The knot in the pit of his stomach didn't ease as he followed Henry through the tree's as the younger boy looked for his mother int he middle of the forest. The savoir had lost control of her powers while interrogating the Snow Queen and had ran off after accidentally hurting her father after she blasted a hole through the side of the Sheriff's station. Now she was nowhere to be found, or she didn't want to be found.
But the saviors son had an advantage, He knew someone who would be able to find a magic user with a simple blink of an eye. But his friend refused to leave his side as they got closer to the woman.
Only she wasn't the only reason for the feeling of unease in his stomach. He hadn't heard from his mother since the previous night. Only a text message asking him to stay over at the Charming loft overnight. Of course he agreed, but when he went to their apartment to find some clothes and his gauntlets he was surprised not to see his father there. But he didn't think much of it as he helped the others try and track Emma down. His gut had told him that something had happened between his parents last night.
The assassin in training stood tall in on the branches above his friend as he kept his sights firmly set on the woman who was stood leaning against her yellow bug unaware of her approaching son.
"Mom?" Henry called out to his mother as he made his way towards her, while the blonde remained on the higher ground clenching her fists tight against her chest.
"Henry, what are you doing here?".
"I've been out all night looking for you. Everyone has" he tells his mother as he continues to walk towards her.
"I told them all to stay away" Emma tells him as Tom could see how out of control her magic was with his sixth sense. His mother's teachings the other day came to the front of his mind. It was no where near the same it was when he first saw it. it was unruly, undisciplined almost violent.
"I can't control my powers right now. Listen, don't worry about me. I'm gonna find a way to fix this, but until I do... You got to go" she urges him to leave.
"No" he refused "You always think that pulling away from people will fix your problems, but it never does. I can help you" he says as he gets close enough to reach out to his mother as light magic shone from the palms of her hands.
"Henry, just wait. I..." she tried to sop him only for Henry to touch her hand ,aking the savor lose control of her powers. A shock wave of her magic takes the younger boy off his feet and send him feet away from his mother to land hevily onto the ground.
Emma: Henry!" Emma exclaimed running after her son only to come to skidding stop as a figure fell from the trees above them to drop in between her and Henry. The teen landed with a thump making the blonde flinch as she tightly held her arms to her chest.
"Stop!" the teen warned her.
"Tom?" she gasped in surprised as she tried to take a step towards her son only for the teen to stop her again.
"I said stop!" he demands out of her again as he flicks out his right hand for a hidden blade to snap out of his gauntlet in a silent warning to the woman. She felt her heart thump harder in her chest seeing the teen wield the blade at her.
But she saw the fear in his eyes. The same ones she had only seen a few times in own mothers. He didn't want to hurt her. But at the moment she knew knew he would do anything to protect the boy behind him. And all because of her.
"Henry, are you okay?" Tom called back to his friend keeping his eyes firmly on the blonde woman in front of him "You okay?" he asked his friend as he turned his head around to see Henry still on the ground.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine" Henry stuttered out he felt something sting behind his ear. Reaching up he shakily touched the area only to pull away at the pain, Tom and Emma's eyes widen in concern seeing the blood the coated his fingers.
"Is that a cut?" Emma asked her son "Henry, what did I do?".
"I-it's fine. I'm okay"" Henry tried to tell his mother as stood up from the ground.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry".
"Mom...".
"Stop! Please, don't come any closer. I love you, kid, but you gotta go. Just go!" she pleads with him only for another wave of magic to blast from the hands. This time the teen took the brunt of the magic as he quickly crossed both of his blades in an 'X' making the magic deflect the magic around him and Henry.
Taking his mother's advise the boy turned and ran back the way he came through the forest leaving his friend behind as the teen looked towards the blonde as his gut told him to run only. He wanted to stay and help, but he had no idea how
"Tom, you need to go" Emma sternly tells him as she continues to pant,
"I'm sorry" he gulps out before turning to catch up Henry. He needed to find his Mom. She would know what to do.
For the first time in what seemed like years, Amelia Montague woke up with a smile on her face as she set her eyes upon the unfamiliar ceiling as she heard her phone vibrate from across the room. Sitting up with the sheet the only thing keeping the chill of the vault from touching her skin her eyes sought out the constant sound until it suddenly stopped.
Shrugging her phone off, her hand reached out to find the woman she had spent the night with hoping her phone hadn't disturbed her only to find the other half of the bed empty. She couldn't help the smile tugging on her face after the passion filled night. It felt right, like it always had.
Without seeing the several missed calls on her screen the assassin found the former Queen fully dressed on the steps leading up to the surface, the evidence of their night still seen as from half buttoned up blouse and ruffled un-brushed hair as she slowly approached the former Queen in her tank top and jeans.
"Morning" the redhead greeted the brunette making her look up to see her, distracting her away from her own phone.
"Well look who's finally woken up" Regina observed standing up as she nervously brushed down her skirt.
"Sorry, that was the best…sleep I've had in a while" she told her. And it was true. Her night's hadn't been the same despite having John next to her, they were plagued with restless thoughts of the woman in front of her. Thankfully not full of the usual nightmares that filled her nights. Instead they were full of memories of moments she had with the woman in front of her, of them back home.
Closing the evident distance between them the assassin stepped closer to the former Queen as they both felt that pull that had remained between them even after years together "I should ask you to come back to the apartment to cook you breakfast".
"Only we cant' do that" the Queen said, thinking that John would be there. She didn't know if he took her suggestion to stay at the Inn while she thought over her next move with him or he had stayed waiting for her to come back. Either way she knew their marriage was over as soon as he thought she would be okay moving away from the people who made her who she was today.
She just wasn't ready to accept it yet, that she had fallen out of love with the man she swore she would never stop loving.
"Your's then?" the redhead said with a suggestive brow wanting to keep them in this self-made bubble as their fingers intertwined.
"Ohh, that sound's lovely, but we both know we can't do that" she tells the assassin. Not sure what the previous night had meant for them.
"You're probably right" Amelia said "If Snow saw us everyone would know by lunch" the joke made the couple chuckle as the smile Amelia loved the most grew on Regina's face making her push back a lock of dark brunette hair from the Queen's face her fingers brushing over her soft skin.
"There's that smile, the elusive but satisfying smile I think about every time I close my eyes" closing the distance between their faces with her nose brushing against hers as she captured the Queen's lips in her's for a deep kiss that made her core stir.
"This makes me wonder why we didn't do this a few decades ago" the former Queen tells her as she pulled away from her for a breath of air.
"Well you were suffering from heartbreak and a touch of self- loathing. And I was just a Captain's wife with a tattoo scared of her own shadow".
Gently taking the assassin tattooed forearm she resting it on her shoulder as her fingers stroked the soft inked skin, allowing the redhead to stroke her cheek with her thumb "Who Tinker Bell said I was destined to be with. I should have listened to that stupid fairy. Things might have turned out differently had I chosen you over... Well, instead of... evil".
"We've both made mistakes" Amelia gulped gripping Regina closer to her torso as stared into the pair of brown eyes that were filled with love for her "And now we're making up for them. We've managed to find each other eventually, in-between revenge plot's, insufferable Princesses and a couple curses, I always found myself coming back to you even without my memories. I always came back to you".
"Or digging myself in deeper" Regina argued pulling herself away from the red head's touch "Your still married" she reminded her as she moved further into the vault.
"Yeah" Amelia breathed out bracing herself to tell the woman what had happened last night "About that..." only to her interrupted by the woman she loved as the latter turned around with her hand on her hips
"Even if there wasn't a John... I'm certain this would end badly" she doubted to the woman.
The sentence only made the assassin furrow her brows at the queen, she'd never heard this coming from her. even in their darkest days were the Charming couple had bested them both she'd always been the optimist in the relationship. The one to rally them to the next plan.
"You've never been this much of a pessimist?" Amelia observed following he woman into the adjoining room "Even when Snow and Charming bested us both".
"Well you would be too, if you hadn't already known everything I did" she said to the redhead picking up a large brown leather bound book Amelia recognized.
"The Storybook?" Amelia stated in confusion.
"So, you do know it" Regina said giving the book to the assassin.
"Henry gave it to me to read after the first curse was broken. Where did it come from anyway?".
"I don't know. I just appeared when Henry needed it most, full of stories about heroes and villains. Guess which column I'm in" Regina said as she opened the book to a page the illustrated her before she become the Evil Queen "And there's me, walking away from you at the bar".
Amelia turned the page, knowing exactly was was illustrated on the next page. It was her in the middle of the same cobbled street with the taverns crisscrossed window panes in the background with a pained expression on her face as she held a hand on her small pregnant stomach with Tink, trying to convince her to find Regina again.
"And that's me deciding not to find you" she retorted with a scoff "I was just as scared as you were, if not more" Amelia tells her closing the book making the brunette look at her "This book is about the past. You're not the Evil Queen anymore" she says discarding the book to the side.
"And you're not the Black Widow, but tell that to the author because he seems to have made it a rule that villains don't get happy endings, even if they change, even if they try to be good".
"Point him out to me. I'll be happy to have more than a conversation with him"
"I wish it were that simple, but I don't know where he is or who he is or if it's a he or a she or an it. I've searched everywhere, and I've been failing".
"Let me help then" Amelia said resting her hands on the Queen's waist "Whatever it takes to make you think that you're completely doomed to unhappiness. Let me do something about it"
"You can't. And this..." Regina continued pushing Amelia's hand off her body "Cannot happen a second time. You understand?".
"I know. But..." Amelia trials off putting her hands back on Regina's waist and gently pushing her towards the wall, a knowing smile growing on the Queen's face as happily let the assassin push her up against the wall of her vault with her face hovering over her's
"If we don't leave this room, then I think that this still... This counts as the first time, doesn't it?" Amelia closed the gap once again into a deep kiss with the Queen kissing her back.
Enchanted Forest
Many Years Ago
She and Tinkerbelle had reached the tavern her soulmate was in supposed to be in "Inside here, lies the beginning of your happiness. All the pain in your past will be just that. The past" Tinker Bell take her hand and leads her to the window to look into
"I just need a moment" Regina hesitated.
"You're nervous. I get it. But look!" Tinkerbelle looked through the window to see a woman and man with their backs to the window, not able to see their faces. Tinkerbelle notices the greenish glow of the dust that had landed on the outstretched arm of one of the pair.
With his back turned to them a man is sitting inside. Tinker Bell notices that he glows greenish, too. "There she is" Tinkerbelle pointed with her finger "The woman with the lion tattoo".
Regina steps in to look at them herself. She sees a man and woman with the backs to the window holding out their right arm that both held similar lion tattoo's on the forearm, but only one of they had the green glow on them.
"That's him?".
"Her" the fairy corrected Regina. A woman, her soulmate? Surely something was wrong.
"Pixie dust doesn't lie" Tinkerbelle tells Regina seeing her doubt of her soulmate being a woman "Come on, this is your chance of love and happiness. A fresh start. No baggage. You can let go off all the anger that weighs you down. Now, get her".
Regina takes a deep breath trying to calm her nerves "Okay. Okay, I can do this. I can be happy" she tells the fairy with a small smile.
"I know you can. Go" Tinkerbelle tells her before leaving her at the tavern door.
Tinker Bell leaves the young Queen at the tavern door. Regina hesitates a moment longer. Then she opens the door. The woman with the lion tattoo and long redhead hair that reminded her of Amelia's own red hair rejoices with a group of other men, sharing a drink with them. Regina watches the scene for a moment as the door behind her slam's shut from the wind
Hearing the door slam Amelia's head instantly snapped around to the door of the tavern to see someone she hadn't seen in years. Brown eye's met green from across the room as the young Queen recognized the redhead the pixie dust had found as her soulmate. She had changed in the two years since she had met the young assassin that had saved her and Snow from the mercenaries posing as royal guards while the young Queen had hardly changed in appearance.
"Regina?"
She sometimes she really hated the technology in this realm as her and Regina's trysts came to an abrupt halt when the Queen's phone and hers rung out for the hundredth time that morning, but was a good thing both women checked their phones as they had missed several phone calls from David and Mary Margaret about Emma.
The bubble had burst when they had mentioned Henry and Tom had found her with the former getting hurt for his efforts of calming his mother down
Pair rushed about the vault gathering their clothes as Regina hurriedly made a locator spell and Amelia ran into her wing of the vault searching for something that would help if they came across Emma with no control over her magic. A last resort so to speak.
The Charming couple were sat around their able with Hook nearby as Elsa tended to a hurt Henry upstairs in his room, they all looked up as the Ice Queen descended the metal stairs.
"How is he?" Mary Margaret asked after her grandson.
"I gave him enough ice for the week. It should help with the swelling" Elsa answered the former Princess.
"No. How is he?" the former princess repeated.
"Upset. I just wanted him to understand Emma's magic is tied to her emotions, like mine. The reason she hurt him is because she was trying so hard not to hurt him. It sounds very convoluted when I try to explain it now".
"No, no. Um... It makes perfect sense".
Mary Margaret tried to reassure the white-haired woman as the front door opened with Regina and surprisingly Amelia right behind her "Where's Henry? Is he okay?"
"He's fine. He's upstairs with Tom" David answered "We've been trying to call you both all night" he berates the pair.
"Well, I'm sorry if I don't respond to your every summons!" Regina snapped at the man taking a vial of potion out of pocket and slamming it down on the table as he assassin remained stood at bottom of the stairs "Though I did bring that locator potion you wanted. Maybe next time, try leading with, "thank you."" she continued before turning to Henry's grandmother "Now, may I see my son, please?".
"You might want to finish buttoning your shirt first" Mary Margaret quietly suggested to her stepmother seeing her black lase bar and cleavage visible to the woman.
Regina looked down in confusion before seeing what the Princess saw, hearing Amelia inwardly clear her throat as her green eye's flickered down to see Regina on show with hungry eye's "Oh. Well, I was in a rush to get here" she answered before rushing up the stair's buttoning up her shirt.
As she heard her name being called out "Lia" David's voice snapped her out of her thoughts as she watched Regina rush upstairs her thoughts straying from the issue at hand "Lia!" he shouted finally getting the redhead's attention which didn't go unnoticed by the former Princess.
"Yep?" the green eye's widened in surprise at the new voice.
Noting the strange behavior David continued "Would you be able to talk to Emma" David asked the assassin "you've had issues with control in the past maybe she'll listen to you".
"Yes, because I'm such a good example" she scoffed at the Prince as she walked over to the table "Remind me Charming, how many of your knights I slaughtered kwhen your lovely wife threw fairy dust in my eye before she sent a crossbow bolts through my thigh and shoulder".
The assassin was only met by silence as he remembered his men being slaughtered single handily by the woman in front of them as Mary Margaret saw something on her neck underneath the collar of her jacket "That's what I thought" the assassin added with a knowing smirk before turning around done with the conversation only for Mary Margaret shrill voice to make her freeze.
"Is that a hickey?" Mary Margaret suddenly asked the assassin seeing a red mark on the Assassins exposed throat.
God-dammit Regina
"So, what if It is, it's none of your business what I do in private" she snapped at the woman defensively tugging the collar of her jacket up before she heard footsteps down, she looked up to see Tom climbing down while Elsa distracted the other's with the locator spell. His eyes lit up seeing his mother at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey where have you been. We've been calling all night" he complained to his mother as he hurried down to the ground floor.
"Look I'm sorry, please don't' tell me you were with Henry looking for Emma" Amelia told her son with a lowered voice as the moved into the kitchen.
"Of course I was. I'm fine, Henry was the one who got hurt" he tell her "Where were you Mom, when I went home to get some clothes you or Dad weren't there. Did you guys have another fight?"he asked her.
"We did" she gulped as his head fell in disappointment "I'm sorry but a lot's happened since yesterday Tom. I'll explain but not now" he reluctantly nodded taking in a calming breath.
"We needed you" he tells her "I needed you" she heard the hurt in his voice.
"I know. And I'm sorry for that, but I we can't always be at everyone beck and call. There are more important things to worry about than a wayward daughter letting the Snow Queen manipulate her".
"B-but Emma" He wanted to help so badly. She could see it in his eyes as she saw the frustration behind them.
"We can't help her" she tells him "It's a tough lesson to learn but we can't always help people no matter how much we want to. Emma needs to figure this out herself but as long as we believe that she can, that's all she should need to control her powers".
"But-".
"She has magic. We don't" she plainly tells him "One wrong move on either side we're both dead. Turning your back on a fight is hard I know, especially when its people was care about, but people like us have to choose our battles wisely otherwise we won't be there when it matters.
"-I had to do it for Snow not so long ago when Regina was after her for killing Cora. I've even done it to Regina, it hurts but nothing hurts more than to see them become to worst version of themselves because you failed to help them. Walking away sometimes is the best you can do".
"Then what can we do?" he asks her.
"We can start by looking for a way to find the Author of Henry's storybook" she was determined to prove to the former Queen that was destined for doom and gloom just because she was a villain.
"Wait, how do you know about Operation Mongoose?"he blurted out to her.
"Mongoose?" she questions her son with a smile "Is that what you're all calling it?" she knew something was happening between Regina and the boys but not an Operation. Regina search for the Author had gotten it's own infamous code name like the one for Emma to break the curse and find everyone happy ending.
"Ahh shit" he cursed to himself for spilling the beans on their 'secret' operation.
"Language" she quickly chastises him with a gentle slap to his arm "I knew you two were up to something. But I have no idea where to even start" she admits to her son who seemed excited to start working with his mother on the venture.
"We were looking towards Uncle Rumple, but that seems like a dead end now" he huffs out.
"What about the codex's? there might be a clue in them that might point us in the right direction"
"You're a genius Mom" he exclaims at her wide eyes in excitement he hadn't thought of the codex's.
"We should head for library then?" she suggested to him as he nodded in approval.
"Bye everyone!" Tom suddenly announced to everyone in the apartment as he headed to the door and let himself out making the group look at the red head at the breakfast bar.
"Well it seems you all have this under control I'm gonna…" Amelia trailed off pointing to the door as she took a couple of strides to the open door only to be stopped by Hook's voice.
"Wait your not going to help?" Hook asked the assassin surprised to she her walking away from the situation at hand.
"You know my rules, call me when Emma changes her tune" the red head say's before leaving the apartment to the family.
"What the bloody hell does that mean" Hook looked to David and Mary Margaret for the answer "What rule?".
"She doesn't help people who don't help themselves" Mary Margaret tells the pirate with a saddened smile.
"Regina?" Amelia breathed out seeing the young Queen at the entrance of the tavern she was in with her new husband and his best friend Robin Hood.
"Amy?" John called out to his wife only go ignored as he looked up to see a woman at the door staring at his wife followed by Robin. The woman snapped out of whatever trance she was in when she saw how many eyes, she had drawn to herself, panic etched her features as the young Queen grabbed for the door quickly slipping through it and exiting the tavern.
"Reg-No!" Amelia protested as she jumped out of her seat and headed for the tavern door without a second glance towards her husband, she ran out of the tavern into the chilly street to find Regina's retreating figure.
"Regina!" she almost screamed into the night as she hurried after young Queen. The dark brunette came to a stop with Amelia behind her doing the same. Amelia panted out cold breaths as she waited with a thumping heart for the woman in front of her to turn around.
With tears in her eye's Regina steeled herself and made herself turn around to face the red head she had parted with two years ago on harsh terms. A relieved smile grew on the Assassin seeing that it was the young Queen she had met those years ago, it felt like a lifetime since she left her in the palace to go back to Monteriggioni. From the brown eyes she could get lost into the scar on her top lip.
"It's really you" Amelia breathed out as she engulfed the young Queen in a crushing hug which the Queen eagerly reciprocated wringing her arms around the red head, she had saved from the infection that had taken a hold of the young assassin, holding as tight as she could pushing her chin into her shoulder.
Quickly realizing what she was doing Amelia pushed herself off the woman in front of her putting some space between them "I-I'm sorry, I'm just surprised to see you here".
"Really?".
"In a nice way I swear" the red head insisted as she started to feel the cold thought her clothes.
"What are you doing here, I thought you'd be back with the Brotherhood".
"I did, but...t's a long story I don't really want to tell you in the cold" Amelia said to the Queen "Come back to the tavern with me and I'll tell you everything" Amelia held out her right hand to the Queen with, the one with the lion tattoo that she didn't remember being there before. The Queen looked at the outstretched hand as thousand of thought ran through her, some telling her to take her hand and the others telling her to keep running away from the woman in front of her.
After a pause Regina listened to the voice that her heart was singing out as she grasped Amelia's had like she had done so long ago "Deal" she answered with a toothy smile. Maybe this was destiny after all.
Having Regina sat in front of her was surreal. She never thought in a million years she'd ever see the young Queen again let alone in a tavern. She was still as beautiful as the first time she saw the Queen.
A barmaid had placed two mugs of drink in front of the them before leaving the pair "So, can I ask why you're here and not the palace?" Amelia started the pair off.
"I was uh.. looking for someone" Regina answered wrapping her shawl tighter around her shoulders.
"And did you?" the redhead inquired her green eyes never leaving her brown ones.
"I think I just missed them".
"Oh" Amelia answered sounding disappointed "I'm sorry, you'll have to do with me then".
"I suppose I'll have to make do" Regina gave the assassin a toothy smile "Can I ask why you're here, and not somewhere out there saving another Queen from a pack of mercenaries".
"That's a story in itself".
"We've got time" the young Queen tells her.
"We have? there's not an irate King looking for his Queen somewhere".
"Not here anyway, what happened after you left?".
Amelia suddenly became quiet recounting the last year or so until she found herself fleeing from Monteriggioni, the only home she had ever known, her eye's fell from Regina's as she fidgeted with her fingers on the table in front of her before finally looking back up to face the young Queen "My father died".
With Henry's storybook in their possession the mother/son duo walked down main street side by side with secret smiles on their faces as they headed towards the library
"What exactly are we looking for?" Tom asks her as they come to the doors of the library.
"An extract of a codex page, maybe. Something that points us in the direction of the Author who he or she is. We have centuries of information, surely someone has come across a man with a pen and book writing down everything that has ever happened".
"How long do we have" Tom asks his mother as they come to the door to the library seeing the Opening Time's.
"Until 10 tonight, hope you don't have plans" she tells him tapping the sign before letting themselves in and getting to work.
Unknown to them John stood across the street watching his wife and son with smiles on their faces oblivious to his presence. He had a decision to make, and it wouldn't be an easy one.
With Emma's plan in motion the Charming couple couldn't do anything but wait for their daughter to call when it was over. She was going to get rid of her magic, once and for all. So no one could get hurt again.
The saviors mother stood at the breakfast bar in their lost as she saw Regina come downstairs them after seeing to Henry. She was surprised not to see Amelia there or Tom for that matter. But then she remembered she had a life to get back to. A husband.
"How's Henry?" the boys grandmother asked his adopted mother as she approached the breakfast bar.
"Reading comic books. Refusing to sleep" the former Queen answered as she took a seat on a vacant stool "So, I think okay. Or at least his version of a brave face. Thank you, by the way, for earlier" she said tugging at her blouse "He has enough problems without bringing my mess of a life into it".
"By "mess," do you mean Amelia?" she asked with a knowing smile, putting the blouse, the hickey and their arrival together "Did you guys, uh..." Mary Margaret asked the older woman with a knowing smile which earn her a scoff and eye roll "Oh, come on, Regina. You don't need to be ashamed".
"Well, I know I don't have to be, but... I am" she admitted to her friend.
"Is everything okay?" David interrupted the women joining them at the breakfast bar.
Regina looking at the Prince in confusion "What are you doing here? Well, shouldn't someone be out looking for Emma?".
"Didn't Mary Margaret tell you? She called. She figured out a way to get rid of her magic".
"Get rid of it?" she repeated "And you're okay with that?".
"We support our daughter" he simply says.
"We're not talking about an old pair of Jimmy Choos here" she tells the couple "Tell me you're joking".
"It may seem drastic, but it's the only way Emma can be sure never to hurt anyone again" Mary Margaret explained to the woman.
"This could be the worst idea you've ever had, and you hired the wicked witch as your nanny".
"Well, we actually think it'll be good for her" David pointed out "We... She could be normal".
"Let me ask you something" Regina started "Do you know what I regret most?".
"Countless innocent lives you and Amelia destroyed?" David quickly retorted.
"That I didn't support Henry when he realized he was special. You of all people should remember. 'Cause you started it all when you gave him that storybook. It opened up a whole world for him. But I was so scared of losing him... That I tried convincing him he was crazy... And that being normal would make things better. Thankfully, he had the good sense not to listen to me".
"Regina's right" Mary Margaret says looking to her husband "David, we've been rationalizing, and you know it. We cannot let her take away what's special about her".
"I know" the Prince relents with a sigh, knowing they both were right.
"Well, then let's go get her" Mary Margaret says rounding the counter to fetch the locator spell they had requested from the sorceress only to see it missing from the table "Regina, your locator potion...".
Turning around she sees the missing potion "It's gone".
"Where's Elsa?" David questioned the women not seeing the Ice Queen in the apartment.
It had gotten dark outside since the last time the redhead had looked up from the countless codex pages that covered the table in front of them. They still hadn't found anything as she resorted to looking through the book on the shelves for anything that might help them.
The redhead watched her son sat at the table as he carefully read through each word that shone on the parchment, taking in all the information that had been laid out in front of him as she took a break from scanned through each spine of the books that lined the shelves around her with the storybook opened up on the page where Regina was walking away from her in the tavern.
The red head let out a frustrated sigh as she picked out a book that somewhat resembled Henry's storybook only to find out it was only a repair manual to a 1988 Mercedes- Benz "I'm starting to think that this wasn't my best idea" she huffed out sliding the manual back into its place.
"We'll find something. I can feel it" Tom tells his mother in optimism looking up from the scroll he was reading.
"You've been around the Charming's too much" Amelia rumbled to herself as she went back to searching every book spine on the shelf.
"So" Tom slowly brought the subject "what happened between you and Dad?",
"We had a disagreement, nothing for you to worry about" she answered eyeing the shelves closely trying to ignore the feeling of her son's eyes on the back of her head.
"Did you two break-up?" at that Amelia's head dropped before making her way over to sit opposite her son.
"Honestly…I don't know, it's a little up in their air, I was too angry to think straight".
"Is that why you went to Regina last night?".
"Tom" she started but her teenage son interrupted her.
"Mom, I'm fifteen not stupid. I know you're still together and I know why you're angry at Dad, we can't move to Boston but when I look at David and Mary Margaret and how they are with Emma and Henry, sometimes I wish that we had that, be a family. A real family".
"And we were" Amelia told her son taking his hands into hers across the table "After we had you, we were so happy. We both had something we thought neither of us could have. The Godspeed was our home. Imagining any other place as our home reminds me how much I screwed up with keeping you both safe. I think it's that only place that I could call home with your Dad". Snatching her hand from her son's she tried to wipe away the few tears that had escaped her eye's "You must hate me" she choked out.
"How could I hate you for following your heart?".
"Even if it hurts you?" she sniffed out.
Tom stood from his chair and rounding the table to lean over him mother to wrap his arms around her shoulders, she naturally leaning into her sons arms closing her eye and grasping his arms with her hands "You could never hurt me Mom".
"I just want her to be happy" Amelia tell her son "even if she thinks it's impossible"
"I know" he said planting a kiss on the side of her head before letting go of his mother and reaching to her jacket that lied on the table for a tissue, he knew she always carried with her always but instead his finger met a paper like material and pulling it out to see a book page that had been torn out and folded over twice.
"What is that?" Amelia asked her son swiping the stray tear's with her hand.
"I don't know it was in the pocket" he answered giving it to her.
Slowly opening the page, she was met with an illustration that sent a chill up her spine. She recognized the people in it straight away.
"Mom?".
"I need to call Regina" she stated reaching for her jacket once more and dialing the number she remembered by heart. This was the sign they needed.
"You're sure these are from her bug?" Henry asked his grandmother as they stood in the middle of deserted street on the outskirts of town trying to track Emma down to stop her from getting rid of her powers. It had gotten dark but that didn't stop his grandmother from easily finding the tracks in the road.
"Oh, yeah, she definitely spun out here, and then... She got out of the car and got back in" Mary Margaret told the others observing the tracks Emma's car left.
"Anyone else out here?" her husband inquired.
"No. It's just her footprints. Come on. These are so fresh; we can carry on foot. She can't have gone far" she tells them leading the search party with Regina as David headed back to his truck to turn the engine off.
"So, before we were interrupted, you were telling me about Lia" Mary Margaret started up the conversationt hey were having earlier in the loft.
"Oh, there's not much to tell" Regina starts with a sigh "It's not gonna work out. It's the story of my life. Whatever's working against my happiness is more powerful than I am".
"Why does it have to work against you? Look at me and David. We have faced impossible odds numerous times... Often because of you and Lia... And yet we've always worked out. You know why? Because we have hope" she says making the older woman scoff at her.
"You get a quarter from the Hope Commission every time you say that word. Admit it".
"I'm serious".
"Well, it's easy for you to say... You're a hero. Whenever you need help, it just magically shows up, like Henry's book".
"Yeah, I think that when you do good, the universe takes care of you. That's why it showed up".
"Well, it doesn't really matter why. Your wishes are rewarded. Mine are crushed" Regina tells Mary Margaret
"Well, I refuse to believe that happiness is impossible for you to achieve. You've come too far. And, yes, you may be sleeping with a married woman, but guess what... I slept with a married man" she whispered the last part referring to when she had an affair with David Nolan before the first curse broke.
"Well, I've done far worse than that, so has Melia".
"Which doesn't mean that you can't earn forgiveness, a chance at grace. I have to believe that".
"If you do good hoping to be redeemed, is that... Really good? Maybe evil is born... And that's just who I am" Regina concluded making Mary Margaret stop to look at her.
"Regina... You saw me grow up. You know how selfish and shallow I could be as a child. You know what I've done since. You have literally seen my heart. You know it's not untouched. You are not all evil, and I'm not all good. Things are not that simple".
"Well, whoever's guiding all this seems to think it is. You're the hero, and I'm the villain. Free will be damned. It's all in the book. And we both know how it plays out".
"Mm, maybe, but maybe not. Your stories went poorly because you made bad choices. But now you're making good ones. It may not happen as quickly as you want, but... If you stay the course, your happiness will come"
"You honestly believe that?"
"It doesn't matter what I believe. What matters is that you do" the pair were interrupted when Regina's phone started to ring, seeing 'Melia' on the caller ID she answered
"Hey, it's me" she hears the red head say "I think I found something that you need to see right now".
"Right now? I'm…I'm sorry but I'm in the middle…".
"Go" Mary Margaret tells her former stepmother "We've got this".
"She found something" she whispers to the former Princess.
"Maybe hope worked".
"Well if it did, I owe you a quarter" she tells the former Princess before turning around to walk the opposite way they had come.
Somehow by some miracle the redhead managed to get through her short but long story to the young Queen without crying as Regina listened intently to every word she had to say. As she told the story Regina's heart ached for the younger woman sat in front of her, not only did she lose her father so quickly as she had found him, she had lost the only home she had known. Now she was on the run from the same she had called family.
Regina's hand instinctively grasped the top of Amelia's right had the same one that clutched the mug of mead giving it a sympathetic squeeze that made the former Assassin look up from the spot of the table she had been staring at as she told her story "I'm so sorry" she told the redhead as her brown eyes met her emerald ones. Amelia's breath hitched in her throat at the warmth that came from the Queen's hand.
It felt familiar. Like home.
"Well, its hasn't been all that bad" Amelia shrugged.
"How so?" Regina's eyebrow drew in confusion at the woman's statement.
"After I left, I found myself at a dock, where some ships that sailed all around the Enchanted Forest and beyond were docked for resupply. I had a chance to put some miles between them and myself, so I boarded a ship in disguise of a crew mate. A few weeks of sailing I was found out. The crew wanted to throw me overboard, but the Captain stopped them. He saved my life when he didn't have to".
"Y-your married" Regina stammered in realization as she took away her hand off Amelia's as she felt tears threaten to fall as she could feel her hope shatter right in front of her. She was married.
"and pregnant" Amelia tried to smile giving the Queen the news. She felt like it was something she needed to tell the young Queen.
"Congratulations" Regina felt her lip tremble as they only thing she could think of right there and then was to run. Her chance of finding her soulmate was in tatters "I-I'm sorry coming her was a mistake. I should go" Amelia didn't get a chance to protest the Queen's decision before Regina was already out of her seat and out of the tavern as Amelia jumped out to catch the woman.
"Amy?" her husbands voice brought her out of as she stood next to her looking at the tavern door
"Wait here" she told her husband before rushing towards the door for the second time that night. She quickly found the young Queen running away again as she quickly ran after the woman easily catching up to the dark brunette catching her arm and forcing her to spin around. She caught Regina's head between her hand as she smashed her lips against hers.
No one looked twice at the woman in the passionate embrace as Regina melted into the kiss as she reciprocated the long-awaited kiss that sent shock-waves through the pair. The world around them melted away as Amelia reluctantly pulled away to quench her thirst for air. But her hand remained on the Queen's face as she wiped away the tears that had fallen during their kiss.
"I never stopped thinking about you" she whispered to the woman keeping her face close to her's "I should've kissed you in that carriage and told the Brotherhood to go screw themselves. I wanted to stay I-I" the redhead started to stutter.
"Don't" Regina told her as she tried to pull Amelia's hands off her face only for Amelia to take her face again making her brown eye look back at her.
"Regina. What could I do?" Amelia told the woman "Tell me what I could've done? I have a chance of making a family myself, something I never thought I wanted. I wanted to find you, but fate or whatever took me to John instead, now we're having a child. A baby Regina. Isn't that fantastic".
"It is" she smiled through the tears "You should get back to your husband" she tells the younger woman taking her hands off her once again, this time the redhead didn't fight her "Tell him your good news and if fate brings us together again-"
"Fate?" the redhead interrupted the young Queen "What's fate got to do with anything?"
"Just believe me. Before tonight I thought I'd never see you again, and yet we're here" she breathed out in wonder "Just promise me you'll be careful?"
"Always" the redhead says with a smile.
"And stay safe" she adds before turning around to walk away from the former assassin.
"Wasn't that my job?" the young redhead called after her making her stop for a second to turn her head around to see her.
"Yes. I suppose it is" Regina says with a knowing smirk as she walks away from her soulmate back to the castle.
"People linked by destiny will always find each other" Tinkerbell whispered to herself as she watched the Queen walk away from her soulmate in the middle of the street.
They would find each other again. No matter what happened they would always find each other.
After sending Tom back home she waited for Regina to come to the library at the table she had the heart to heart with her son over the state of her marriage to his father flipping through Henry's storybook going back and forth between the pictures for Regina leaving the tavern she was in and of herself holding her pregnant belly protectively talking to Tinkerbelle sending the fairy away from telling her John wasn't the person she was meant to be with.
Hearing the door to the library open her head snapped up to see Regina coming through the door.
"I got here as fast as I could" Regina said walking into the library seeing the red head sat the table "What's so important you couldn't say over the phone?"
"I'll show you in a second. But remember this morning you showed me Henry's book".
"Uh, the book you apparently stole from me?" she accused the red head seeing the book in Amelia's possession "Yes, I remember it quite well".
"Please" the assassin scoffed "You knew always stole from you even before the curse" Amelia told the woman quickly before getting back to the subject at hand. The comment made Regina smile fondly at the memories of their days in the Enchanted Forest "So tonight I came here looking or trying to find a clue towards that author... Toward your happy ending".
"In the public library? Melia, my happy ending is not a Stephen King book-on-tape".
"I'll admit, not my best idea to date, second to the decision to…you know letting Charming get baby Emma to the wardrobe, but then the weirdest thing happened" The former Assassin says giving Regina the folded book page "I found something".
Regina quickly opened the paper out to reveal a picture of her younger self in a passionate embrace with the redhead gasping in shock and Amelia's heart thumped trying to read Regina's expression "Is this... Us?".
"Yes. Outside the tavern".
"I don't understand. This isn't what happened" she said rounding the table to Henry's storybook "Is this from the book? 23...Page 23. Is it missing from the book?" Regina rambled as Amelia opened the book to the same page, the same one Regina decided not to go into the tavern.
"No. No, it's already there, and it's you, leaving me. This goes in the same place" Amelia tells the woman placing the new page on top of page 23 of the storybook "This is the meeting that we never had".
"What does it mean?".
"It means that your fate could have gone many ways. It means you're not doomed to suffer. There's a bright future for you around every turn, even if you miss one".
"Well, where did you find it? Is there another book? What shelf?" Regina turned to the shelf's in desperation to find out more.
"No, it was in my jacket pocket" she informs the former Evil Queen.
"What?" Regina asked whipping her head around to face the assassin.
"Not at first. It wasn't there when I left. It... Appeared".
"Like magic".
"It's a sign. And you can take it however you want, but to me, it's showing you possibility... Hope. That's not something that would ever happen to a villain, is it?" she asks the brunette she loved watching as her brown eye filled with tears "What is it?".
"I owe someone a quarter" Regina quickly closed the distance between them and captured the red head's lips in hers.
AN: Big Chapter today Part 1 and 2 combined.
So the flashbacks in this chapter are inspired by another of my favorite OC/Regina fics.
A Vicious Love by Soloren1992.
It's a brilliant story with one of my all time favorite OC characters Shae Cormac. But as much as I love her...if she ever got in Amelia's way for Regina, things would not end well for her ;) (Multiverse Crossover Perhaps?).
Anyway I loved the Authors idea of a 'What If?' scenario with her OC and Regina and wanted to explore part of it with my OC.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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