Chapter 3
A/N: I know, I know. It's been a longtime, but as we all know; life happens. Finally I'm getting back to my stories. Next on my list is to complete Love Bites. Just be patient for a little while longer. It feels good to be back!
Previously on Where Do I Belong:
Dr. Rojas stopped pacing and looked down at Emma lying on the couch. "I'm going to try something." She walked around and remained standing, now facing Emma on the couch. "Emma, I want you to think of a time when you were 18 years of age and were happy. Find that happy place. Picture the surroundings. What do you see? Who is there? When I count to 3, I want you to wake up and be that 18-year-old girl. 1…2…3"
Emma's eyes opened and she looked up. When their eyes met, Emma shot up off the couch and pulled the doctor into a hug. "Regina! You're back! I've missed you so much, my Love." Emma stood back and cupped the doctor's face while staring lovingly into her eyes." Dr. Rojas was speechless. Emma noticed the concerned look, "What's wrong, Gina? Did something happen? Was it those Charmings again? What did they do? I'll kill 'em.", she growled out in a low voice. The doctor remained frozen in shock and Emma moved forward and cupped the doctor's face in both hands. "What is it? You're scaring me."
She stared at those emerald green eyes which looked into hers as if she was their world. No one had ever looked at her like this. She was slowly sinking further into their deep gaze. Just as Emma was leaning in to obviously kiss her on the lips, the doctor snapped her fingers and Emma collapsed unconscious. Dr. Rojas was able to catch her and push her back so that she'd fall onto the couch and avoid injury. The doctor pushed herself off of Emma's body and touched her own cheek still feeling a tingling effect from where Emma had touched her face.
Inexplicably, tears began to fall and she wiped her face in frustration. What is going on? Why am I crying? She stared at Emma, and who is Regina?
"Who are you, Emma Swan?"
Three weeks later, Dr. Rojas was tossing and turning in her sleep. Dreams of fairy tale characters coming into scene. Intense green eyes staring lovingly at her, a magic mirror looking at her unimpressed, her mother there with a cold look on her face, and her father still alive. She sees her sister, Zelena, dressed in long, green gown and waving her hand to make a book appear. The scenes then flash to a dragon landing on the castle turret. The dragon then changes to a beautiful, blonde woman with a flowy purple, silk gown and a horned headdress. The next scene is a lake she arrives at on horse back and she sees Emma standing there skipping stones. When Emma turns, her green eyes pierce through her defenses. Those eyes. Those eyes. They look like….
GASP!
Dr. Rojas awakens in a cold sweat while panting heavily. "What the hell was that?" She scrambles out of bed and runs to her en-suite to look in the mirror. Tears are running down her reddened cheeks as she struggles to get control of her breathing. "What the hell is wrong with me?" After calming down, she walks back into her bedroom and notices the time on the clock sitting on her night stand; 4:00am. "I may as well stay up and get ready for the day", she sighs. She's accepted she won't easily go back to sleep. "What is Emma doing to me?" she asks herself as her hands rub her eyes.
Lily is leaning on a tree watching Annie sitting outside at Camp reading her storybook while the other kids play. "That kid needs to chill and make some friends." Lily rolls her eyes and decides to continue her recon.
After researching some more about Annie and her family, Lily discovered that Cora is a high school principal in this realm and Zelena is a realtor. Cora's husband Henry, owner of the Mills sugar corporation, had died years ago and left his wealthy family's inheritance to his two daughters. Zelena and Cora live together and Cora helps to raise Zelena's two children from a previous marriage. When Lily saw that Cora worked with children, she panicked and tailed her for a week to watch how she interacted with them. The woman was a saint. Caring, helpful, and gentle with them. It was so confusing. Zelena sold high-end properties and her ex-husband did the same. They seemed to be in competition for similar regions. "There's no way Cora and Zelena have their memories from what I've seen."
Lily noticed that Annie got up and began returning to her cabin with her storybook so she decided to follow the child and have a chat.
Annie could tell she was being followed and wondered who was dumb enough to think they could stay hidden. Rolling her eyes, she went into her cabin and left the door wide open and then went to sit on her bed. "You can come in now!", she hollered. Lily walked in clapping with an impressed grin on her face.
"Well done. You caught me." Lily said as she walked around the cabin taking in the décor.
"Why are you here? You made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me.", Annie huffed.
Cringing, Lily turned to the little girl and scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Um, yeah. I'm sorry about that. I just get very protective of my sister. She's been through a lot and her cursed self is very fragile given the life the curse gave her."
Annie's eyes light up at that explanation, "So you admit it? The curse is real? You're gonna help me break it?" She got up and ran to Lily and hugged her tight as a couple tears escaped her eyes.
"Whoa Whoa Whoa! Calm down, Kid. I came here because I was concerned about your wellbeing since you were living with Cora, but after watching Cora, I see she has no memories. So, I guess, you're fine there." She was rambling and knew it, but didn't know how to interact with a kid, let alone Emma's. "What I mean is, I don't know if breaking the curse is such a great idea or not. I'm worried about Cora and some others."
Lily stepped back at that, "But….my Mom! I mean, my other Mom! She doesn't know about me! She doesn't know about my Mom!" She needs us!"
Lily put her hands up in a placating gesture. "Hey, calm down. That's why I'm here. I'm trying to figure things out and I think you can help me. We can decide how to move forward afterward. I still don't know how the curse was cast or who cast it in the first place. I also know that Emma was in a very bad place when the curse was cast and her powers were out of control. She was releasing some very dark magic and it didn't make sense how she was doing it. She was born of light magic!"
Annie took in her words and then quickly ran back to her bed and opened her storybook to find the answers. As she thumbed through the pages, Lily walked over to look over her shoulder and see what she was looking at. As the pictures skirted by, Lily's eyes grew wider and wider. She quickly stumbled in front and sat on the bed on the other side of the book and took control of the pages.
"Excuse you!", Annie huffed.
"I'm sorry, but…these pictures….it's….." Lily's eyes were wide as she turned page after page in disbelief.
Nodding, Annie continued, "Yeah, they're your story. Or rather, they're Emma's story. I'm guessing it's only parts though since you aren't in it. The book jumps ahead in time quite a bit. It just gives me pieces here and there." She watches her new aunt take in the book in wonder and curiosity.
"I don't understand. How do you even have this? Where did it come from?" Lily continued reading through.
Shaking her head, Annie said "I found it under my bed one day while I was at my grandmother's house. It just…appeared. At first, I thought someone left it behind or it was my aunt Z's, but after looking through it, I realized it was for me or maybe even my mother."
Nodding in understanding, Lily finally asked, "And where is your mother? I didn't see her at Cora's on the days I visited."
"She's in New York. I'm only here for the Summer for camp. I really wanted to go to this camp and it was near my Gran's house. I can stay here some nights and at Gran's on others."
After skimming through the book's pictures, Lily had so many questions. "Do you know who cast the curse? Do you know where the others are? Do Cora and Zelena truly not remember?" She was firing off so many questions that Annie just rolled her eyes and sighed heavily.
"Adults are such drama queens. Sheesh." She got up and grabbed her water bottle to take a long swig. She was getting parched just discussing this mess. "I have questions too, like why I can't see my mom? Why doesn't she want me?"
Lily slammed the book shut and began pacing around the cabin while looking at her feet. She counted the number of steps around the circle she had paced and kept repeating them in her mind to help her keep calm. Without looking up, she began to answer, "When the curse hit, Emma didn't know she was pregnant. Once we got here, her new memories changed everything!" Lily through her hands up in frustration and then kept pacing as she placed her hands on her back pockets. "Her new memories made her believe she was the victim of a very violent crime." She debated on how much to say to this young girl. She wanted to keep things as clean and simple as possible. "She gave birth to you 9 months after that crime so she thinks you were conceived the night of that crime. She gave you up for adoption for fear that seeing you would remind her of that trauma. She knew you deserved a good life and didn't want you affected by that. She didn't trust herself." Annie's eyes watered and streams of tears flowed as she continued to listen, "Emma has been a mute since that night. The trauma she thinks she suffered has caused her inability to talk. She suffered from panic attacks and it took a few years to get her back to functioning." Lily just shook her head as she continued to pace and look at the floor. "She's seen countless therapists in hopes of regaining her ability to speak, but all have failed her. She's seeing yet another one and it seems to be helping, but I'm skeptical given her luck previously."
Annie grabbed a tissue to blow her nose and wiped her eyes as she glared at her storybook, as if it was to blame for all of this. Lily didn't notice and continued, "I'm worried what will happen if Emma sees you given her cursed memories. I'm also concerned about what'll happen if the curse breaks since Emma's powers had turned so dark. I need to know the trigger before moving forward with that. Trust me when I say we don't want that to happen again."
Annie blew her nose one more time and then when she was sure Lily was done, she interjected, "The book doesn't tell me how Emma's powers turned dark. I can tell you that my Gran's cast the curse though."
Lily stopped pacing and looked at her niece, "What?" She shuffled over and grabbed the book, flipping through the pages until she saw a picture of Cora and Zelena, with Zelena's hand in her chest. "What the fuck!?"
"LANGUAGE!", Annie scolds.
FLASHBACK
"Cora, Dear, please don't do this. Regina has been happy. She's finally turned a corner. Emma has been good for her and she can be happy and still run her kingdom. The people respect her!" Henry pleads with his wife.
"Don't be a fool, Henry. Love is weakness. That peasant will only slow her down. She's clouded Regina's views and has caused her lose sight of what's most important; power. I will fix this and see to it that she's no longer a threat to our daughter. This curse will ensure our family rules for generations to come and no one will dare to challenge us."
Henry looked at the book on the table nearby and began to sweat, "Cora, this is very dark magic. You told me all magic comes with a price. I don't want to see you hurt, my love. Please don't do this. We can be happy as we are and watch our children and grandchildren grow and rule."
Laughing almost maniacally, Cora walks over to Henry and places her left hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Yet her smile is disturbing as Henry stares at her with pleading eyes, trying to see the eyes of the woman he fell in love with all those years ago. He can't understand how she could change so much. Suddenly, Henry feels a sharp pain in his chest which causes him to look down where he sees her right hand pulling out his heart. Cora then backs away with the heart and walks back to her steaming cauldron. "You're right Henry, all magic does come with a price and this is mine. The heart of the one I love most." She drops the heart into the cauldron which causes Henry to drop dead. The smoke in the cauldron turns from a red to black color as it rises and spreads. The winds outside pick up as the magic spreads across the kingdom. "Finally! Nothing can stop me."
Right after declaring her victory while watching her curse spread, the wind gets knocked out of her as she feels a heavy push from behind. Bending over in pain, she looks up to see Zelena with her arm extended and a smile on her face. "Did you think I wouldn't find your heart, Mother?"
Cora begins dry heaving as images of her sins replay in her mind. Her crimes against the innocent including her own children and husband. "Oh my God, what have a I done?" As tears pour down her face, she stumbles up and to the cauldron, holding out her hands in a futile attempt to stop the curse from raging on, but it's too late. Soon, she and Zelena are swallowed by the smoke and disappear."
END OF FLASHBACK
"Holy shit!"
"LANGUAGE!"
"Sorry, it's just…fuuuuuck"
"LANGUAGE!"
"Cut me some slack, Kid. This is huge." Lily ran her hands through her hair and began turning the pages backward to see if there was anything to explain Emma's behavior at the end, but there was nothing. The last entry about Emma has her riding to Regina's castle to propose. She'll never forget that day. Emma was so excited to show-off the ring she had designed to propose to Regina. Lily thought it was a terrible idea since Emma was always open about her feelings for Regina and always made sure to tell her she loved her. As for Regina, she never said the word 'love' once. Emma was convinced it was only a matter of time and Regina just had a lot of traumas to deal with. Lily wasn't so sure.
Did the proposal go bad? Is that why Emma was going dark? It doesn't make sense. An answer of 'No' wouldn't be enough to cause what happened. Emma would be hurt, but not angry. Looking at Annie, she knew Regina had to love Emma. Annie couldn't have been conceived otherwise. Only True Love can help same-sex couples conceive.
Annie studied Lily as she stared at the book. She looked exactly like her mother from the book. "How does my mom have a twin? The book doesn't mention anything from her childhood. It picks up when my moms met at the lake for the first time. Sighing, Lily went on to tell the story of how the Charmings kidnapped her and used Blue to try to remove her darkness until the Dark One showed. She went on to explain how Granny was their one parent and Ruby was their sibling.
"Wow! That's amazing! I have two new aunts!" The girl's eyes were shining with excitement.
Lily just snickered thinking how quickly this kid can recover with news of more relatives. She's so much like Emma with her mannerisms and child-like wonder. Even as an adult, Emma was still child-like. It's what drew people to her. Hearing a whistle in the distance alerted the two that they would soon have company. Getting up, Lily pulled her cell phone out and opened up her contact list. "What's your cell number, Kid? I know you have one."
Annie rattled it off and then Lily sent a quick 'Hi' on text so Annie would have her number. "Listen, Annie, you can't save any of our text messages. Save my name under an alias. I don't want you getting into trouble and I have no desire to face the wrath of your family. We can keep in touch as we learn stuff and then go from there.
"Okay, but wait! You never said how you're awake! How do you remember your old life?"
Opening the door, Lily peaked outside and seeing some kids in the distance walking towards the cabin, she quickly answered, "Emma kissed my cheek and it all came back, but it didn't wake her up." She then sneaked out and disappeared leaving a shocked Annie.
Staring at Emma's file on her desk, Dr. Rojas debated on how to approach today's session with Emma. She had a little time left to decide how to proceed. While Emma had shown improvement these past few weeks in her speech, answering questions out loud with one-word answers occasionally, she was still bringing up fairy tales. "Maybe she has dissociative identify disorder. No. That can't be right. DID alters have different names and personalities. Emma still goes by Emma when discussing her story and her personality doesn't seem too different from what I can gather. No, this is something entirely different, but what?" Looking through Emma's file again, her eyes land on Emma's profile picture from old hospital records. Those eyes. Staring a few seconds more, it finally hits her and a chill runs down her spine. Those are Annie's eyes. "Oh my God, it makes sense. After what Z told me about Annie's birth mother."
"Dr. Rojas, your next appointment is here.", came from the speaker on her desk phone, but all she could do was stare at the photo in panic.
"What am I going to do?" She's my patient. I can't have her finding out about Annie. Do I want her to know about her? Wait, isn't this a conflict of interest? I can't just stop treatment, can I? What would that do to her? She's my patient.
KNOCK, KNOCK
She's my patient.
KNOCK, KNOCK
"Dr. Rojas?"
She's my patient.
A hand grabs her upper arm which snaps her out of her thoughts. Standing there is her receptionist looking at her very concerned. "I'm so sorry, Dr. Rojas, but you weren't responding. Are you alright?"
Nodding, the doctor shuffles to her desk and grabs a bottled water and begins chugging it while trying to slow her heartrate back down. After finishing the bottle, she looks back at the receptionist, "I'm fine. I just received some shocking news, but I'm okay. Thank you for your concern. You can send in the next appointment now."
Not entirely convinced, the receptionist stares a couple seconds longer as the doctor dusts herself off and works out the imaginary creases in her, and then she finally leaves. Shortly after, Emma enters the room and waves with a shy smile.
Smiling after regaining her composure, the doctor gestures to the couch so that Emma will make herself comfortable. "Good morning, Emma. How are you doing?
Nodding, Emma vocalizes, "Fine." Her eyebrows pinch together as if she's trying to get used to hearing herself speak and is judging her own voice after not hearing it for so many years.
"I'm so proud of how far you've come, Emma." The doctor gently smiles. Now that I watch her, she has the same mannerisms as Annie.
"Thanks."
"Do you have any questions for me before we begin?" What am I going to do?
Shaking her head, Emma simply shrugs her shoulders and respond, "No".
"Very well. Let's begin then. Are you comfortable?"
Emma nods and settles further back into the cushions of the couch and lays her head back as she closes her eyes. She knows this drill. After relaxing under the doctor's guidance, Emma is under. Staring at Emma, the doctor is torn at what she wants to do and what she should do. As a doctor, she must stay professional and address only the problem at hand. But as a mother, she's concerned about her daughter and the threat her birth mother poses.
Looking up at the ceiling, she closes her eyes, "Please forgive me for what I'm about to do." She then looks at Emma and addresses her. "Emma, I would like to talk about the child you gave up for adoption."
Emma's posture stiffens and her facial expression grows more tense and serious. Her body begins shifting slightly on the sofa and if trying to get comfortable and failing.
Noticing the shift, the doctor debated on continuing, but she was thinking more as a mother now instead of a doctor, so she continued. "If you had the chance, would you want to see your daughter?"
Shaking her head side to side and squeezing her eyes tighter, she finally spoke up, "I don't want to talk about this. Please stop."
"You had a daughter, Emma. She wants to meet you. Would you want to see her?"
A blood-curdling scream of "NO" left Emma's lungs and she shoots up off the couch and grabs the doctor by the neck. Eyes open and seething, Emma spit in her face as she spoke next, "Stop with this line of questioning, Regina." Her eyes are hard and there is a soft glow coming from her arm. Unbeknownst to them, the same soft glow was coming from Lily's arm across the country.
Lily stares at her arm. Her shared birth mark is covered by the tattoos, but seen now due to the glow. Lily panics. Shit. Something's happened to Emma. How is this happening? She stares at the glow on her arm and immediately grabs her cell to call Emma.
Emma's phone vibrates on the coffee table behind her as she continues to hold the doctor's throat in her hand and begins to squeeze. "You will stop this right now, Regina."
Dr. Rojas stares at Emma in shock. How did she break the hypnotic state? Wait, she's talking to me as if I was this Regina woman from her stories. She's under! This doesn't make sense! "Emma, please release me. You're scaring me."
Emma moves closer to where they can feel each other's breath. Her eyes moving down to the doctor's lips and then back up to her eyes. She looks so sad and disappointed. "Oh, Regina. How can the very person I love with all my heart be so toxic to me?" She then leans in, joining their lips together in an intense, close-mouthed kiss. Both ladies take a deep breath through their nose and then quickly the doctor snaps her fingers, causing Emma to collapse unconscious again.
Just as the doctor was about to call a coworker to come help her, a massive headache causes her to drop to her knees as images of her previous life run through her head like film from an old movie. Her parents, the Charmings, Emma, Mal, Rumple, the castle. She was Queen!
A gasp is let out and wide eyes find blonde hair spread on the floor. "EMMA! Emma, please wake up. Please, please, please wake up." She remembers she's a doctor so she uses her hypnosis methods. "Emma, when I count to three, you will wake up for Regina. 1…2…3!" Emma's eyes open up and stare at Regina a moment and then smile a little. "Oh Emma, thank the Gods. I love you so much."
Snorting, Emma rolles her eyes, "Yeah, right. Nice try. You're not Regina. She'd never tell me she loves me." Then Emma gasps for air and begins shaking uncontrollably. Her seizure causes her to go unconscious again and Regina quickly grabs her cell and calls 911.
"911, what is your emergency?"
"Someone is having a seizure in my office! I need help! Please! She can't die! I just found her!" Regina is hysterical at this point and tears are falling onto Emma's face as she speaks to the operator. Emma's words replaying in her mind. She'd never tell me she loves me.
"Please, Darling. Please be okay."
Regina holds Emma's head in place until the paramedics show up to stabilize her and rush her to the hospital. After Emma is wheeled out of the office on a gurney, Regina notices Emma's phone vibrating on the table and Lily's name and picture showing. Picking it up, she decides she better answer. Dammit.