Tell-Tale Hearts. Swan Queen/OUaT fanfiction. ch. 12-13

[helebette]

Chapters 12-13.



Chapter 12.

Storybrooke: On the brink.

They are in the cabin that Regina flees to after the people of Storybrooke regain their memories. Emma does not know why she keeps running out here, but she can't seem to leave Regina alone for even a day. She brings wine and food and sometimes they have a halfway decent conversation before it becomes all drunken shouting and frantic sex. The townspeople pretend not to know where Regina is. They are all infuriated and it is as though everybody just needs a bit-or a lot-of space.

"It's like…being married to the mob with you, Regina…and…Scarface." Emma smirks, raising a glass of white wine colored pink by the remnants of the red that had been in the glass before it.

"Ms. Swan?" Regina enquires. From bed. Fully in sleep wear. Fully almost half asleep. Fully amused and slightly pissed off.

"Scarface." Emma reiterates. "You're just like Tony fucking Montana. Right down to the snake motifs."

Regina always aware of how close people could come to the truth without even knowing it, simply smiles benignly and tilts her head. Snakes were always important in her magic.

"Sidney wears too much fucking eyeliner." Emma stands and fumbles with clothes, skirt, shirt, socks. "I don't like that guy. Did you fuck that guy?" Emma sneers.

Regina sighs and answers, "No, darling. Did you? I certainly hope not. Come to bed now. Silly girl."

They lie in bed, close together.

"We could have this, all the time." Emma squirms closer to Regina as she talks. She props her head up in her hands and enjoys the stretch on both sides as she leans back against the pillows.

"Perhaps." Regina says, "Every decision we make affects the path ahead. But time also loops back around. So we can make decisions differently as well."

Emma falls asleep without realizing it and when she wakes up again, she is in a large room, with a much larger fireplace…

"Mom." Henry, a man now, his voice booming, walks in wearing a black and brown and green leather outfit. He looks sort of like Peter Pan. "You're going to sleep in on your own wedding day!"

And suddenly, Emma is dressed in a long silver-white dress, and she is at the front of the aisle with Henry on her arm.

"What the fuck Henry." Emma hisses at him. At the end of the long aisle is a man Emma has only seen once-on a motorcycle on his way into town. "I'm not doing this." Emma hisses again.

The crowd is smiling and clapping as Emma begins to walk. But then the room goes utterly silent.

Behind Emma is Regina.

Except this Regina is wearing beat up black leather pants and a turn white tank top. Emma feels a thud in her chest, followed closely by warmth further south. She grins at Regina.

Regina smiles back confusedly. "I'm so sorry." She tells the room. "I only meant to bring…" And she walks forward with a wrapped box which Henry immediately leaps toward.

The crowd erupts with shouts, some of which are "don't take anything from her!"

"Wait! Mom!" Henry calls out. He looks back at Emma who stares at Regina's running form. "I call you both Mom. It gets confusing." Henry says, "but I meant that one. And I have to go after her…"

"I'll come with you." Emma looks back at the room and shrugs. "Sorry. Uhhh…I'll be right back." She grabs the box on her way out the door. Except that when she walks, Emma's feet seem to stay in one place.

Another dream then…

The dream continues with Henry and Emma running after Regina for half a day before they find her perched on the edge of a very steep ledge.

"Hey." Henry is the first to step forward. "What did you put in the box?"

Regina sighs and shrugs. "It doesn't matter. You'll never trust it. But I only meant good this time." She smiles sadly at Emma. "A blanket you can wear whenever you want to conceive a child. That's all."

"That's all?" Emma shouts. "Regina, what the fuck? Who else would I have a baby with?" Her eyes go dim for a second and then she adds, "I think we're dreaming…"

When Emma wakes up, yet again, she is with Regina in a bed in front of a now cold and blackened fireplace, and Regina is snoring beside her.

Emma tries not to laugh with relief and really, amusement, because Regina snoring is priceless. Anyone else would have been elbowed awake and told to leave Emma's bed, by now. Instead, Emma lifts blankets and covers more of Regina with them.

Storybrooke Futures:

Memories Cursed.

Henry is not as happy as he thought he might be, when the residents of Storybrooke regain their memories.

It happens just after his moms have a huge, public fight in front of the Indian restaurant where Regina buys take-out with her son in tow.

Emma is there, eating dinner with the Stranger.

…and Regina loses it on her.

Just loses it.

Henry has never seen his mother lose control in such a way. It should scare him, watching as Emma flounders and Regina screams and throws her food (her food!)…well, it's kind of funny. At first.

And then Emma tries to calm Regina, and even kisses her…

Kisses her!

Henry is momentarily stunned by this act. But it makes a whole lot of things click into place. Like how his mothers tolerate one another even after mean things have been said. And how he keeps finding evidence that Emma has been to the house.

Henry suddenly realizes-and he will rewind to this moment later in his adult life-that Emma was not supposed to destroy Regina in order to bring back their happy endings. She was supposed to…whatever…love…her…or…something…

Henry tries to process this information while Emma holds onto Regina who is now sobbing. The Stranger winks at Henry and sneaks past them all.

And then the sound of footsteps can be heard all around Henry. Footsteps like clunking and scraping and stomping, and all over what feels to him to be a hum-like the hum that fills his home when Regina is really angry about something. For a brief moment, Henry remembers a movie about zombies that he downloaded onto his computer before Regina found out and deleted it. The zombies are coming for them, Henry knows. Except that they're alive and they're people and they're all very angry. Angry at Regina.

In that moment, Henry also realizes something else. He actually does love his mother. Whatever Regina has done, however frightened she likes to make everyone around her…she's still his mom.

And the townspeople are going to kill her if she doesn't leave fast.

"Mom. Mom." Henry is chanting it like a mantra by the time Mary and David appear at the doorway-their faces awash with a mixture of rage and sadness. "Mom…" Henry steps between his two mothers and the people who are, essentially, his grandparents. "Mom…run."

"What?" Regina has finally noticed Henry again. She turns in Emma's arms and watches as the sidewalk begins to fill up.

"Run." Henry repeats. "Please. We'll come and find you. But…you have to go." His slight frame is shaking by now.

Regina runs.

Chapter 13.

Storybrooke: Shifting Winds.

A short time before the curse breaks (and it breaks many times over in many different versions of the same reality, but Regina takes a long time to explain this properly to Emma), the Mayor and the Sheriff begin to make small gestures toward one another that almost seem to have been born of kindness and caring.

Almost.

Utterances in times ahead make Storybrooke realities shift and slide and realign many times over. Something about Regina's attempt at wishing to be kinder-in retrospect-to others, changes the course of things past, present and future.

There is a time when things settle, in a way, into a kind of angry equilibrium in which Emma and Regina barely tolerate one another, but speak often about the other woman to any who will listen. This, somehow, is healthier for them than all the angry sex they tried to have in other realities.

Sidney is tired of trying to get into Regina's pants only to hear Regina's latest diatribe about the Sheriff.

By Valentines day, he is back with whatever powerful man will have him. He likes powerful men even more than powerful women, so for a time Sidney is content.

Ruby has heard it all so many times that her own brief desires at an affair with the attractive former-bounty-hunter, dissipate.

"We'll just be friends," Ruby decides. She tells Emma this on Valentines Day, behind Granny's, where she does not try to kiss the Sheriff, and they do not run into an alleyway for a quick shag. Ruby has a vague idea that this evening could have gone in more exciting directions, but drinks with her friends and a quiet night after that, feel like a good idea suddenly.

In this version of Storybrooke, nobody is getting laid.

Until, of course, Valentines Day which is seriously both Emma and Regina's least favorite day of the year.

Neither woman makes any kinds of plans for the day with the exception of working and, in Regina's case, visiting an old 'friend' at the hospital.

"Have him back in 30 minutes." Regina says something along those lines and Emma leaps at the chance to spend time with her-their-kid.

When Emma returns to the station, Gold is looking even angrier than usual. But he has a weird teacup with him and it seems to give the man some kind of comfort.

Emma's relief staff person comes in because he had a fight with his wife.

It is still early when Emma finds herself walking in the direction of Regina's house before she checks herself and wonders what the hell she is doing.

Then, on impulse, Emma runs into the only store in Storybrooke that sells really good wine, and drops a ridiculous amount on two bottles. At the last minute, Emma lunges toward a heart shaped box of candy with a picture of two puppies on it, and blushes bright red when the cashier snickers.

On her way to Regina's, Emma tries to fool herself into thinking that this does not matter. She is saving a bottle of wine for herself, and the first will simply be a gift. In fact, Emma will even eat the chocolates herself. But then she realizes that she has the perfect reason to do something nice for the Mayor. The truth is…Emma genuinely wants to thank the woman for letting Emma see Henry.

The wine is an excuse to cross the boundaries that Regina drew after the whole playground incident. It is a risky move, but Emma wants to take it-to return the small kindness that Regina showed her with some token gesture.

Regina's eyes are pure fire when Emma shows up on her doorstep.

And then, somehow, without a word exchanged, those wheels that always move in Regina's head come up with two things at once. First and foremost, Regina knows that she has somewhere to be that night and Emma's unwelcome arrival should give her the hour she needs. Secondly, and surprisingly, Regina feels a stab of compassion at the woman whose eyes read 'don't kick me any more than I've already been kicked'.

Emma is, as a result, invited to watch Henry while Regina visits a sick friend.

Henry decides to act like an actual kid, on this night, so they have fun doing normal stuff that doesn't involve any Cobra operations. Or whatever. They build a fort and Emma makes hot chocolate, and the normalcy makes her heart hurt just a little bit. But not in a terrible way. By the time Henry is ready to sleep, Emma is so full of gushy sentiment that she can barely stop herself from crying as she closes the kid's door.

"What's the matter?" Regina's voice shocks Emma who slams a hand over her chest and yelps through her tears.

"Regina, you scared the crap out of me." Emma wipes hard at her cheeks with her wrists and glares at a woman who genuinely seems to want to know what the hell is wrong.

Regina steps closer, a look on her face like she's Spock and doesn't understand feelings or something dumb like that.

"You regret missing his life." Regina says quietly. Almost empathetically…like she actually feels something about it all…

And there is the breakthrough the changes all their futures.

Neither woman knows it, but a burst of compassion makes the difference between some surviving and everybody dying in Storybrooke.

Regina shakes her head in confusion and they freeze in the moment. Before…

"wine?" Emma blurts out almost as quickly as Regina turns on her heel to leave this strange scene.

"yes." Regina sighs with relief and they make their way to the kitchen.

Emma does not ask where Regina has been, that night, but she is fairly certain that it isn't someplace romantic. Regina smells slightly like the hand sanitizer that Mary Margaret had in her apartment before Emma nixed its uses. Emma guesses, correctly, that Regina has been to a hospital.

They sit in Regina's study, across from one another, which should be awkward but strangely isn't. They talk about town business and by-laws, and the conversation is almost normal.

In the meantime, the first bottle of wine disappears, and Emma has to admit to herself that walking home will be brutal. So she stays and offers to open the second bottle of wine.

Regina follows Emma to the kitchen and that is when she spots the chocolates.

Which causes an epic gale of laughter from the Mayor.

"What? I like chocolate." Emma shrugs. "Candy is candy, however stupid the box looks." She thrusts the box toward Regina who shakes her head but opens it and hands it right back. For some reason, Regina seems to enjoy the sight of Emma eating junk food.

Regina starts to berate Emma for her eating habits, but closes her mouth instead. Regina is the one who leans in first. Emma can only feel light headed and almost faint, as she lets Regina taste the wine and caramel on her tongue.

They are both surprised when Regina's arms wind around Emma's neck Emma's hands move up and down the material of Regina's jacket. Their tongues are cool and then warm, searching each other's mouths before Emma cups the back of Regina's head and angles her in a way that deepens the kissing and makes both women restless and hot.

They are meant to be doing this. That is all there is to it.

And it has happened before. Of this much, Emma is sure.

"This changes nothing." Emma says before she crawls into bed next to Regina. They are naked and sort of chaste as they settle together, before Emma decides that the pulse in Regina's neck is in need of kissing.

"It changes some things," Regina replies with a contented sigh. She feels like she has returned home again.

As Emma rolls on top of Regina and they move together beneath cool sheets, something changes in Storybrooke. For just a moment, those with ill intentions feel their wills drained.

And for the same amount of time, those who only wish for happiness, feel hopeful again.

Storybrooke Futures: Forest Escape.

Regina leaves through the backdoor of the restaurant she is cornered in, on the day the curse breaks. Emma is left with a frightened looking Henry and an enraged mob outside. She tries to reason with them, but before darkness falls, they have torches and pitchforks (Emma actually laughs at that one) and random horses.

Horses are suddenly everybody's favorite way to travel.

"My Mom will be on foot," Henry whispers to Emma, "But I think she has some good hiding places…"

"What's that, Henry? Speak up now." Mary-Snow?-is smiling in a somewhat frightening way and even Emma feels like the woman is alien suddenly.

Two days later, no one has found Regina. So Emma goes out with a backpack of food, water, and clothes, and leaves Henry alone in Regina's house behind locked doors. She and Henry have stayed there ever since the curse broke, because Emma cannot face Mary and David and their fury.

It takes a good two hours of walking before Emma hears the voice she has been waiting for. In fact Emma realizes that she has missed Regina's voice almost as much as the rest of her.

"You are not serious." Regina is behind Emma, leaning against a tree. Her nostrils flare at the smell of whatever is in Emma's pack. "Is this a trap? Because if it is…" Regina walks slowly toward Emma until they are close enough to touch. And then Regina's hands slide up Emma's arms and grip her tightly. "If it is a trap," She says again, "then I'll have to hurt you. And believe it or not, dear, I don't want to do that."

"I believe you." Emma whispers. "And no. Not a trap."

Still, Emma frowns and Regina looks as bitter as thought she had eaten one of those apples that turned to rot the moment the curse ended.

They are in the woods for many hours, trying to come to some sort of understanding, and then the darkness makes seeing even an inch in front of them impossible. Regina changes into the clothing Emma brought, and Emma can't help but stare. They end up making out against a damp, moss covered tree, before Regina says 'ew' and breaks away to pick green out of her hair.

By midnight, Emma is trying to start a fire, and Regina is refusing to help her. Despite the weather, which has turned to a cold, hard rain, Regina would rather sit in the open and suffer. Except that Emma isn't really all that great at fire starting. She keeps trying to use large pieces of wood and keeps her lighter on them in the hopes that they will start. Emma is creating smoke rather than flames and they still do not have a place to sleep.

Regina sighs in annoyance. "Oh fine, just let me." She says aloud.

"Thought you'd never ask." Emma sighs and leans on her heels. "I can build a lean-to."

"Well then, have at it Girl Scout." Regina rolls her eyes and waves a dismissive hand.

"Haha, was that a joke?" Emma chatters as she looks for trees. She has a small ax in her bag and uses it for enough saplings to tie together and throw a tarp over. "The Evil Queen makes a joke. Another curse is broken and the Kingdom rejoices-stand up comedians now welcome in Storybrooke."

Regina gets to her feet and brushes a bug off of her slacks before sitting heavily again. "Not if you show up the Evil Queen's comedy act, dear," She mutters.

Emma shouts with sudden laughter. "Another joke!" She adds. "You're on a roll…Dear." Emma says this last thing with a huge grin which actually earns a chuckle from Regina.

After dinner, they are both utterly silent which is both weird and comfortable at once. Emma keeps thinking of stuff to say-random observations about the moss on the tree which does not provide them with direction-but clams up. For some reason, Emma thinks back to a foster family she stayed with. They had placed Emma in her own tent but had a large 'family' tent for the rest. It was the worst camping trip ever but the foster father did teach Emma a few things. Of all in that particular family, he was the only person who was nice to her, showing her actual survival skills that his 'own' children wanted nothing to do with.

"You're going to make creases." Regina interrupts Emma's angry silence and presses one finger to the spot between Emma's eyes. "Wrinkles before your time. What were you thinking about?"

"Foster father." Emma mumbles, shifting her weight on the log. She wants to move closer to Regina-purely for warmth, of course-but resists the urge. She looks to the side and sees that Regina is glowering. "No, he was nice. Not a…you know, creep or anything."

"Oh." Regina frowns, nonetheless. "Well that's good news anyway." Perhaps it is guilt from being the person who actually caused Emma's exile in the foster system, or perhaps she is also simply cold, but Regina is the one who moves closer in the end. She nudges Emma's arm until the other woman gets the hint and puts it around Regina's shoulders.

"Really?" Emma grunts, shuffling Regina closer still. "What is this? Do you wanna make out again? Neck like teenagers before the guy in the hockey mask shows?"

"Perhaps later, Sheriff Swan." Regina sighs and allows herself a moment of comfort. "it is terribly damp and chilly and…well, never mind. Just. Deal with it." She pats Emma's thigh and Emma realizes that it is she being comforted, without having to give up her pride on the matter.

They sleep huddled together beneath the wooden structure that Emma has made. It is all really stupid, because the sleeping bag barely fits them, and Emma is cold and wet and could easily be comfortable back somewhere in town. The fire is out, and the rain is annoying enough to keep people from finding them, but Emma doesn't sleep well until some time in the early morning.

Emma is jolted awake by the warm body that slides atop hers in the night. Regina kisses Emma's neck until she is certain that the slumbering woman is fully awake, and then begins to move until Emma gets the hint and reaches between their bodies to touch Regina.

And then Regina is holding to the back of Emma's neck, staring intently at her in the darkness. Regina's hips move up and down and in hard, small circles, while Emma's fingers rotate inside of her.

When Regina comes, she muffles her cries next to Emma's left ear. It is all sort of romantic, and when Emma circles her free arm around Regina's waist, they hold each other tightly.

Emma is the first to speak. "You'll have to find something better than sleeping in the open like this." Her fingers wiggle inside of Regina which makes the woman gasp. "A cabin? Some underground hobbit hole?"

Regina sighs and smiles against Emma's cheek. She begins to move again, very slowly this time. And when Emma starts thrusting slightly against her, Regina chuckles.

"You'll protect me, won't you Sheriff." Regina seems to find this funny. "From those big bad people in Storybrooke who want my head on a stick?"

"Huh?" Emma is temporarily distracted when Regina slides down her body, shoves her brown Sheriff's uniform shirt up, and undoes her pants. "Why are you laughing?" Emma looks down at Regina's head which has begun to move up and down as Regina's tongue slides…

"Oh god…" Emma groans. "You can't do that here. It's so wet."

"You're wet." Regina gives a dirty little chuckle at her lame joke and resumes licking almost too hard for Emma's liking.

Emma is surprised when she comes. Regina gentles her movements and climbs up to place a firm kiss on Emma's neck.

"Anyway." Regina adds with a smile that Emma can feel against her skin. "I already have a place. I just thought I'd make you camp out in the open."

And just like every other time Regina is a total ass, Emma just sighs and accepts it. "Make me breakfast in the morning and I'll forgive you." She murmurs against Regina's damp hair before falling asleep again.

The next afternoon, no one in town is surprised when Emma returns empty handed, wearing a silly grin and sniffling at the onset of a cold.

The townspeople let Emma and Regina's little game continue for at least a month before Gold pays a visit to Regina's tiny cabin, and casts a seriously fucked up memory spell on her.