Chapter Text
She was panicking - she could feel her heart beat faster and faster; her ears were ringing, and she was short of breath. Her son, the son she - the boy she wanted to give the best chance, was here, in Boston. Emma half expected to wake up ("Any minute now...") in a hospital room, barely alive, because it couldn't be happening. She doesn't even remember pulling out her cellphone and dialing his number. She does, however, remember what she said, how she said it - just like the first time they met, broken and desperate.
"I need you."
Half an hour of pleadings from Henry, a few mini-panic attacks and a glass of wine later, her father was looking at the boy with wonder in his eyes. Michael was leaning on the nearest wall, a shy smirk on his face as the boy convinced Emma to drive him back home.
"Go get changed, E. I'll make sure he doesn't pull on a 'Emma Special'."
She glared at him, fighting a smile as she went to her room.
"Is she always like this?" she hears Henry ask.
Michael chuckled "Only when a mark thinks they’re James Bond and try to run. Never run from her, kid - I learned that the hard way. Still got scars to prove it, too."
Emma laughs "Maybe this won't be that much of a disaster after all..."
****
Their trip got on both the adult's nerves. The boy was adamant about not telling them anything. At first, it was cute - and it did remind Mike of a younger Emma, but it was starting to piss the man off and it was driving Emma mad. It got worse in town, to the point the blond stopped in the middle of the road and got out of the car, so she wouldn't kill the little guy. His story about how the Evil Queen brought fairy tails characters to Storybrook was more ridiculous every time the two adults heard it, especially when they got to his mother’s house.
“You ran away from here, kid? This is a freaking dream.” Michael said lowly, whistling.
“Please don’t take me back.” The kid continued to beg, not giving mind to the frozen man.
“We have to. I’m sure your parents are worried sick about you.” Emma kept walking, basically dragging her father with her.
“I don’t have parents. Just a mom and…she’s evil.”
Michael rolled his eyes “Kid, I’m almost sure that’s every kid’s the definition of parents at your age. She can’t be that bad.”
“And evil is a bit extreme, isn’t it?
Henry stopped, he gazed down, and his shoulder slumped “She is. She doesn’t love me, only pretends to.”
“Kid…” the blond started, but the door burst open.
Both Emma and Michael watched as the “Evil Queen” hugged Henry so hard they were afraid he’s break. The man watched as the woman’s expression relaxed once she gave the boy one over for injuries, he guessed, only to watch her freeze when Henry shouted, “I found my real family” and ran into the house.
The shock was obvious on the woman’s face as she turned to face Emma “You – You’re Henry’s birth mother?”
Her father gave her a ‘I-thought-you-better-than-this’ glare as his daughter offered a timid “Hi”
Michael cleared his throat “Perhaps we could get this inside – if, of course, you agree to this, madam mayor.” He was gesturing with his left arm while his other was on Emma’s back, trying to ease the tension “It may help put your mind at ease if we sat down and tell you what happened.”
Regina watched as the man – older than the blond, maybe even a little older than herself, tried to defuse the situation. He was taller than Graham, obviously in good shape, and dressed far better than the blond – still, he could do without the red leather jacket. What stood out for Regina were his eyes – his gaze, truthfully, as they were fixated on her own brown ones.
She straightened herself and smiled “How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you ever tasted?”
“Got anything stronger?”
****
While Michael excused himself, Regina had time to analyze the blond. She was pleasantly surprised with the blond’s bluntness.
“How did he find me?”
Regina shook her head as she prepared their drinks “No idea. I was told the birth mother didn’t want to have any contact.”
“You were told right.”
“And the father? Do I need to be worried that he’s kidnapping him as we speak?”
Emma’s eyes got comically wide “Michael? He’s my father so no.”
“Your father?” Regina raised an eyebrow as she handed the drink over “He doesn’t look that old.”
The blond smiled “He’s not. He’s my adoptive father.”
“Then the father? Do I need to be worried about him?”
“No. Doesn’t even know.”
“Do I need to be worried about you and your father, Ms. Swan?”
“Absolutely not, madam mayor.” Michael stated as he entered the room “My daughter may be a bit wild at times, but she would not rip away a child from his mother.”
Emma nodded “I may be his birth mom, but you raised him. You have nothing to worry about, I promise.”
Regina smiled, sincerer this time; they both seemed genuine in their desire to not take Henry from her. “I hope we wasn’t much trouble. And I am sorry he made you drove him back.”
The man put an arm around his daughter “No problem, madam mayor.” He then turned to the blonde “Best we leave, kiddo. It’s already late.”
They both bid their farewells to the mayor and left, not without Emma glancing one last time at the house.
****
“Never imagined we’d ever be hunting down my daughter’s son. Guess that’s off my bucket list.”
“You had that on your bucket list?!”
Michael laughed at the utterly angry expression on the mayor’s face “Madam mayor, I never thought I’d get to see him again.”
Regina’s anger faltered “Again?”
The two were waiting in the living room, letting Emma do her magic and nursing apple cider. The man nodded slowly as he took a sip and Regina show the tension in his jaw.
“I…meet Emma not long before she went to prison. Adopted her while she was in prison.” He smiled sadly “They let me be there with her when Henry was born. I was, actually, the first person to hold him.”
The brunette’s lips tightened, she felt for the man – his bond with Emma was strong – and yet she felt even more threatened. Whoever the man was, something about him made her be even more careful.
“I can’t imagine how that must’ve been like.”
“And I truly hope you never will, madam mayor.”
“Regina.”
Michael watched her, probably to see if this was test – ‘Smart man…’ – before turning serious “I swear Emma will find your son.”
“I appreciate the confidence, but – “
Michael shook his head “I never break my promises, Regina.”
Minutes passed in silence as the two continued to nurse their drinks. It was a comfortable silence, not awkward as the mayor had thought, but that only put her more on edge – the man had an air around him, one that made her calm even in that situation. Regina chuckled, Michael somehow managed to inspire that air around his daughter as well; no matter how angry the brunette was, Emma and Michael made her calmer – the man more than his adoptive daughter, made her act less reckless than she usually would and that scared her more than anything.
“Why aren’t you out there with Ms. Swan?”
Michael raised at eyebrow “Finding people is more her specialty. My set of skills are more…adequate to a very…different field, if one may say.”
“And what that field be, Mr. Black?”
“I am a bounty hunter, Regina. What I do isn’t pretty. I won’t risk traumatizing a child when Emma can find him very easily.”
Regina hummed – while at first Emma appeared to be tough around the edges and Michael to be more amicable, she quickly found that statement to be false. Both were hotheaded and reckless, but it became clear Michael was the one who dealt with the uglier marks among the two. “And your other daughter? A bounty hunter as well?”
The man laughed “God, no. She’s the good seed of our little family - a detective.” He stood up slowly, straightening himself “E and I? We like to dance between the lines of the law. She? She wouldn’t even jaywalk at 3 in the morning, on an empty street.”
“She sounds wonderful. Maybe you should make a switch between the two?”
Michael laughed “Madam mayor, even if I could… You’d get bored too easily. People like us don’t like easy prey.”
Her eyes narrowed “People like us, Mr. Black?”
He smirked “Perhaps I’m wrong, but you seem like the person who likes a challenge. Our little detective would be out of town in three days, at best. Me and Emma? That’s a bit trickier – we love a challenge too, madam mayor.”
She blames the shiver she just felt on the way he said her title – a tone lower, huskier and in a ticker accent that normal “And what, pry tell, made you came to that conclusion?”
He shrugged but kept on smiling “Don’t make me be wrong about you, Regina.”
And with that, the mayor was left alone and with a stir inside of her – it had been so long since someone made her feel like their equal; it had been much longer since someone had hope in her.
“Don’t make me be wrong about you, Regina.”