Chapter Text
Neal and Cora’s coronations get delayed by a week and things slowly become their new peaceful normal. Our story begins 6 months later, on Emma’s 27th birthday (R-56/27, E- 27, H- 11, E-almost 1)
October 22nd, 1739
Regina looks at Emma, who is cuddled against her on the couch, head on her shoulder, and smiles. She wraps her arm around Emma and takes a deep breath. “I have another present for you Emma.” Regina says.
Emma can hear Regina’s heart pounding. “Is something wrong? I can hear your heart pounding.”
“No, nothing is wrong. The opposite, actually. I am just nervous.”
“Nervous to give me a present?”
Regina nods and gently takes one of Emma’s hands. She rests their hands on her abdomen. Emma looks up at Regina in happiness. “I am pregnant.”
Emma kisses Regina’s cheek before straddling Regina’s lap. “We are going to have another baby.” Emma smiles brightly and Regina mirrors her smile. “Wait, I thought you could not get pregnant.”
“That was while my body was frozen in time.” Regina replies. “I am aging again so I can get pregnant.” Emma leans in and kisses Regina again.
May 17th, 1739 (R-57/28, El- 18 months)
Regina smiles as she holds her new little girl. Emma sits next to her on the bed with Elliandria on her lap. Emma wipes the last bit of sweat from Regina’s face as Henry gently climbs onto the bed. Henry sits on the other side of Regina. “What is her name?” Henry asks. Regina answers and looks back down at the baby.
“This day used to be a day of horrible memories, now it is a happy day.” Regina says. “Instead of thinking about my horrible first wedding, I will think about our new little girl.”
June 17th 1739
Regina, Emma, Henry, and Elliandria walk out together. Emma holds onto Elliandria’s hand, so she does not run away. “Welcome to the coronation of our new child.” The nurse brings the baby up to Regina. Regina gently takes the baby and smiles. “Please welcome, Princess Amelia Grace Mills, third in line for the High and Northern thrones.” The crowd cheers as Regina holds Amelia close. Regina holds Amelia for most of the time, Emma holding her after Elliandria leaves for bed. With people crowding around them, no one notices as a spark of magic hits Amelia.
After the party, Regina and Emma lay curled up together in bed, watching their little girl sleep in her cradle. “I get why you did not want to let go of Elliandria.” Regina says. “It is hard for me to even give her to you and I trust you.”
“It gets easier.” Emma says as she lays an arm over Regina. “It takes time but it will get easier to let her go.”
“I love you.” Regina says.
“I love you too.” Emma says before kissing behind Regina’s ear. Regina snuggles back into Emma with a small smile.
4 Years later
May 17th 1743 (Amelia’s 4th birthday)
“Elliandria Harper stop shocking your brother!” Emma yells. Elliandria keeps running after Henry so Emma teleports in her way. Elliandria runs into Emma and Emma picks her up. “You are grounded from magic little one.” Emma waves her hand over Elliandria’s bracelet and it glows.
“Aw.” Elliandria says.
“It is your sister’s birthday, also you know better than to use your magic on your brother. It is not fair.” Emma sets Elliandria down and Elliandria walks out of the room. Regina walks in a moment later.
“Do I want to know why Elliandria was frowning?” Regina asks as she walks up to Emma.
“She is grounded from magic.” Emma replies. “Why did we decide to unbind the girls’ magic young again?”
“It is only half of it, and they are old enough to control it. You remember how it feels to have your magic bound.” Regina says as she wraps her arms around Emma.
“I hate it when you make sense.” Emma groans as she lays her head on Regina’s shoulder. “How is Amelia doing?”
“She is fine. Apparently the girls have been fighting with magic and she lost.” Emma laughs and Regina glares at her. “Is everything ready for the party?”
“Yes, Regina.” Emma sighs. “It was ready when you asked an hour ago and it is still ready now.”
“Be quiet. I am just nervous.”
“Why are you nervous?”
“I just am. I have this feeling something is going to go wrong.”
“You always plan these perfectly, nothing is going to go wrong.”
Regina sighs. “I know.”
“Mother, Mom!” Henry says as he runs in. “Amelia just dropped to the floor and will not wake up.” Emma and Regina look at each other before following Henry. Nanny pulls Elliandria away from Amelia as Emma and Regina kneel on either side of Amelia.
“Amelia.” Regina gently shakes her. “Amelia wake up.”
“She is alive and her magic is fine.” Emma says.
“What’s wrong with Amy?” Elliandria asks.
“Nanny, could you take Elliandria somewhere else please?” Emma asks. “Henry get your grandmother.”
“No! I wanna stay with Amy!” Elliandria pulls out of Nanny’s grip and runs back to Amelia.
“Elliandria, please go with Nanny.” Emma says as she gently grabs Elliandria’s wrist.
“Will Amy be okay?”
“Yes, your mother and I will take care of her. You will be the first to know when she is awake, alright?”
“Okay Momma.” Elliandria hugs Emma before going with Nanny.
Emma turns back to Regina as Cora walks in. “What is going on?”
“Amelia collapsed.” Emma says. “We do not know why.” Regina sits back as tears fall down her face. “What is wrong Regina?”
“I do not know. My emotions are all over the place so my magic is not working right.” Regina says as Cora carefully kneels next to her. Emma closes her eyes and holds Amelia’s hand. Emma searches for a source of anything. Regina yells as Amelia’s body flies away from Emma. Emma opens her eyes to see Amelia in Cora and Regina’s laps.
“Why did you move her?”
“I did not move her. She flew at me.” Regina says.
“Like levitate or thrown away from me?”
“Thrown away from you.” Regina replies.
Emma’s face scrunches up in anger. “Blue. She did something to her.”
“How, we protected her.”
“We waited until she was two months old. It could have happened before then.”
“She never left the castle and one of us always had her. Blue could not have gotten close enough.”
Emma thinks. “The coronation. The room was big enough that Blue could have done something.”
“I told you we needed to protect the castles not just ourselves!” Regina yells.
“I know, I know, you can yell at me for that later. Right now we need to figure out what she did to Amelia and why it has been dormant for four years.”
“How are we going to figure it out?”
“We can search your books or go to the imp.”
“The imp is a last resort. He still is not happy with us for tricking him.”
“Alright next step, what are we going to do about the party?”
“Spread the news that the party is cancelled due to the princess being sick and will occur when she feels better.” Cora suggests.
“Could you get that started Cora?” Emma asks.
“Yes.” Cora hugs Regina before standing. Emma crawls to Regina and sits next to her.
“She will be alright.” Emma says as she wraps an arm around Regina’s shoulders. “We will fix this.”
May 18th, 1743
“Do you know what she did yet?” Neal asks as Emma paces in front of him.
“Yes, I am here pacing because we know what she did.” Emma says sarcastically.
“I am sorry for asking.”
“I am sorry, we are all very stressed.”
“We can help take care of Ellie and Henry if needed.” Snow says.
“We may take you up on that. It is hitting Elliandria hard. She thinks she did something because they were fighting with magic five minutes before Amelia collapsed. She needs a distraction. Henry is starting to get a bit annoyed with Ellie being so clingy to him.” Emma says before sitting.
Snow stands behind Emma and gently rubs her shoulders. “How about your father and I take Elliandria so Henry can help?”
“Thank you. She loves clinging to you two as well.” Tears form in Emma’s eyes. “No one knows much about fairy magic but the fairies, so this is very difficult.”
“Are there any fairies that may help you?” David asks.
“No, they are all loyal to Blue. Mainly because she is in charge of the pixie dust.” Emma crosses her arms on the table and rests her head against them.
“Emma,” Snow says. “Correct me if I am wrong but Regina said she made a fairy lose her wings. You could try getting her help.”
Emma’s head shoots up. “That is a good idea. We just need to hope she is over whatever Regina did.”
May 20th, 1743
“So she is not over what Regina did.” Emma says as she walks into the meeting room.
“What happened?” Neal asks.
“She saw it was Regina and instantly tried to kill her. Which obviously did not go well. She is in our dungeons until she agrees to help.”
“How long could that take?” David asks.
“Forever. Apparently this fairy has a strong resistance to torture. Nothing Regina or her guards have done has worked so far. Cora does not want to risk anything darkening her heart more so the only help she has given is her book on magical torture.” Emma sighs. “How is Ellie doing?”
“About as well as you would expect. Little annoyed that she does not have magic. She is clinging to your mother and refuses to let go.” David says.
“I knew I forgot to do something. Oh well she is probably better without it right now. How is Mother doing with that?”
“Enjoying every minute of it. I think she misses having little children around.”
“She also still feels guilty taking her from you.” Neal says and David hits his arm.
Emma rolls her eyes. “Even I am over that. Is she keeping Ellie distracted?”
“Yes, she does not ask about Amy often.” David replies. “She is starting to miss you and Regina though.”
“We miss her too but the longer you can keep her distracted the better. If she starts crying that she wants us we will take her but she gets in the way.”
“Alright.” David says. “Random question. Why do you switch between calling your kids by their nicknames and birth names?”
“Regina does not really like nicknames so I only do it when I am not around her. She only lets Ellie and Amy do it in her presence because they are young. If I do it I get slapped upside the head.” Emma chuckles.
“So where are we on what to do?”
“Unless you know any odd torture techniques we have hit a wall.” Emma paces. “We have searched the castles and summer palace’s libraries and have found nothing.”
“Snow did come up with an idea but it is extremely risky.”
“Well since we are out of ideas.”
“Regina removes the spell that keeps fairies away from us from Snow and she goes to Blue saying we kicked her out. She says she wants to help Blue take us down.”
“No, absolutely not. Blue would either see right through it or check her memories in secret.”
“Did you try the imp?” Neal asks.
“Yes, since we refused a debt, he will not help us. We have nothing he wants.” Emma replies as she plops into a chair.
Neal notices the dark circles under Emma’s eyes. “Emma when was the last time you slept?” Emma shrugs in response. “You need to sleep. I will get Cora to force you if needed.”
“My daughter is cursed or something. I cannot rest until she is okay.”
“At least eat something.” Neal says. “I will go grab us a snack and some water.” Emma nods and Neal leaves the room.
“What can I do to right now?” David asks.
“I have no idea.” Emma says. She closes her eyes for a few minutes. They shoot open when she has an idea. “Wait, when Regina and I kicked Blue out, we did not give her time to gather anything.”
“So there could be somethings in the area she stayed it.” David finishes Emma’s thought. “I will go look.”
“Go where?” Neal asks when he walks in.
“To where Blue stayed.” David says as Neal sets the tray down and a water in front of Emma.
“Wait a minute, we need a magic user to check for traps or spells.”
“Give me a-“ Emma slumps in her seat.
“Emma!” David yells.
“She is fine.” Neal says. “Cora will be here in a moment for her.”
“What did you two do?”
“Sleeping potion. Asked Cora for a few when I started noticing Emma was not sleeping well or at all.”
Cora appears only to lay a hand on Emma. “Wait Cora,” Cora looks up. “Come back once you have dealt with them. We need your help.” Cora teleports away and comes back a few minutes later. “Time to look at Blue’s things.”