Author's Note: A climactic moment in Regina's history plays out once more, with just a few more players.
Taking the Reins part 4
Emma fell from the woods onto the furthest edge of the Mills estate. Ahead she could see the royal retinue surrounding Leopold and Snow sharing a horse. They stopped just outside the small outlying building at the end of a manicured drive. Having seen no gardener, Emma suspected Cora Mills' magic had been at work. A young man in White's livery leaped forward from alongside Sir Henry, looking a bit dazed, and Cora, every hair meticulously in place atop her head and flicking subconsciously at her thick black skirt. She looked around then a grin appeared on her face. It was an unpleasant grin, Emma thought, bespeaking calculation and subterfuge. Henry on the other hand looked vaguely ill.
King Leopold handed down Snow to the ground then dismounted, a ringed hand held aloft. Cora stepped into the action, taking the king's hand.
"Your majesty has surprised our humble house," she greeted. She inclined her head, and from the stiffness in the motion, even that action pricked at her spirit.
Leopold only inclined his head in return before taking his hand from Cora's and reaching to take young Snow in hand instead. Emma saw the sneer on Cora's lip before she wiped it away. "My daughter Snow White," he stated, "has told me of a young lady in your house, Lady Mills. I would like to speak with the girl."
Cora's lip curled and revealed her emotions to Emma. The woman felt snubbed by the lack of proper greeting, but she clearly dared not say as much. She said after a moment, "I will fetch her to you." Notably she left off the honorific address.
King Leopold nodded, and Cora withdrew, leaving Henry with the continued task of escorting the king. "Your majesty," Henry said, Bowing deeply and formally. "You grace us with your presence. May I have my stablehand see to your beasts' comfort?"
"Lord Henry," Leopold replied, "you may."
Henry motioned toward the horses with his right hand and Emma saw Daniel step from the shadows. The soldiers all walked alongside Daniel who led them toward the stable. All the young men chatted amiably. Snow and her father entered the manor house.
Emma raced to the window in time to see Cora change Regina's clothes in a billowing cloud of magic only to spin at the announcement of Leopold's entrance.
Hearing nothing, Emma nevertheless saw the bewilderment on young Regina's face as she straightened from a curtsy. She saw the color utterly drain away when the king lowered to one knee and held out a ring in a plush box.
Cora's hands went to Regina's shoulders and shoved her forward.
Damn it! Emma thought. She hadn't stopped the progress of events yet. The front door opened and Emma ran toward the stables without looking back.
Emma threw herself at the stable door, swinging it inward even as she dropped onto the hay-strewn floor. She looked up at two male shouts into the faces of Daniel and a White soldier. Recognition flared in both gazes.
"What ho! The ruffian from the king's road!"
"Where is Regina?" demanded Daniel.
Two pairs of hands grabbed for her, neither kind, though she decided it was prudent to end up in Daniel's hands rather than the king's man and she kicked out until she was coming to her feet in Daniel's strong grip. She stumbled and he let her go to fall into a stall wall. The horse within the stall kicked back and she fell back onto her hands in alarm as sawdust burst into the air making her cough.
She stood and dusted at her clothing.
"I demand an answer." Daniel accosted her.
The king's driver said, "I should take her to the king."
"I wouldn't," she countered. "I already kicked your ass."
The man was angered by her, but Daniel stepped between them. "We are on Mills land, sir. As such she remains here until my lord decides what to do with her."
"I shall petition for her transfer to our custody then."
Hidden in the straw beneath the munching muzzle of the very horse whose stall she'd disturbed, Emma silently laughed as the two men suddenly looked around to see she had vanished while they argued. A timely breeze pushing at the door of the stables sent both men outside to search.
Emma had no idea of the passage of time, only that the straw began to itch something fierce. But she dared not move. There was a creak of wood and she peeked through the wood slats to see Daniel had returned, this time with a panic-stricken young Regina.
"She's told the king I will marry him, Daniel. We have to go, we have to leave now. I can't stay here. I can't. I won't marry that old man." Emma's expression became as grim as Regina's.
Daniel took her in his arms, comforting her, pressing the tear-stained face to his chest and stroking her hair. Emma saw them freeze, looking toward the door. Snow White, she thought. Regina had told her how the young Snow had seen her with Daniel and run off, making Regina chase her down to extract the secret promise.
However, the voice which erupted simultaneously with the slamming of the stable doors was not Snow's. It was Cora's.
"Leaving? Without even saying goodbye? How utterly pedestrian of you, Regina. Such shameful behavior from my only child." The lights flickered as Cora waved her hand.
"Mother, I -" Regina still clung to Daniel's chest, but had turned to face her mother.
"Don't. I expected to find you indulging your pique in the horses. Not the horse boy, my dear." Regina and Daniel were suddenly separated, arms pinioned by magic to their sides.
Regina pleaded, "Stop with the magic and listen to me. I want to be with Daniel."
Cora scoffed, "You don't know what you want. But I do. I didn't make the sacrifices I did in life, to get you to the cusp of greatness, so that you could end up the wife of a stable boy."
Regina insisted, "But it's my life!"
"You foolish girl," her mother replied haughtily, "It's not yours. It's mine. After what I had to do… The deals I had to make to get us out of poverty, to get us this life, and you just want to toss it away?"
From his imprisoned position, Daniel still supported his love. "Stay strong, Regina."
As Emma watched, Regina looked to him with love in her eyes and smiled shyly. The firm jaw Emma knew from a much older Regina appeared and she pushed outward on her invisible bonds. "Your magic can't keep us apart. I love him."
"And I love her," Daniel stated.
"I love her, too," Cora echoed with saccharine sweetness.
Regina insisted, "If you loved me, you wouldn't try to keep us apart."
Cora put her hands on her hips which had the effect of lowering both Regina and Daniel to the ground. "So, this is… Your decision? This will make you happy?"
Cora released them with a wave of her hand. Regina took a deep breath. Emma tensed, sensing a reversal. Cora's relent seemed too easy. "It already does," Regina said softly, looking to Daniel with a smile that squeezed at Emma's heart.
Emma tensed against the boards. Cora was looking between Daniel and Regina. "Then, who am I to stop you?" she said.
Regina rushed to her mother's arms, embracing her. "Thank you, Mother."
"Young man," Cora said, stepping away from Regina.
"Yes, m'lady?"
"Daniel. If you want to have a life together, a family… Then, there's one important lesson I can impart on you. It's what it means to be a parent. You always have to do what's best for your children."
Cora lifted her hand toward him. He started forward, to gallantly kiss it in thanks. "Thank you. I understand. Because that's what you're doing now."
Emma burst from the stall just as Cora's fingers curved inward.
"Yes. It is." But Daniel wasn't standing where Cora aimed her deadly hand. Emma had already shoved him to the ground. Cora's hand instead invaded Emma's chest. Even though Emma knew the consequence of what she was doing, the pressure in her chest still made her gasp.
Several voices erupted within the same rumble of thunder. Cora howled with outrage and Emma cried out as the fist in her chest tried to wrench out her heart.
"Daniel!" Young Regina stumbled toward her fallen love, tumbling to her knees in the sawdust beside him as he rubbed his chest.
"Emma!" Cora and Emma both turned their heads to see Regina - all grown-up Regina - standing between the stable doors backlit against a lightning-filled sky.
"What is this?" Cora demanded as she returned her attention to her hand within a chest that would not yield that which she wanted to take.
"You losing, bitch!" Emma wrestled with the forearm sticking out of her chest.
"Foolish girl, love is weakness!"
"No," Emma insisted, "love is strength."
As the last word impacted the air, Emma was blinded by a bright light and a shock wave flung her backward. The pressure in her chest was gone when she opened her eyes, collecting her wits against a stall wall.
Regina rushed up to her, grasping her shoulders and searching her face with concern plain in chocolate eyes. Glimpsing past her brunette, Emma spotted young Regina and Daniel still on the stable floor wrapped in one another's arms but staring at them with ashen, uncomprehending faces.
Sinking her nose into the sweet scent of her lover, Emma said, "We better get out of here."
"I agree." The cool calm of the woman tugged Emma's lips into a smile.
She had staggered no more than two steps when suddenly Regina's hand vanished from her own. A blackness engulfed Emma's senses and she felt herself tumbling forward as if off a cliff.
Emma awakened in a bed, face down and buried in pristine white sheets in a sunbright room. Rolling onto her side, a fuzzy figure gradually came into focus. It was Snow White, her mother. Emma started in alarm and tumbled backward off the bed, to the floor on the far side.
"Good morning, darling," her mother said, throwing back another floor to ceiling curtain. "Happy birthday!"
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