, continuing to cling to Emma. "What have we done to deserve this?"

"You guys didn't do anything at all. It is what it is now and we all have to deal with it somehow."

"Thank you for telling us," it came from David a moment later.

"You can thank Regina for that."

Snow looked up at her questioningly with a puffy face.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "She was the one who really wanted to let you guys in on it. I preferred to keep it to myself for as long as possible."

"But why?"

"Because I wanted to spare you this grief, that's why! Look at you two, you're more shaken up than I was when I got the news," Emma said, pointing back and forth between the two.

"We're your parents!", David pointed out, awkwardly stroking Emma's arm that was around his wife. "It's normal for us to be very worried and scared about you."

She nodded and gave him a wry smile before looking down at Snow, who seemed to be slowly regaining some composure. "I promise to tell you when I have news. And remember, no news is often good news, okay?"

David nodded, and Snow hesitantly did the same.

"But you'll tell us if we can help!" the completely tearful woman demanded of her daughter.

Emma nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I promise." She looked back and forth between the two for a while longer before forcing herself to smile apologetically. "I know I completely ruined the mood. But the food still smells wonderful, don't you want to at least pretend everything's fine and we'll eat together? It's probably my last relaxing weekend, I have to go to the hospital on Monday. Let's enjoy it as much as we can," she begged. She realized that fulfilling this request would be easier for David than Snow, but she didn't want to mope around for the rest of the evening. After all, she reasoned, everyone closest to her now knew. With those who might come along, this conversation would definitely be easier for her.

"Then let's go to the kitchen," David ultimately agreed, taking Snow by the hand, but she excused herself briefly and disappeared into the bathroom.

So father and daughter went ahead and silently took a seat at the table where Henry, Regina and Neal were already sitting and which was by now completely set except for the food.

Regina's gaze sought Emma's, and the blonde held it briefly before taking her eyes off her. For the hand that squeezed hers encouragingly under the table, however, she was very grateful.

"Neal has already eaten, he couldn't wait any longer," Henry finally broke the awkward silence.

"Thanks for taking care of him, Henry," David nodded. "Then I'll put him right to bed. Snow will need a few more minutes anyway." Gently, he lifted his son out of the high chair and carried him upstairs to the nursery.

"Where's Snow?" Regina wanted to know in alarm when they were alone.

"In the bathroom. She is, as you can imagine, devastated."

"Are you alright?" Regina's dark eyes slid over Emma, trying to figure out how her girlfriend was taking the situation.

Uncertainly, Emma lifted a shoulder. "Been better, I guess. But I'm also relieved to have come clean."

"That's much better than if they'd found out by accident," Henry nodded, standing up and coming over to Emma, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He leaned his head against the side of hers. "Can we actually come visit you when you're in the hospital?" he wanted to know quietly.

Emma enjoyed the closeness of her son and weighed her answer in her mind. "Of course you can. But I always want you to call first."

Regina tilted her head, which didn't escape Emma's notice.

"I don't want you to see me when I'm not well," she therefore continued, stroking Henry's arm. "This disease is already hanging over me like a sword of Damocles, and through it, all of us. I don't want it to ruin your image of me."

Regina snorted in disbelief. "We're your family, and there's no way we're going to avoid seeing you when you're not well. Or were you planning to stay in the hospital forever?"

"I hope I won't be unwell forever," Emma teased.

"You know how I meant it."

"Now will you stop that!" Henry indignantly said. "Both of you!" He turned to Regina and looked at her seriously. "You've got to stop circling over her like a helicopter and being afraid for her all the time." He then turned his head to his birth mother. "And you need to accept that we want to help you and we will because we love you and we're here for you no matter what."

Emma bit her lip and lowered her gaze.

"I know I'm overreacting. But it's hard, so hard, to keep a straight face," it came from Regina, whose eyes had begun to glimmer suspiciously moist at Henry's words.

Henry disengaged his arms from Emma and instead put one arm around her shoulders, the other around Regina's. "You are my moms and I love you both and just the way you are. Our family will get through this, I just know it."


Despite everything, the evening turned out quieter than usual of course, but still more pleasant than expected.

Snow did check on Emma several times to make sure she was really comfortable and sought her closeness even more than she usually did, but otherwise she behaved relatively normally.

David, on the other hand, was silent most of the time, staring lost in thought at the dancing flames in the fireplace, clearly absorbed in his thoughts.

Emma wondered, as Snow began to talk about how she had finally been able to wrest the recipe for her famous plum cake from Granny, if her mother was even completely aware of the implications of her words. Of course, in a way she was glad she wasn't crying all evening, but she feared that Snow's unwavering optimism didn't for a second put her survival in doubt.

"It's getting late," Regina finally observed, who had been sitting stock-still on the sofa, joining Emma's and Snow's conversation only now and then.

"Are you really going to leave already? We're having such a nice chat right now," Snow's disappointed reply came.

Emma squeezed her hand and smiled gently at her. "We live just a few streets away and not on the other side of the country, okay? I'm sure we'll see each other again soon." She herself wouldn't have been able to bring herself to tell Snow they were leaving, even though she'd been battling a headache and a leaden fatigue for at least half an hour that she hadn't known like this before she got sick. Judging by Regina's look, however, she knew exactly how she felt.

"Yeah, I know. All right, you're right, it's late," Snow finally admitted, sighing, "But we really need to do this again soon."

"Sure," Emma nodded and rose from the couch.

Visibly relieved, Regina did the same and then tapped Henry on the shoulder, who had been engrossed in a cell phone game. "We're ready to go, Henry. Say goodbye to your grandparents."

"Mom, I'm not twelve anymore," Henry mumbled, blushing before hugging first Snow and then David goodbye.

Emma had to grin and hugged her parents tightly as well before they went on their way.

"You'll contact us, right?" Snow asked again as they were already descending the stairs.

"I will," Emma promised, turning around once more for a moment. When she saw Snow's worried face at that, her heart nearly broke.

"How can some people talk so much?" Regina asked as they all sat back in the car and she started the engine.

"She's scared," Emma whispered, staring ahead. Maybe she had misjudged her mother when she thought she didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

"We're all scared. But do you hear me babbling incessantly?"

"Well, you're not her," Emma pointed out. "Apparently it helps her somehow."

Regina snorted. "Yeah, no wonder we're just not warming up to each other."

Emma just nodded. She didn't want to argue with her by talking back. She could understand Regina's resentment, but she could also understand Snow, so she preferred to keep quiet. Her pounding head preferred silence a lot anyway.

When Regina stopped the car, Henry was the first to get out and then opened the door for Emma.

"Aren't you mixing up things there, kid? This isn't a carriage and I'm not the queen," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Shrugging his shoulders, Henry held out a hand to her. It had not escaped his notice that her movements had become increasingly sluggish and ponderous as the hour wore on, even though he had pretended to be absorbed in his game.

Emma sighed and ignored his hand as she pulled herself to her feet by the doorframe. "I don't need any help, okay?" Exhausted, she walked to the front door, bracing herself against it with one hand as she slid the key into the lock with the other. She would never have admitted it, but the day had been a lot for her. First, she had accompanied Regina when she had done some shopping and while her girlfriend made some phone calls afterwards, she had chopped the wood for the fireplace that had been delivered a few days ago until Regina had caught her doing it and put an end to it. And finally, they had been at her parents' place. Even though Emma had known ahead of time that all of this combined was not a good idea, she felt like she needed to get as much done as possible.

She didn't have to turn around to know what sight would be in front of her: Regina and Henry, pausing beside the Mercedes, watching with anxious petrified expressions as she forced her once-strong body to still somehow hold her upright and carry her all the way inside to her bed.