"Emma," a stern voice cracks like a whip into the night, forcing her eyes to pop open.
Her knees are throbbing, her back is straining, she's pretty sure she won't be able to turn her neck from the stiff muscles and her head is extremely fuzzy. Suddenly the softest touch is running lovingly through her tangled hair.
"Emma," the voice calls again making her feel like a scolded child.
She groans in return and attempts to slowly move her head...into a lap? Emma's eyes spring to life as she realizes the touch and the voice don't match. She knows this warm touch though, it's someone she finds comforting and familiar. She peers up through her thick eyelashes and smiles when she sees Regina's flawless face peering down upon her, despite how exhausted she may look.
Emma's head tilts to the side as she examines the brunette's expression. She's struggling to pinpoint an emotion as those enchanting brown irises stare right back at her. An icy chill skates down her spine when she draws to the conclusion, she can't read Regina's face like she used to.
"Emma," the unfriendly woman chants again breaking apart the intense gaze that she has found herself in with...the Evil Queen or Regina?
"What?" The sleepy blonde snaps as she turns her attention to Snow White.
"You cannot stay down here every day and night. It's been three days," her mother commands, but Emma won't be following her rules anytime soon. She was never a rule follower to begin with, that was more Regina's style.
"I'm staying with her," Emma repeats for what seems like the millionth time.
At least last night Emma was able to convince her parents to bring down a cot for her to sleep on. When she assumed everyone would be fast asleep, she untied Regina and offered the woman a proper sleeping arrangement.
Every night Emma has checked to see if anyone was standing guard and every night Red had been rooted to her post just outside, while Rumpelstiltskin was comfortably keeping watch in front of the other door.
"Emma, I would like to speak with you in private about something rather important," Snow softly speaks as she places a tray down on the chair that was suppose to be occupied by a certain Queen.
"Talk," Emma deadpans as she reaches for the bagel at the corner of the tray.
"I believe this is something delicate and we should discuss between just us," her mother claims as her dark green eyes flick back and forth between Emma and her enemy.
"Either talk in front of Regina or don't talk at all, either way I don't give a damn," Emma states, unaffected by the woman standing before her.
"Enough with the games princess, spit it out," Regina snarks as she straightens her posture, never wanting to seem fragile in front of her nemesis.
Snow snaps her attention toward the Queen and glares at the woman in annoyance. As well, Snow squares her shoulders and stands just a smidge taller, not wanting to appear frail in front of her former stepmother.
"There's someone I would like you to meet," Snow explains as her eyes slowly drift toward her daughter and ignore the Queen.
"Okay, then free Regina," Emma casually bargains as she pops the bagel into her mouth.
Emma breaks a piece of the bread and offers half to Regina. The brunette eyes her lover carefully, studying her chipmunk cheeks from biting off far more than she could chew. Of course Emma would offer half of her food to Regina. She's always taking care of her and looking out after Regina.
Regina's chest rises and falls at a faster rate as she stares down at that bagel. She is starving and would love a bite, but she doesn't want to accept the piece and appear weak in anyway in front of Snow White. Besides, she doesn't want the princess to know just how easily she obeys every one of Emma's requests.
Emma senses the hesitation, confusion and above all the inner turmoil. So instead, Emma retracts the offered bagel and places it back onto the plate, knowing the moment her mother leaves, Regina will eat it.
"Emma," Snow gently begins, tearing her attention away from the food and her friend. "You know we cannot allow Regina to be free."
"Then I don't need to meet whomever you are using as a ploy to remove me from this basement," she quips and shoves another piece of bagel into her mouth.
"This is very important," the woman argues as her face softens and her eyes plead with urgency.
"If it is so important than bring the person down here," Regina coldly orders earning an eye roll from the princess.
"It's not...appropriate," Snow mumbles mostly to herself as her fingers pick anxiously at each other.
"Okay Snow White," Emma sarcastically says her name because her mind still hasn't truly accepted this insanity quite yet. "I'll go upstairs and meet whoever it might be and Regina will gladly take down the barrier, as long as we are free to go home after."
"Emma why are you being so difficult?" Snow suddenly snaps grasping both Emma and Regina's attention. "Do you not want to stay here and get to know your father and I? Because dammit Emma we have spent twenty-six years waiting to meet you and now..." her face is turning slightly red, causing curiosity to strike upon Emma's face while Regina smirks amused by the flustered princess. "...NOW you are refusing to even speak with us and you're coddling my sworn enemy who ripped you from my arms to begin with!"
The former princess has finally lost her poise, screaming at her daughter as though she is a bratty teenager. Emma purses her thin lips in response and studies her mother unsure what her next move should be. She can hear the small snicker coming from Regina next to her, but she chooses to ignore the sound that always makes her heart skip a beat.
"You need to understand that Regina is not that same person anymore. Why can't you sit down and have a normal conversation about all of this...well as normal as fairytale characters can," she muses and rolls her eyes at the outcome of her life.
Snow's dark brows draw closer as she narrows her eyes upon her stubborn daughter, practically burning a hole right through the woman's face. Emma's head pulls back, perplexed by the intensity in those burning green eyes glaring at her.
Snow pounds her feet furiously against the concrete, instantly reminding Regina of the spoiled ten year old that stomped around whining her outrageous childish demands. The former princess grips the back of a chair, forcing her knuckles whiter than ever. She drags the chair obnoxiously against the floor creating the most spine chilling sound in the process. She spins the chair around abruptly and elegantly sits down.
"Okay let's talk. Regina," she snaps coldly, "you first."
Regina presses her lips firmly together as her eyes dart around the room in confusion. She's not quite sure what her enemy is expecting in this moment, but all Regina can focus on, is how painfully close the woman's daughter is. Emma's right arm is flush against hers, while the blonde's knee is hovering over her legs from Emma's kindergarten crisscrossed style.
"What are you anticipating here Snow? Would you like me to confess my sins while crying my eyes out so you can cling to me like some lost puppy?"
"How about an apology to start," Snow replies without skipping a beat.
"I can't do that," Regina answers with such conviction, Emma's doubtful if she should even speak up and intervene.
"Regina if it's gonna set you free, freaking apologize," Emma huffs hating how stubborn Regina can be at times.
"I can't." Regina shrugs appearing impassive, bored even with this topic. The snarl curling Emma's upper lip and hard glare is enough to soften the Queen's stone heart. Regina releases a long breath and rolls her eyes toward Snow. "I cannot apologize for my curse or my actions...because that means that I regret it all and I do not," she sternly admits.
"Regina, how could you not regret everything that you did?" Snow questions in shock before she turns her glare upon her daughter. "This is exactly what I have been talking about. This is who she is, no remorse. She hasn't changed one bit!"
"The reason why I don't regret my actions," Regina slowly draws out her words making sure she catches Snow's full attention. "...is because of Emma. If I didn't cast this curse then I wouldn't have met Emma and that's something I could never take back."
Emma's lips twist and turn, squirming uncontrollably as she tries to suppress the goofy grin that's tingling her lips. She catches a glimpse of the woman who has stolen her heart a long time ago and just like that all the stress from her current predicament washes away. An unsolicited sigh slips passed her lips as she falls even more in love with Regina.
"Well this is lovely," the former princess cheerfully states, her words drenched in sarcasm, "my daughter is in love with Rumpelstiltskin's son and is best friends with the Evil Queen."
Emma's brows furrow as she pouts slightly from her mother's admission. She is a little thrown off by the woman's words and can't help but wonder how naive she truly is. Emma shifts forward on the rickety cot and intertwines her fingers.
"You do know I broke up with Neal, correct?" Snow blinks as she stares quizzically at her daughter. "Because I am not in love with him." Emma waits for her mother to respond, but again Snow simply blinks as her brain tries to play catch up. "Because I love someone else..." Emma slowly confesses allowing the words to dangle in the air and hoping Snow will finally latch on.
"Oh for fuck's sake Snow. It's me. Your daughter fell in love with the Evil Queen," Regina snaps with all the smugness this world has to offer.
Snow's eyes flick back and forth between the two women before her. The silence is building that awful tension that coils around each of their limbs, slowly suffocating every fiber inside. Suddenly, the princess belts out an obnoxious laugh that takes Regina and Emma by surprise.
"That's impossible," she chuckles as she dabs the tears of laughter away from her eyes. "That is the most preposterous claim I have ever heard. I was told how close you two are as friends, but never anything more."
"It's true. I've known Regina since I was five and I have loved her for a very long time," Emma declares hoping her mother will soften on her threat to kill her one true love.
"No," her mother coldly snaps rejecting this accusation. "I forbid it!"
Emma barks out a challenging laugh as she shakes her head while Regina remains awfully quiet. "You honestly think you have a say in the matter?" Emma leans a little closer into Snow's personal space. There's a dark glint twinkling in her eye as she encloses the gap between them. "Listen, you can blame Regina for tearing me away from you, but you only have yourself to blame. Regina didn't force you to toss me into a wardrobe and hope for the best. No, you did that all on your own. Who cares if there was a curse coming? At least I would have been with you and grown up with parents. However, you tossed me aside so I could one day return and save your ass. Real nice. Great parenting," Emma mocks as she slumps back against the wall and folds her arms across her chest. Her stance is expressing just how much she's building a protective barrier around herself from whatever incompetent excuse is about to spew from her mother's mouth.
"Well that's the pot calling the kettle black, Emma," Snow calmly replies. "So this is your choice than? Regina?"
"Yes," she breathes as her patience slowly begins to slip away. "Regina, over and over again."
"Regina?" Snow turns toward her enemy in an eerily calm manner. "You feel the same?"
"I-" the refined Queen chokes on her words, not because she doesn't love Emma with all her heart because she truly does. She's just terrified to express her true feelings to her enemy just to have Emma used against her. Reluctantly she sighs and nods her head. "I do."
"Alright then," Snow replies as she slowly stands tall from her chair. She flattens out her crinkled floral print skirt and squares her shoulders like the princess she is. "Then I see no further point in introducing you to the person upstairs."
"Snow," Regina growls in a low rasp that is threatening enough to keep the other woman from moving from her spot. "If this person is of importance to Emma, then Emma has every right to meet them."
"I'm afraid not."
"Whatever," Emma scoffs as her arms untangle and drop to her side. "Are you ready to let us go now?"
Snow's pained eyes drift toward her enemy with hate pounding viciously through her pupils. "Are you ready to take down the barrier?"
"Are you going to murder me?" Regina retorts without hesitation.
Emma keeps a watchful eye upon her mother, noticing the erratic rise and fall of her chest behind her pastel purple granny sweater. Her mother looks absolutely torn in this moment and Emma's unsure if the woman is going to burst into tears or shoot arrows through each of their hearts.
"If you ever desire a relationship from me, than I suggest you free us," Emma softly says, praying that her birth mother will finally cave.
"Emma, I don't think..." the small woman slumps to one side as her knee buckles. "You're my daughter and I love you...unconditionally."
"But..." Emma prompts her mother to resume her explanation.
"But I don't know how you expect me to accept," her hand flails out like a fish out of water, gesturing rapidly between daughter and nemesis, "...this. Whatever this is."
Emma sinks further down into the uncomfortable cot. She's easily reading the struggle on her mother's face and suddenly she feels a pain of guilt. This woman before her spent twenty-six years looking for her and now she is being slapped in the face with her daughter's relationship with her sworn enemy.
"I'm sorry Snow," the words tumble from her mouth before they even have a chance to register in her mind. Regina snaps her head toward Emma, her eyes laser sharp as she stares at the blonde in wonderment. "I get this must be very difficult for you. It is for me as well, but you need to understand that for twenty-one years I only had Regina. Neither one of us is in the wrong for how we feel, but I think you need to trust and honor my wishes."
"Emma...I," Snow pauses as she scrambles for an appropriate response.
The basement door slams open, startling all three women in the process. Snow gasps as heavy, clumsy footsteps beat down on the concrete steps. Regina instantly straightens her posture and glares at the stairwell for whomever is ready to berate her for her past sins. Emma simply pouts her thin lips and waits patiently for another ridiculous fairytale character to present themselves.
"Is she here?" The most adorable curious voice cracks from the anxious nerves of meeting her.
"Uh," Snow gargles as she quickly scurries toward the door.
Emma scrutinizes as a little boy comes into view. He bounces off the last step and dashes directly toward them. Emma and Regina both lean back reflexively as the cheerful young boy jumps in front of them.
Snow quickly clasps her porcelain fingers around his shoulders and pulls him back into her embrace. She leans down into his ear and whispers, "What are you doing down here? I told you to stay upstairs."
The little boy turns his head to meet Snow's gaze and smiles infectiously. Emma smirks because she knows with a smile like that, an adult would easily cave.
"I was way too excited. I couldn't wait any longer," he admits as his antsy energy buzzes from his little body.
Emma inspects every detail of the young boy. The first thing that draws her in are those eyes. A forest green color that illuminates with youthful excitement, never once being dulled by this disappointing world. Emma's eyes drift to her mother and sure enough, just as she expected, they are identical. Her heart begins to race as curiosity claws at her brain.
The little boy whips back around, shaking Emma from her trance and wandering thoughts.
"Is this her?" He enthusiastically questions as his index finger pokes out to accuse her. Regina's eyes are glued to that finger that is forcefully pointed at Emma.
"Yes," Snow nervously replies as her grip tightens around the little boy's shoulders. "I think you should maybe go back upstairs for right now and we can discuss this later."
Another set of forceful steps slam against the stairs, but everyone seems to be fixated on the strange little boy.
"I'm so sorry, I turned my back for two minutes," David announces as he rushes down the stairs, completely out of breath.
"Can you please take him upstairs?" Snow questions as she slowly drags the boy away from the curious women. "I don't think now is the best time for introductions."
David's face morphs into a perplexed expression as he eyes the little boy and Emma. He slowly reaches out for the boy but the child yanks away from Snow and David.
"No," the boy pouts as he takes another step closer toward the cot. "I've been dying to meet her."
Emma's eyebrows draw together painfully tight as the little boy leans in closer and smiles from ear to ear. Her heart instantly melts from his cuteness overload.
"Now is not the time," Snow sternly declares, but the little boy ignores her.
"Hi."