A/N- So I have been thinking that Regina is maybe a little OOC in this story but most of my ideas for this fic come after the curse breaks, so I am trying to get there as fast as I can without rushing too much, please let me know if it is going too fast and I will try to readjust my plan :D
Chapter Four
Emma Swan felt as though she was going crazy, it probably wasn't helped by the three days she spent holed up in her loft.
At various points, she thought about jumping into her bug and driving back to Boston, back to the place where she had no responsibilities for other people.
Back to the apartment where she was able to spend the night alone without a roommate was just a stream of constant questions.
Questions that she had no answers to.
How was she supposed to know where and what she would be doing in nine months?
She vividly remembered what it was like to give up a child, to hand over a being that she was biologically made to love.
Could she really go through that again?
Then there was the insistence that there must have been another hook-up that she'd forgotten about, with someone who was more 'equipped' to cause her present condition.
Strangely, her roommate got a faraway look about her when she brought up her night with Regina and then wrinkled her nose.
Somehow it felt wrong to point out to this particular woman that there was nothing revolting about her night with the gorgeous mayor.
Now that she was alone, she finally did what she had refused to do for the last few days: she Google 'immaculate conception'.
Nothing that was helpful in the slightest came up, of course.
Some religious fanatics suggested that she was a miracle, which felt like a lot of pressure. Others posited that she was delusional and should seek help from a psychological professional.
She considered calling Archie for perhaps half a second before there were a few sharp knocks on the front door.
She snapped the laptop shut as if the new arrival could see her ridiculous search history.
Holding her hands out, she inspected the wrappers cluttering the coffee table. If only it was a little while later, they would have been cleared away by Mary Margaret.
Ultimately, she wiped her hand over her face and approached the door.
She was not entirely sure who she was expecting in her isolation-induced haze but as she yanked it open, she was treated to the last thing she thought she would ever see, Regina Mills outside her loft.
Somehow she thought that this woman would be just as much of a mess as she was, but she was as pristine as ever.
Involuntarily, Emma licked her lips and rubbed her hand against her worn sweatpants. Regina didn't grimace as Emma imagined that she would.
"Regina? Is Henry…"
"Fine," Regina replied, holding up a hand, "He is absolutely fine."
"Then why are you here?" Emma asked, wincing at her own sheer rudeness; Regina didn't seem to mind, however.
"I was informed that the sheriff called in sick for the third day."
"And the mayor usually makes house calls?"
"I wanted to make sure that everything was okay," Regina explained.
Emma huffed and balanced against the doorframe, trying to remain casual, "If you're worried about the station, I asked Ruby to forward any emergency calls to my cell."
"I wanted to make sure you were okay, Emma," Regina replied and it was so sincere that she had to step back to let the other woman in.
Regina closed the door and stared back expectantly, waiting for a response. She really wanted to know how she was, didn't she?
The fact that she cared so much allowed nausea that had been almost constant to be overtaken by some kind of warmth.
Perhaps it was a strange hope, though she had no idea why Regina caring would give her that.
Whatever it was, her restraint snapped and she strode to the door.
"What…" Regina started but her question was swallowed as Emma crushed their lips together.
Regina reacted promptly and gripped her waist as the sheriff pushed her against the door.
Emma groaned appreciatively as Regina deepened the kiss.
How was it possible that this felt so much better without alcohol?
Looking forward to an hour or two of not thinking about the future, Emma switched to kissing the mayor's neck as her hand slipped up to work on her shirt which would become a creased mess if Emma had her way.
She only freed one button before Regina pushed her away.
Emma tried to chase her lips but Regina breathed, "Emma, wait."
"Please Regina," Emma said, ashamed to realise that she was begging, "I feel like I'm losing my mind, I need…"
"Sex?" Regina supplied.
"A distraction," Emma said, attempting to get close again.
"As romantic as that is…"
The quip snapped Emma out of whatever bout of irrationality had gripped her and she stammered, "Oh god, I'm sorry. That must sound horrible. Please forget about this."
She stumbled back over to the couch and hunched her shoulders as heels clicked over to her.
It didn't help that Regina had done nothing about the button as she sat regally on the other side of the couch.
"Perhaps you wouldn't feel quite so crazy if you knew the truth?" Regina suggested, wringing her hands.
Was Regina Mills nervous?
"The truth?" Emma asked vulnerably even as the words felt like fresh air.
Regina continued to wring her hands and replied, after clearing her throat, "This is going to sound…unbelievable but you have the right to know."
"Please, tell me," Emma said, definitely begging this time.
Regina breathed deeply and stared straight ahead and said, "Everything that Henry has ever told you about the Enchanted Forest…about me…actually happened."
Emma couldn't hold back the laugh that burst out of her as she asked, "You're telling me you're the Evil Queen?"
Deadly serious, Regina replied, "Yes."
"Okay," Emma said slowly, unable to feel the hint of a lie, "Get out."
Regina sighed and attempted to move closer but faltered and stayed put, "Emma, please listen to me? Can you think of anything else that could explain…"
"How does you claiming to be some fictional character explain this?" Emma shot back, gesturing vaguely to her flat stomach.
"Because…in the Enchanted Forest…Two women can share a biological child if they are…True Loves," Regina admitted.
Emma blinked, prepared to say that was stupid, but something else took precedence, "You…love me?"
Regina shrugged non-committedly and replied, "You did say that you haven't been with anyone else. If that is true…"
Unsure whether that was an accusation or not, Emma shot to her feet and pointed at the door, "Get out!"
Regina remained seated and pleaded, "Please, give me one chance?"
"How?" Emma asked sceptically.
"Try to believe. Really try to believe what I am saying is true and then kiss me. The curse will break. If it doesn't, I will leave," Regina replied.
Emma scratched at her head but figured one kiss wouldn't hurt if it meant that she could be alone again.
All the same, she did for a split second allow herself to think that the woman peering up at her timidly was the Evil Queen from all of the stories that Henry had shown her.
She leaned down, going for a chaste kiss but the moment that their lips touched, that same thing snapped in her and she was unable to stop herself from deepening it.
Regina readily caught her as she fell forward and placed her knees on either side of the mayor's lap.
Their conversation and her concern for Regina's mental health were both wiped from Emma's mind. All that mattered was that Regina wasn't pushing her away this time as she pressed her into the couch.
Emma was about to renew her effort on the shirt but the door opening put a stop to that, along with a high-pitched squeak.
Emma leapt back in time to see her roommate dramatically covering her eyes.
Emma expected Regina to be blushing, but instead, she was fixing her shirt and inspecting the schoolteacher.
"Mary Margaret?" the mayor asked cautiously.
Mary Margaret reluctantly pulled her hands down and Emma was sure that Regina was disappointed.
"I'm sorry for interrupting…I'll just…"
Regina stood, her disappointment compounded by the schoolteacher's response.
Was this not how 'Snow White' would react?
"It's alright," Regina sighed, not looking at Emma as she went to the door, "I really must be returning to work, I'm glad you're alive, sheriff."
Emma wanted to stop her, to demand that she tell her the actual truth but Mary Margaret had already closed the door.
Her face bright red, Mary Margaret demanded, "How does…that help with your…situation?"
Emma groaned and grabbed her laptop.
"It doesn't," she replied as she jogged to the stairs, "I'm going to bed."
"It's 4 pm," Mary Margaret called back but Emma continued upwards.
She felt such deep embarrassment about the compromising situation that she could believe that the woman was, in fact, her mother.
S
It took Emma Swan a few days to process exactly what happened with Regina Mills.
Perhaps it had something to do with the two kisses they shared in between the bouts of crazy that left the other woman's mouth?
The woman who, not very long ago, had framed her for stealing therapy notes and entrapping her into admitting in front of Henry that she didn't believe in the curse theory had apparently switched sides rather dramatically.
The question was, what could her motive be?
If it was to hold onto Henry, she only had to make an agreement that they would 'believe' in his presence, so what could it be?
Did Mayor Regina Mills actually think that there was even a slim possibility that she was carrying a baby created by two women?
For three days, Emma worked through all of this while avoiding Mary Margaret's pressing questions and trying to ignore how good Regina's lips felt against her own.
How everything made some semblance of sense when they were pressed against each other.
Of course, it hadn't taken long for the spell to shatter and reveal that the curse was as fictitious as it was ridiculous.
Not seeing either Regina or Henry in the intervening days was certainly not helping but the woman still stuck around despite her instincts.
She was this town's sheriff and Henry apparently needed more direction than she first thought he did.
How could she let that happen to her child…her children?
It was under this crushing weight of responsibility that she finally ended her sick leave and went back to work.
Mercifully, the mayor was scarce for the entire day so it gave her plenty of time to think about what she should be doing.
She called Archie before she could change her mind.
She had to talk to another adult about all of this and it somehow still felt wrong to go into more detail than she already had with Mary Margaret, as if she was more than her roommate, the woman she barely knew.
Dr Hopper, on the other hand, could potentially have all of the answers that she needed.
Maybe he could tell her exactly what it was that Regina was up to and what it was that she could do about it?
Despite this hope, Emma poked at her salad with her breath held painfully as she waited for the doctor to arrive at the diner.
The salad may not incite explosions of nausea like her once favourite grilled cheese sandwich now did, but that didn't mean that she had to be excited by it.
She abandoned her breath and fork as the seat opposite her was finally occupied.
"Hey Emma, sorry I'm late, last appointment ran over," Archie breathed.
"It's okay, thanks for coming," she replied tiredly, appreciating that he was one of the few people in town who didn't frown at her food choice.
Telling him only felt natural, even if he had no explanations for her questions of paternity, at least she had someone to talk to who was as close to a neutral third party as was possible in Storybrooke.
Archie gestured to Ruby who nodded in agreement to get his usual and then he focused completely on his informal patient.
"So, is there something specific that you wanted to talk about?" Archie asked, almost too professionally for Emma's liking.
It wasn't as if she had anyone else to discuss this with, though she tactfully waited for Ruby to return with the shrink's order and then when the waitress was gone, she admitted, "Regina…she told me that this curse stuff Henry talks about is real."
Archie's mouth hung open, his sandwich comically stuck halfway to it until he abandoned it to reply, "Really?" Emma nodded, "Maybe she was trying to get Henry back into her good graces?"
"The kid wasn't there," Emma said, now whispering frantically. She had hoped for a quick explanation but he was as flabbergasted as she was and she had to assume that it was about to get worse, "She told me that she thinks she got me pregnant and that kissing her would…break the curse."
Archie's confusion paused and he tilted his head thoughtfully as if he were seriously considering any of this.
Emma's indignation grew as he replied, "And did you? Kiss her, I mean."
The muscle jumped in Emma's jaw under the sense of being psychoanalysed, this never tended to end well for her.
"Why does that matter?" she shot back, on the cusp of petulance.
Archie hummed and mused, "So you did? I only ask because I wonder if a part of you wants it to be true."
"The curse?" Emma asked incredulously, perhaps a touch too loudly as she felt the odd gaze on her and Archie, but she opted not to give anyone withering looks.
She had to make sure that the doctor wasn't under the impression that she had gone mad.
"That the child could be Regina's," Archie replied, calmly and quietly, "You mentioned your fear around the paternity mystery."
Adjusting her tone back to match the privacy she wanted (or as much as she could get without paying for a session), Emma replied, "Why would you even ask that? It's not possible!"
Archie's thoughtful gaze showed no sign of melting but he did pivot the conversation as she hoped.
What was the point of discussing how good it would ultimately be if it was Regina? She couldn't think about that when it wasn't biologically viable.
"Then what is it that you want to talk about?" Archie asked, at last picking up his lunch.
Emma thinned her lips, no longer bothering to entertain the thought that she would be eating until she got this out there.
It took much deliberation but she was almost certain now that she had the question she wanted to ask him.
Asking him was not committing to anything, it was simply finding out how hard the road ahead would be if she went ahead with this.
Archie apparently understood that she would need a moment or two as he didn't say another word until she replied, "I stayed to make sure that Henry was safe. I can't have him with that kind of crazy."
"And what's the alternative?"
"How are my chances of…getting custody of my son?"
Archie tilted his head again, at last wearing the shock that Emma had predicted.
"Well, I'm not sure. It's complicated…" he began.
Emma hung onto every word about the proof she would need and what she would have to be concerned about.
Namely the fact that she would quite literally be dealing with a very good politician.
She was so zeroed in on the therapist that she didn't notice a certain brunet boy pop his head out from the back with widened eyes.