Whatever This Is (Once Upon a Time; Regina/Emma)
TITLE: Whatever This Is
CHAPTER 15: Truths
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: AU from beginning of "The Cricket Game"
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: It doesn't take long after her arrival in Storybrooke for Henry and Neal to cross paths. It actually doesn't take much more than an hour after she's picked him up. And the outcome goes exactly as expected -- Henry hates her, and leaves with Neal to get dinner at Granny's.
*****
Emma heaves as disgusted a sigh as she can manage as she hoists her bag onto the conveyor belt, hoping the guy behind her gets the picture.
"Look, I'm not exactly thrilled about this either," Neal hisses from behind her, removing his shoes and tossing them in a gray plastic bin. "But what was I supposed to do?"
"Oh, I don't know..." she sighs, trying to keep her voice lowered. She knows that Gold is several feet ahead of them -- his cane got him through the security line faster -- but she still doesn't want him overhearing. "How about telling him to go to hell and then running off like the coward you are?"
"Oh come on, Emma. You and I both know that wouldn't have worked. As soon as I saw him I knew I was cornered. Plus... he's my dad."
She huffs, and looks impatiently at her phone as it slides through the x-ray machine. She desperately wants to call Regina and let another string of curses fly. Regina's not fond of it, but Emma thinks she knows it helps her to be less rage-y.
And she hates to admit it, but she kinda gets where Neal's coming from on the "he's my dad" aspect. As angry as she was with her parents for abandoning her, once she found them and realized the situation, she was loathe to hold it against them.
Neal's situation is much different, but that innate tie between parent and child is still there. No matter how fucked up the reality of the relationship is. And her parents didn't even choose magic and power over her.
They make it through security and join up with Gold again, she and Neal throwing silent glares at each other all the way to the gate. Then once they've settled in and are waiting to board, she grabs her phone and excuses herself.
Regina is first on her speed dial, and it's calling her before she even realizes. She hears her pick up and she sighs inwardly, already feeling a little better. "Hey."
"Hi. Is everything alright?"
"Not really. It's kinda the worst ever."
"Well... tell me what's going on." After a beat, Regina adds, "Preferably without the use of obscenities, or hyperbole."
Emma rolls her eyes, but smirks. "Wow -- demands, from you? That's strange."
"I assume the reunion went well enough that there were no dead bodies?"
She frowns briefly -- Regina sounds all-business. Did they have a fight when she wasn't in town? She figured that might happen eventually. "All parties are still alive."
Hearing Regina's smirk through the phone sets her at ease, just a little. "Pity."
She laughs. "Right? But we're at the airport on our way home. Um..." She turns over her shoulder, looking across the terminal to where Neal and Gold are seated in the hard plastic chairs.
Neal is pretending to leaf through a magazine and looks up at her every few seconds. Gold is sitting with his cane between his legs, both hands folded on it as he looks disdainfully at the other people in the terminal.
"I have something I need to tell you," she says, dipping her head. "Something that you're probably not gonna wanna hear."
There's a pause, and she wonders if the call has dropped until she hears Regina respond with caution. "Alright..."
"Apparently, part of this little 'deal' that Gold and I struck was that I convince Neal to come back with us."
"What?" It's swift and clipped, and she can tell Regina is not pleased.
"Yeah. Trust me, I had no idea. Otherwise I would've said no."
"Emma, it's Gold. If you owe him a favor, you cannot say no."
"Yeah, I'm finding that out," she huffs, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and folding her non-phone arm across her stomach.
"So... Henry will meet his father."
Emma's stomach drops, and her head lifts, eyes suddenly wide. Oh... shit. "I... kinda hadn't thought of that."
She feels the panic and mania settling in before she can stop it. Against Regina's wishes, the curse words come out. "Oh shit. No. No, Henry cannot meet him." Oh, this is bad. This is really, really bad.
"Not that I'm eager for them to meet, but what, may I ask, is the problem with this?"
Emma closes her eyes, a bit of bile rising in her throat. "I, um... I may have told Henry that his real dad is dead."
There's silence on the other end of the line. Emma pulls the phone away from her ear to check the connection and sees it still ticking away the call duration. "Regina?"
"I'm here." A little bit more silence, then... "You lied to him?"
That gets her. She throws up a hand and counters snottily, "Oh and like you're the model of absolute truth!"
"Emma..." There's a silent threat there of an impending hang-up.
She immediately backpedals. "Sorry. I didn't mean that, I just... shit, Regina, what am I gonna do? I told Henry that his dad was a hero! That he was a firefighter who died saving people from a burning house. I didn't want him to know the truth! He already knows that I gave birth to him in jail - I didn't want to have to tell him his dad's a thief who let me take the fall for a bunch of stolen watches and he's been in hiding for years and years! I mean, how do you even bring that up with an 11-year-old?" She's shaking her head, heart pounding, and crap she really wishes the brunette could just materialize next to her right now and make Neal disappear.
If she wanted to magic Gold away too, that would just be a bonus.
She can't help the desperation in her tone as she begs, "Regina, help me. I need you."
"I'm sorry, Emma. I'm afraid I don't have any ideas, except... to tell Henry the truth."
She glances up when she can hear their flight called on the overhead speaker system. She knows she has to go -- she and Gold are in first class. Turning her attention back to the phone, she grumbles, "I thought you might say that. I hate you."
Regina's chuckle on the other end is surprisingly warm, and she returns without missing a beat, "No you don't."
"Yeah, you're right, I don't." Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she sees Gold rising to his feet and staring at her expectantly. "Look, I should go. I'll think about what you said."
"Please do. I know I'm not the epitome of honesty, but I think Henry deserves to know the truth."
She's right. Emma both hates and appreciates that. "I know. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"
Regina affirms, "Soon," and then she's gone, leaving Emma staring at the call time on her screen.
"Miss Swan, if you'll please get your things -- we are expected to board," Gold beseeches her impatiently.
Heaving a sigh, Emma shuts her phone off and then slips it in her pocket, returning to the chairs and grabbing her bag. She slings it over her shoulder, looking to Neal and arching a brow. "No first class seat for you?"
"With my mountain of wealth? No, I'm in coach."
"And what, Daddy Warbucks wouldn't spring for an upgrade?"
He gives her a look. "He offered. I refused."
Emma shrugs, washing her hands of that complicated relationship for now, and tells him she'll see him when they land. She then follows Gold onto the plane, thinking about her call with Regina.
She was right. Henry deserved to know where he came from. She just knows she's going to pay dearly when he finds out the truth.
*****
It doesn't take long after her arrival in Storybrooke for Henry and Neal to cross paths. It actually doesn't take much more than an hour after she's picked him up. And the outcome goes exactly as expected -- Henry hates her, and leaves with Neal to get dinner at Granny's.
So here she is, standing on Regina's front steps for the second time in the last two hours, reaching up to knock. She can hear music inside and considers ringing the bell. But before long, there's Regina, looking surprised to see her.
And Emma must look downright crazy, because Regina's eyes seem to widen a bit as she asks, "Is... everything okay?"
"No. No, it's definitely not." She heads inside while Regina just watches her.
The Sundays album she bought is playing from somewhere in the house and she follows the sound to the den. Strange to think that the last time she was in this room, they were--
No, actually, it might be best if she doesn't think about that right now.
"You're listening to one of my albums?" she asks, unable to keep the note of incredulity from her voice.
Regina nods, giving her a small smile. "I like it."
She can't help looking impressed. "Wow."
She watches as Regina goes to sit on the sofa, and, even though she has reservations about being in this room again, she sits beside her.
"Now..." Regina slips her shoes off and tucks her legs up beside her, angling to face Emma. She lowers her head just a bit and gives her a warm smile. "Tell me what happened."
So she does. She starts at the very beginning, touching down in Manhattan. She tells her about catching Neal, and the tense catch-up session they engaged in. She tells her about his reunion with Gold and him cashing in more than what she owed in terms of favors, and the teeth-pulling that was convincing Neal to travel back with them.
Then she tells her what happened when Neal and Gold stopped by the apartment looking for her - how Henry had come out and called her ‘Mom’ right in front of Neal.
“I knew what was happening and I couldn’t even stop it,” she sighs, covering her eyes with one hand. Her hair is falling forward and she uses that same hand to sweep it back, turning to look at Regina again.
Regina’s watching her hair fall back into place with the softest look. It’s confusing, but Emma keeps going. “So Neal introduces himself and asks Henry how old he is. As soon as he tells him, that’s when everything comes out. Neal’s pissed I kept it from him, but,” she shakes her head, “I don’t really care about that right now. And Henry’s mad I lied to him.”
Regina nods. Her elbow is braced on the back of the couch, and the backs of her fingers are toying with her lips thoughtfully. “What did he say?”
Smirking, Emma tells her, “He said that I’m just like you.”
She watches as hurt flashes across Regina’s face, just a brief flicker, before she covers it with a short hum. “Lovely that he’s… using me as a means of insulting others.”
“I don’t think he means it.”
She nods. “I know.” Then, she nudges her. “And I hope you realize that he won’t stay mad at you forever.”
“Yeah, but… how long is it gonna take for him to get over it?”
“It’s hard to say. But… he will.”
Emma groans, scrunching up her face and leaning on her friend. Her head lands just beneath Regina’s chin, on her collarbone. The chuckle she releases vibrates against Emma’s head and she closes her eyes, whining, “Being a parent sucks.”
She feels Regina’s hand landing in her hair, followed by her mouth. Both of them just rest there gently, and she can feel the smile on Regina’s face. “Yes, it sometimes does. It’s the hardest job you’ll ever have, and it’s the one job you can never quit.”
Emma sighs, closing her eyes again. She can hear Regina’s heartbeat under her right ear and it somehow helps to soothe her frazzled nerves. After a moment in which Regina just rests her chin on top of her head and rubs her upper arm, Emma exhales, “Why didn’t I just tell him the truth to begin with?”
There’s a pause - silence lingers between them. She feels Regina swallow, and then she speaks - slowly, as if working out some thought process. “Sometimes… honesty is a tricky concept. Particularly when it has the potential to hurt someone.” A bit more quietly, she adds, “Or hurt ourselves.”
Emma frowns. “Yeah, I guess.”
Another silent moment stretches on. Her head moves up and down when Regina takes a breath, and just as she lifts her head she can swear she can hear the brunette’s heartbeat speeding up. “Regina?” she asks, a bit cautiously.
When she’s sitting up fully, she looks at her friend to find her fidgeting with her hands in her lap. Her legs are still tucked up beside her, silk crimson blouse a little wrinkled from where Emma leaned on her. She’s frowning down at her fingernails like she’s contemplating their existence, before she says, “Emma, there’s something I need to tell you.”
A million thoughts and possibilities hit her all at once. Regina’s dying. Nah, she looks pretty healthy. Oh God, Henry’s dying. No, he’s fine too, he just hates her. Her parents are dying? She looks up at Regina, considering it…
Nah, she’d be ecstatic.. So she asks, “What is it?”
From the look on Regina’s face, whatever it is, is big. And she looks nervous, her eyes flitting everywhere on Emma’s face. But really, what could Regina possibly have to tell her that would throw her off more than seeing Neal again?
That’s right about the time that Regina leans in and kisses her.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}
CHAPTER 15: Truths
FANDOM: Once Upon a Time
PAIRING: Swan Queen (Regina/Emma)
SPOILERS: AU from beginning of "The Cricket Game"
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: It doesn't take long after her arrival in Storybrooke for Henry and Neal to cross paths. It actually doesn't take much more than an hour after she's picked him up. And the outcome goes exactly as expected -- Henry hates her, and leaves with Neal to get dinner at Granny's.
*****
Emma heaves as disgusted a sigh as she can manage as she hoists her bag onto the conveyor belt, hoping the guy behind her gets the picture.
"Look, I'm not exactly thrilled about this either," Neal hisses from behind her, removing his shoes and tossing them in a gray plastic bin. "But what was I supposed to do?"
"Oh, I don't know..." she sighs, trying to keep her voice lowered. She knows that Gold is several feet ahead of them -- his cane got him through the security line faster -- but she still doesn't want him overhearing. "How about telling him to go to hell and then running off like the coward you are?"
"Oh come on, Emma. You and I both know that wouldn't have worked. As soon as I saw him I knew I was cornered. Plus... he's my dad."
She huffs, and looks impatiently at her phone as it slides through the x-ray machine. She desperately wants to call Regina and let another string of curses fly. Regina's not fond of it, but Emma thinks she knows it helps her to be less rage-y.
And she hates to admit it, but she kinda gets where Neal's coming from on the "he's my dad" aspect. As angry as she was with her parents for abandoning her, once she found them and realized the situation, she was loathe to hold it against them.
Neal's situation is much different, but that innate tie between parent and child is still there. No matter how fucked up the reality of the relationship is. And her parents didn't even choose magic and power over her.
They make it through security and join up with Gold again, she and Neal throwing silent glares at each other all the way to the gate. Then once they've settled in and are waiting to board, she grabs her phone and excuses herself.
Regina is first on her speed dial, and it's calling her before she even realizes. She hears her pick up and she sighs inwardly, already feeling a little better. "Hey."
"Hi. Is everything alright?"
"Not really. It's kinda the worst ever."
"Well... tell me what's going on." After a beat, Regina adds, "Preferably without the use of obscenities, or hyperbole."
Emma rolls her eyes, but smirks. "Wow -- demands, from you? That's strange."
"I assume the reunion went well enough that there were no dead bodies?"
She frowns briefly -- Regina sounds all-business. Did they have a fight when she wasn't in town? She figured that might happen eventually. "All parties are still alive."
Hearing Regina's smirk through the phone sets her at ease, just a little. "Pity."
She laughs. "Right? But we're at the airport on our way home. Um..." She turns over her shoulder, looking across the terminal to where Neal and Gold are seated in the hard plastic chairs.
Neal is pretending to leaf through a magazine and looks up at her every few seconds. Gold is sitting with his cane between his legs, both hands folded on it as he looks disdainfully at the other people in the terminal.
"I have something I need to tell you," she says, dipping her head. "Something that you're probably not gonna wanna hear."
There's a pause, and she wonders if the call has dropped until she hears Regina respond with caution. "Alright..."
"Apparently, part of this little 'deal' that Gold and I struck was that I convince Neal to come back with us."
"What?" It's swift and clipped, and she can tell Regina is not pleased.
"Yeah. Trust me, I had no idea. Otherwise I would've said no."
"Emma, it's Gold. If you owe him a favor, you cannot say no."
"Yeah, I'm finding that out," she huffs, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and folding her non-phone arm across her stomach.
"So... Henry will meet his father."
Emma's stomach drops, and her head lifts, eyes suddenly wide. Oh... shit. "I... kinda hadn't thought of that."
She feels the panic and mania settling in before she can stop it. Against Regina's wishes, the curse words come out. "Oh shit. No. No, Henry cannot meet him." Oh, this is bad. This is really, really bad.
"Not that I'm eager for them to meet, but what, may I ask, is the problem with this?"
Emma closes her eyes, a bit of bile rising in her throat. "I, um... I may have told Henry that his real dad is dead."
There's silence on the other end of the line. Emma pulls the phone away from her ear to check the connection and sees it still ticking away the call duration. "Regina?"
"I'm here." A little bit more silence, then... "You lied to him?"
That gets her. She throws up a hand and counters snottily, "Oh and like you're the model of absolute truth!"
"Emma..." There's a silent threat there of an impending hang-up.
She immediately backpedals. "Sorry. I didn't mean that, I just... shit, Regina, what am I gonna do? I told Henry that his dad was a hero! That he was a firefighter who died saving people from a burning house. I didn't want him to know the truth! He already knows that I gave birth to him in jail - I didn't want to have to tell him his dad's a thief who let me take the fall for a bunch of stolen watches and he's been in hiding for years and years! I mean, how do you even bring that up with an 11-year-old?" She's shaking her head, heart pounding, and crap she really wishes the brunette could just materialize next to her right now and make Neal disappear.
If she wanted to magic Gold away too, that would just be a bonus.
She can't help the desperation in her tone as she begs, "Regina, help me. I need you."
"I'm sorry, Emma. I'm afraid I don't have any ideas, except... to tell Henry the truth."
She glances up when she can hear their flight called on the overhead speaker system. She knows she has to go -- she and Gold are in first class. Turning her attention back to the phone, she grumbles, "I thought you might say that. I hate you."
Regina's chuckle on the other end is surprisingly warm, and she returns without missing a beat, "No you don't."
"Yeah, you're right, I don't." Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she sees Gold rising to his feet and staring at her expectantly. "Look, I should go. I'll think about what you said."
"Please do. I know I'm not the epitome of honesty, but I think Henry deserves to know the truth."
She's right. Emma both hates and appreciates that. "I know. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"
Regina affirms, "Soon," and then she's gone, leaving Emma staring at the call time on her screen.
"Miss Swan, if you'll please get your things -- we are expected to board," Gold beseeches her impatiently.
Heaving a sigh, Emma shuts her phone off and then slips it in her pocket, returning to the chairs and grabbing her bag. She slings it over her shoulder, looking to Neal and arching a brow. "No first class seat for you?"
"With my mountain of wealth? No, I'm in coach."
"And what, Daddy Warbucks wouldn't spring for an upgrade?"
He gives her a look. "He offered. I refused."
Emma shrugs, washing her hands of that complicated relationship for now, and tells him she'll see him when they land. She then follows Gold onto the plane, thinking about her call with Regina.
She was right. Henry deserved to know where he came from. She just knows she's going to pay dearly when he finds out the truth.
*****
It doesn't take long after her arrival in Storybrooke for Henry and Neal to cross paths. It actually doesn't take much more than an hour after she's picked him up. And the outcome goes exactly as expected -- Henry hates her, and leaves with Neal to get dinner at Granny's.
So here she is, standing on Regina's front steps for the second time in the last two hours, reaching up to knock. She can hear music inside and considers ringing the bell. But before long, there's Regina, looking surprised to see her.
And Emma must look downright crazy, because Regina's eyes seem to widen a bit as she asks, "Is... everything okay?"
"No. No, it's definitely not." She heads inside while Regina just watches her.
The Sundays album she bought is playing from somewhere in the house and she follows the sound to the den. Strange to think that the last time she was in this room, they were--
No, actually, it might be best if she doesn't think about that right now.
"You're listening to one of my albums?" she asks, unable to keep the note of incredulity from her voice.
Regina nods, giving her a small smile. "I like it."
She can't help looking impressed. "Wow."
She watches as Regina goes to sit on the sofa, and, even though she has reservations about being in this room again, she sits beside her.
"Now..." Regina slips her shoes off and tucks her legs up beside her, angling to face Emma. She lowers her head just a bit and gives her a warm smile. "Tell me what happened."
So she does. She starts at the very beginning, touching down in Manhattan. She tells her about catching Neal, and the tense catch-up session they engaged in. She tells her about his reunion with Gold and him cashing in more than what she owed in terms of favors, and the teeth-pulling that was convincing Neal to travel back with them.
Then she tells her what happened when Neal and Gold stopped by the apartment looking for her - how Henry had come out and called her ‘Mom’ right in front of Neal.
“I knew what was happening and I couldn’t even stop it,” she sighs, covering her eyes with one hand. Her hair is falling forward and she uses that same hand to sweep it back, turning to look at Regina again.
Regina’s watching her hair fall back into place with the softest look. It’s confusing, but Emma keeps going. “So Neal introduces himself and asks Henry how old he is. As soon as he tells him, that’s when everything comes out. Neal’s pissed I kept it from him, but,” she shakes her head, “I don’t really care about that right now. And Henry’s mad I lied to him.”
Regina nods. Her elbow is braced on the back of the couch, and the backs of her fingers are toying with her lips thoughtfully. “What did he say?”
Smirking, Emma tells her, “He said that I’m just like you.”
She watches as hurt flashes across Regina’s face, just a brief flicker, before she covers it with a short hum. “Lovely that he’s… using me as a means of insulting others.”
“I don’t think he means it.”
She nods. “I know.” Then, she nudges her. “And I hope you realize that he won’t stay mad at you forever.”
“Yeah, but… how long is it gonna take for him to get over it?”
“It’s hard to say. But… he will.”
Emma groans, scrunching up her face and leaning on her friend. Her head lands just beneath Regina’s chin, on her collarbone. The chuckle she releases vibrates against Emma’s head and she closes her eyes, whining, “Being a parent sucks.”
She feels Regina’s hand landing in her hair, followed by her mouth. Both of them just rest there gently, and she can feel the smile on Regina’s face. “Yes, it sometimes does. It’s the hardest job you’ll ever have, and it’s the one job you can never quit.”
Emma sighs, closing her eyes again. She can hear Regina’s heartbeat under her right ear and it somehow helps to soothe her frazzled nerves. After a moment in which Regina just rests her chin on top of her head and rubs her upper arm, Emma exhales, “Why didn’t I just tell him the truth to begin with?”
There’s a pause - silence lingers between them. She feels Regina swallow, and then she speaks - slowly, as if working out some thought process. “Sometimes… honesty is a tricky concept. Particularly when it has the potential to hurt someone.” A bit more quietly, she adds, “Or hurt ourselves.”
Emma frowns. “Yeah, I guess.”
Another silent moment stretches on. Her head moves up and down when Regina takes a breath, and just as she lifts her head she can swear she can hear the brunette’s heartbeat speeding up. “Regina?” she asks, a bit cautiously.
When she’s sitting up fully, she looks at her friend to find her fidgeting with her hands in her lap. Her legs are still tucked up beside her, silk crimson blouse a little wrinkled from where Emma leaned on her. She’s frowning down at her fingernails like she’s contemplating their existence, before she says, “Emma, there’s something I need to tell you.”
A million thoughts and possibilities hit her all at once. Regina’s dying. Nah, she looks pretty healthy. Oh God, Henry’s dying. No, he’s fine too, he just hates her. Her parents are dying? She looks up at Regina, considering it…
Nah, she’d be ecstatic.. So she asks, “What is it?”
From the look on Regina’s face, whatever it is, is big. And she looks nervous, her eyes flitting everywhere on Emma’s face. But really, what could Regina possibly have to tell her that would throw her off more than seeing Neal again?
That’s right about the time that Regina leans in and kisses her.
TBC
{x-posted to onceupon_fanfic and regina_emma}