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Chapter Text

Emma Swan laughed quietly to herself when she got a good look at her front door. “Those goofballs…” she shook her head.

Juggling the small box containing her traditional birthday cupcake to one hand, she fished out her keys and unlocked her door. Tossing them into the dish, she used her now free hand to gather up the present bags cluttering up the entryway. She had to turn back around to tug down the banner wishing her a ‘happy birthday’ and the streamers.

Task completed, she went to change and make a call.

“Danvers.”

“Rude, and thank your sister and mom for me.” Emma replied, not missing a beat. “Should I be worried that one of these bags is clearly from France?” She knew exactly who Kara’s girlfriend was.

“That’s where our favorite goth dragged her wife for their trip,” Alex Danvers answered, sending a glare at her giggling sister where she was whispering on the couch with her girlfriend. “What did Mom send you, and should I be shocked it made it there in one piece?”

Emma grinned as she heard Kara protesting in the background. “It looks like cookies and a scarf, and we all know Kara only eats your food.” It was a running joke in their group, one that often left Alex pouting.

Alex grumbled a bit before shifting focus. “The plan for your capture worked then?”

“It worked just fine, and reminded me why I don’t waste time dating men.” She sorted through her other gifts, smiling at the small trinkets and things her friends and sisters-at-arms had sent her.

A new hat and gloves joined the scarf. A small collection of polished rocks was set to the side to join her work kit later. The new multitool and lockpick set joined it. The set of specialty bullets was likely from the combined efforts of Alex, her almost sister-in-law, and Raven. Those also joined the pile to go into her work kit.

“You’re supposed to be on vacation.”

“Yes, and?” Emma said, ignoring Alex’s tone entirely. The woman had made herself the big sister of their unit. It was nice sometimes (she came with a mom, little sister, and Space Dad), but other times it was highly annoying.

“And nothing. Even I know when to take a break.”

“No, you get kicked out of your lab and denied field work. Don’t you have a girlfriend to keep you distracted from work now?”

“Kara’s been telling tales.”

“Wrong little sister, and the wrong blonde.” Emma lit the candle on her cupcake. “Clarke said something about a small firecracker of a NCPD Detective?”

“You really want to spend your birthday talking about my love life?” Alex dodged the question. “Switch to video already.”

Emma sighed as if the demand annoyed her, but it didn’t. She loved having people to share her day with. It made celebrating her birthday actually worth it and not the lonely reminder of the day she was abandoned.

She honestly didn’t care about why her parents had done it. They’d done it and she was the one to pay the price of their decision and lack of planning. When the time came for her to face them, she would give them a chance to explain but they only got one chance.

Her phone screen filled with the faces of her teammates and friends. Lucy, Lexa, Clarke, and Raven were there along with Alex, Kara, and Lena. Harrow and Gideon filled another segment, the ginger woman smiling in triumph as her wife scowled (likely from the party hat that had been placed on her head). Cait and Vi were in the final quarter, both of them dressed in pajamas and Vi with a new black eye. They sang Happy Birthday and watched as she blew out the candle. They talked a little bit more before ending the call and allowing Emma to consume her cupcake and several of the cookies.

The birthday phone call was something they did because most of them didn’t have much if any family to speak of. It helped keep them connected after Hex Unit had been ‘retired’ and they had dispersed to go their own ways. Eleven stubborn women who no one would ever suggest would be part of any sort of ‘found family’ had forged one amidst chaos and more than a few death risks.

Lily had missed the call, but Emma had already spoken to her earlier that week. It was actually sort of impressive that those who had been on the call had been able to make it. Between time differences and locations, it wasn’t always feasible never mind possible. The effort to keep the tradition was worth more than any trinkets.

Emma was making the trip around her apartment, locking windows and tidying up small things before going to bed, when a knock sounded at the door. She glanced at the clock, wondering who it could be this late at night. Lily was a possibility, but her sister hated Boston and had been looking forward to spending her time off duty on an uninhabited island where she could stretch her wings. At least, that was what she had said two days ago when they had spoken last.

She opened the door and looked down, taking in the kid who stood there.

“Are you Emma Swan?”

“Who’s asking?” She’d met enough shapeshifters and magical entities (and regular douchebags) to ask that first before saying yes.

“I’m Henry Mills. I’m your son.”

Well…that was a way to end the night.

It was a long drive from Boston, Massachusetts to Storybrooke, Maine.

Emma wasn’t entirely certain how she was feeling at the moment.

Henry, supposedly the baby boy she had given up in a closed adoption ten years ago, sat beside her in the front seat of her trusty Bug with an absolute tome of a book in his lap. He was being a bit cagey about it even as he spoke about a curse and his mom being evil.

She knew about the curse. No less than three of her teachers had commented on it and the taint it left on her, plus Lily had spilled the whole story of her meeting with The Apprentice. Emma was more curious than anything else about it, mostly why someone would curse themselves to a perpetual time loop with people they hated.

Emma would have gotten bored fairly quickly and found a way to leave. Besides that, this world was a vast improvement in some aspects to fairytale land (or whatever the name actually was, she’d never cared enough to remember). Indoor plumbing and vaccines for example; not to mention birth control, the internet, and dozens of other things Emma could think of.

Henry tried to get out of telling her where he lived, but small towns meant that most everybody did, in fact, know just about everybody else to some degree. Asking the gentleman walking his dog yielded the answer and Emma pulled up to the largest house on the block within minutes of asking.

“Henry!” The woman on the porch ignored Emma entirely as she enveloped the boy in a hug. “Are you alright? Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick!” She was already checking him over.

“I found my real mom!” Henry shoved the woman away and ran inside the mansion.

The woman straightened up, quickly hiding the look of hurt on her face as she turned to face Emma. The blonde swallowed hard. The woman was devastatingly attractive and Emma was an absolute disaster of a bisexual.

“You’re Henry’s birth mother?”

“Hi?”

Emma could have slapped herself. HI? That was the best she could do? She sounded like Gideon after the redhead suffered a concussion from doing something stupid and not mission related.

Well, when all else fails, fall back to what she was trained to do. “Sergent Emma Swan, ma’am.” She held out her hand, silently glad she hadn’t defaulted and saluted the other woman. Even better, none of her unit was here to witness her bumbling.

“Regina Mills,” the brunette ignored the offered hand.

“Mayor Mills,” the man (sheriff by the badge and uniform) who had been on the porch broke their standoff, “I’ve checked Henry over. He’s tired but fine and already in bed.”

“Thank you Sheriff Humbert. That will be all.”

This woman was the mayor? Emma dropped her hand and shuffled her feet back into proper parade rest. Given everything Emma did know, maybe saluting wouldn’t have been out of place. Did queens get saluted? Actually, did mayors? Maybe she should ask Lucy when she had the chance, just in case it came up again.

“Well Ms. Swan…how would you like a glass of the best cider you’ve ever tasted?”

“Got anything stronger?” Emma would normally have corrected her title, but let it slide for now. It was tense enough as it was.

Regina felt a smile tug at her lips and suppressed it. “I think you will find my cider strong enough.” She led the way inside to her study, the blonde trialing behind her.

Emma paused a few times to take in the staged decor broken up by bits of personal touches. Framed pictures of Henry and his mother, a throw blanket that looked well used and in a pattern that she doubted the woman she was following would have chosen on her own tossed over the back of the couch in the living room, and a small collection of clearly handmade trinkets on a table in the hall gave hints of the small family that lived in the house.

She had grown up in the foster system. She hadn’t had a stable home until she joined the army at eighteen (joined, recruited, it didn’t matter at this point). Emma had seen just about every kind of family there was: the good, the bad, the terrible, and the worst. Emma knew from personal experience what to look for in a Bad Home. So far, she hadn’t seen or heard anything that gave that impression.

From what she could see, Henry had everything she had wanted for the child she had given up. Food, shelter, clothes that fit and weren’t layered to hide the holes, someone who could love him. From the pictures she saw (which could have been staged just for that purpose she acknowledged), he was very much loved. Mayor Mills had run to him in heels (a feat not easily accomplished), relieved to see him alive and in one piece. She had clearly been hurt by his words and disregard for her concern.

Emotions were a great deal harder to fake than pictures, especially ones that were very in the moment.

Again, speaking from personal experience.

“So, what is it you do exactly Ms. Swan?”

“Sergent,” Emma corrected automatically this time, dragging her attention away from her observations of the house to the woman before her. “I worked hard for that rank, and it is the right way to address me Madam Mayor.” She met the other woman’s eyes without flinching. “As for what I do: army sergeant with their specialty units. Currently on leave, and I’ll be training new recruits when I return to duty in a few weeks. My current unit may or may not get sent out, but that’s not something I can discuss.” She shrugged. “Outside of that, I pick up bounty hunting jobs or work security.”

“So you move around quite a bit I imagine sergeant.” Regina eyed the woman. Perhaps she wasn’t going to be as much of a threat as she assumed she would be.

“Considering when I take security gigs I reside in California and I can be based pretty much anywhere, yes.” Emma had never found anywhere to truly settle down. The apartment in Boston actually belonged to one of her contacts and usually remained empty unless needed as a safe house. Emma used it as an off-base permanent residence. It was a good place to store her car and have things sent to her that she didn’t want on base.

“I would think then that you have no interest in staying in my little town.” Regina handed her a glass of cider.

Emma took it, testing it with a sliver of magic out of habit. The brew was certainly strong, she would give it that. There was an underlying tang to it of magic, mostly unnoticeable unless it was looked for. More from proximity than intent and possibly something to do with the apples it was made from.

“You’re right,” Emma said after a moment, “this is the best cider I’ve ever tasted.”

“Thank you, I make it myself with apples from my tree.” Regina preened a little at the complement. “That is not, however, going to change the subject of what you think you’re going to do going forward.”

Emma sat her glass down. “First, and get mad all you wish, but I want a DNA test. The adoption was closed and the records sealed. No one should have been able to get information from them. That Henry still somehow located me is cause for concern on several levels.”

Some of which were already being looked into, although Emma was not above calling ‘magical bullshit’ for the leak.

Regina felt her fury rise. This stranger was calling her son a liar?

“Look,” Emma continued on before Regina could retort, “Henry got lucky nothing happened to him. I’ve seen what happens when kids go missing. I’ve been there, although unlike him there wasn’t anyone to care if I ever came back at all never mind in one piece.” She sighed. “Plus, how likely is it that he’s going to run off again after I leave? Or if it turns out that he isn’t…mine, for lack of better phrasing.”

Regina deflated. Damn it all, but the woman was right. Henry would run off again. He had gotten lucky this time that things had worked out.

She came from a land filled with dangers, where children did not always survive growing up. Children who wandered into the woods did not always come back. Not everyone they met would turn out to be kind.

“Very well,” Regina agreed. A DNA test was not a bad idea. There was no way for it to work out in her favor, but it was not a bad idea. “And afterwards?”

“I gave him up for a reason, and that reason hasn’t changed. Test results or not, he’s your kid. You have the power here, and I will abide by what you decide.”

Emma had given him up and she did not regret that choice. Even if she would like to get to know the child, to make certain he was okay, that choice wasn’t hers to make. She would help him because that was what she did, but she was perfectly capable of fading into the ether when needed.

Besides, she didn’t need to spend time with Henry to look into the curse. She just needed to be in town for that.

It would not be the first time she lived out of her car in the middle of nowhere.

Her admission that Regina had the power in this instance seemed to sooth some of the woman’s nerves because she relaxed the tiniest bit.

“Alright.” She could make this work in her favor. The shine would wear off eventually. Henry was ten. His interests seldom lasted. Emma Swan had an expiration date and then would be gone. Regina could hold out and play nice for that long. “How long is your leave?”

“A little less than a month left before I have to return to duty, so in reality I have three and a half weeks before I have to return to base.” Emma explained. “Unless I get summoned back early, which could happen.” She picked up her drink and finished it. “If you wouldn’t mind pointing me in the direction of your local hotel Madam Mayor, I will leave you to the rest of your night. We can speak more later?”

She hoped so. Emma was deeply curious about this woman for more than one reason.

She also needed time and space to come to terms with the turn her life had just taken.

“I suppose we will,” Regina acknowledge.

She watched as the blonde drove towards the center of town and the bed and breakfast located there. The Queen had a feeling that things were about to change and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

Chapter Text

Lily was howling with laughter over the phone and Emma was beginning to regret calling her. Her sister was the only person she could think of to call in her current state of mind, and the only one (that she cared about anyway) that was connected to the situation.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lily got control of herself, “but ‘older, short brunette with sass and a killer glare’ is very much your type. Remember that JAG lawyer who went up against ours?”

Emma groaned. “We all remember that, especially Lucy who still teases me about why she’s never been on my radar.”

“Oh, I know. Did you know she’s flirting with someone at her new location? Or back with that photo-guy again, the story was a bit confusing.” Lily calmed herself down. “Raven should be banned from memes.”

“I’m not getting into that argument again,” Emma told her firmly. “If anyone drags me into it, I’m cursing all of you and the computers.”

“The poor computers,” Lily snickered. “So, kid shows up and claims he’s yours, you take him home, meet his hot mom, and now?”

“Now I can’t tell if she hates me, wants me dead, or just has a really strange way of flirting.”

It had been a week so far. The DNA test hadn’t taken long and had come back positive. Henry Daniel Mills was the biological son of Emma Renee Swan. Henry had been angry at the test being done, blaming Regina for it happening.

Emma had snapped at him, actually calling out his behavior towards his mother, before telling him that it was her request and not Regina’s demand.

Henry currently wasn’t really speaking to either of them.

“Okay…so aside from the DNA test, what else is going on?”

Lily knew Emma. The woman was her sister in all but blood. They were partners; they had been for the last decade. It was more than just being soldiers together or the magic bullshit that had originally tied them together. Lily didn’t know if there were even words to describe it. Their relationship just was.

“This town is weird, even for a place operating under a curse. Harrow’d have a field day working out the math behind it, despite it having nothing to do with bones. The Sheriff keeps trying to flirt with me…and so does the main waitress at the local diner-slash-bed and breakfast.”

“And they are?”

“According to Henry, The Huntsman and Rid Riding Hood, who is also the wolf.”

“She sounds fun.” Lily snickered. “Wait, does the curse suppress her transformations?”

“Apparently, the curse keeps magic out of town. They’re all pretty convinced that magic doesn’t exist in this world.”

“So…okay…uh…do none of them watch the news? Read the papers? Leave town? Talk to anyone from the outside world?” Lily could name five events off the top of her head that were public knowledge that would make that assumption blatantly false.

“The town is literally stuck in the eighties, I’m pretty certain only Regina has any kind of contact with the outside world, and I am dead certain that only three people in this place can actually leave.”

“Let me guess: you, the kid, and the hot mom.”

Emma groaned. “Yes.”

“You know what that means.” Lily told her.

“Yeah, if I can get away long enough to do it. The barrier keeping Storybrooke from the rest of the world is itchy.” She whined a little. It was bad enough that every single time she did even a little bit of magic it felt as if she was trying to drag herself through quicksand.

Magic was everywhere around town. How a supposedly trained sorceress and whatever or whoever Mr. Gold was could miss it, she didn’t know. It should not be so difficult to cast even the simplest of spells or use the tiniest magical ability, but it was. Added to that, there was a sense of pressure in town from the built up magic that was slowly beginning to give her a physical headache.

It was a hell of a time for every single one of her magical contacts to be otherwise engaged or ill-suited for the kind of magic going on. She wanted help when (and not if, because it was most certainly a when) it broke.

“Witching hour?” Lily suggested. “Do you want me to come help?”

“Not yet,” Emma told her. “One less thing for Regina to yell at me for.”

Lily snickered. “Sure.” She hesitated and then went ahead with her train of thought. “Are you going to change anything?”

Emma swallowed. “I’ve thought about it. I don’t…how is that something to leave someone who barely knows me?”

“Better than it gathering dust in some forgotten, unclaimed corner.” Because if Emma went down in a fire fight then Lily was going to be right there beside her. “And I honestly don’t mind not being the recipient. Not a single one of the others will begrudge it either.”

“Okay.” Emma hadn’t known how much she’d needed to hear it until Lily had said it. “Thank you.”

“What else are sisters for?”

Chapter Text

Emma cursed the fact that she had to do this in Maine in early November. Why couldn’t she have been a summer baby? Or why couldn’t the curse have set them up somewhere warm, like Southern California or something?

‘This’ was stripping off everything but a pair of shorts and her tank top to sit on the bare ground half in Storybrooke boundaries and half in the outside world. Going into a trance so she could delve as deep into the area’s magic as she possibly could was not an easy task for her. Well…it was, once she could get settled and was actually there. It was the first part that was difficult.

At least there weren’t bullets whizzing past and explosions going off around her this time.

As comfortable as she was likely to get, Emma began going through the steps to relax herself and block out everything but the magical energy around her. Slowly, the cold ebbed and the hard ground pressing into her faded. Warmth swirled around her like water before sweeping her away.

Opening her eyes, she gasped at what she was seeing. How had no one sensed anything here?

The curse was an ugly darkness interspersed with streaks of deep purple. It wasn’t a dome like she had been assuming, but an orb with the town of Storybrooke in its center. Magic pressed on both sides of the barrier, twenty-eight years of buildup on one side and the eddies and flows of the world’s natural magical energy on the other. Raw edges of cut off connections sparked on both sides.

It was a mess. An explosion waiting to happen.

It was something that was going to take an actual coven to disperse and repair.

She and Lily were powerful, yes, and had done impossible things both on their own and together…but Emma had a sinking feeling this might be beyond their ability.

Emma had her reservations when it came to breaking the Curse. Part of it was due to not wanting to have to deal with the people who had given her up as a helpless newborn (and wanting actual answers as to why). Seeing this…magical explosions caused so much damage and this looked catastrophic.

Touching the dark bands of power was something she did not want to do. Her magic practically rebelled against the very idea. She might very well have to at some point, but that point did not need to be tonight. Instead, she went with the purple.

Sparks danced around her as she made contact, but they didn’t hurt. Emma found herself giggling as she traced the signature. The scent of apples and cinnamon filled her nose, along with fresh hay and fire. It was warm.

It also swirled with pain and heartbreak. Hate, despair, desperation, desire. Defeated victory and small pockets of hope.

Regina, Emma thought sadly. She already knew the Queen had cast the curse, but it wasn’t all her. There was something much older and darker here than anything even the Evil Queen could conjure up.

She left the purple tinted power behind and moved around the bubble. She would need to be able to map it out and see if she could find something to use as a release valve of some kind before that was no longer an option.

There were pockets of power, probably connections to the realm Regina had brought everyone from. A well in the woods. A spot just beyond the docks. Mr. Gold’s shop lit up like a multi-colored beacon with a sinister dark smudge that matched the main build of the bubble. Emma filed that away for later consideration.

Underneath the library was a surprise. The magic there held similarities to Lily’s magic. Emma went to investigate, gasping in shock at the dragon she found there.

Oh…

Hello stranger.

The dragon stirred and turned her gaze to the translucent figure currently gracing her prison.

The young woman was unfamiliar but strongly magical. There was something dragonish about her, but it wasn’t ancestral.

The pair stared at each other, both uncertain as to what they should do or say.

I guess that answer that question, Emma said at last. Typically, only my sister can see me when I do this.

Dragons see more than people think. What was the question?

If being able to see me was just a Lily thing or a dragon thing. There aren’t many dragons in this realm.

I had a Lily once…

Emma startled when an image of a hatching egg, a tiny arm with a familiar birthmark thrust out thru the hole, being sucked into a portal slammed into her mind. She gaped at the dragon, at Maleficent herself.

She nearly squealed with excitement. Emma contained herself, but just barely. She opened her mouth to say something, what she wasn’t entirely certain, but gasped instead as she was unceremoniously yanked back towards her body.

Chapter Text

Regina Mills was at a loss when it came to Emma Swan. The woman was infuriating (like expected of a child of Snow White), but not in the way Regina had always assumed she would be. She had been mostly prepared to face down Snow White 2.0, but Emma Swan was not that.

She also wasn’t Charming 2.0, and Regina was both relived and irritated by that.

Emma Swan was very much her own person with her own secrets and habits that both drew Regina in (she never had been afraid of a challenge) and unnerved her. The latter was the infuriating part.

Emma had been true to her word, mostly leaving any time she spent with Henry at Regina’s discretion. Mostly, because Henry was a willful boy (just like both his mothers) who had decided he no longer had to listen to his mother. Emma brought him back every single time, the boy surly and Emma frowning at him.

The fact that the blonde felt it was her duty to defend Regina to Henry was another thing that infuriated her. Who gave Emma the idea that Regina needed defending? Why would the other woman even do that? What did she get from it?

It did not help matters that Emma was a hard person to discover anything about. Her Juvenile records were sealed and not even her sneakiest of underlings were able to unseal them. The records from her time in foster care were accessible, but they yielded little more than a bleak picture of a child forgotten and abused by the world at large who was known to run away. Most of her prison records were also sealed, and what was available to be dug into was fairly worthless.

The publicly available information from her military records yielded some information, but it was nothing Regina could use against her (except maybe that a great deal of the last decade was ‘classified’ and undoubtedly meant it was dangerous and things Emma would not want people to know about). Reading it had made her wonder why Emma was merely a sergeant.

The woman was highly decorated, both on her own and with her original unit. (The information about it was sparse, but as Regina only had a passing interest in it she let it go.) She was clearly competent and skilled, her test scores high when it came to physical tests and on the higher end of average in the non-physical. If Emma had been part of her army, the woman would have been a knight of the highest ranking.

Emma Swan being a princess would have had nothing to do with it.

Almost begrudgingly, Regina found herself respecting the biological mother of her son.

It came as a bit of a shock when Sydney (she really needed to find a way to curb his obsession, no matter how useful it was at times) called to tell her that Sergeant Swan was seen heading towards the town limits. Given what she knew of the woman’s past, it wasn’t a great leap of logic to assume that she would leave without saying goodbye to anyone…in the dead of night…like a coward. Compared to what she knew of the woman from interacting with her, it seemed unlikely.

Regina checked on Henry first, to ensure he was where he was meant to be (asleep in his bed) before locking the house and getting into her car. If Emma was leaving, then it would not be without consequences. If she wasn’t…well, any threat to Storybrooke was a threat to Henry and Regina simply couldn’t have that.

She honestly didn’t think she would catch up the to the younger woman. She had never ventured out into the wider world, not really. Storybrooke was her kingdom in this world and the few times she had left it because she had to had never given her enough time to explore very much. She had never had much desire to do so.

As troublesome as the internet was, it did serve very well in allowing her access to any information she could want.

Regina certainly wasn’t about to trail the other woman all the way to Boston to do…she hadn’t decided yet.

Working herself into a rage, she slammed onto her breaks when she nearly went past Emma’s beat up old Bug. She backed up and parked, getting out of her Benz and storming over to the other car. Finding it empty made her pause and look around.

Would the curse allow Emma to leave now that she was here? So far, the blonde had given no indication that she believed Henry about the curse other than to placate him. Of course, the woman hadn’t made any attempt to leave (she had made no secret of the fact that her time was limited, had given Henry the day she had to leave by in order to report for duty) yet.

She spotted the woman sitting on the ground, hardly clothed (it was cold), halfway through the barrier Regina knew was there even if she couldn’t see it. Except that she could see the edges where it touched Emma.

Taking in the sight before her, Regina tried to convince herself she wasn’t seeing what she thought she was. Magic did not exist here. There was no way for Emma to be deep in magical meditation, no way for the woman to know how to reach such a state.

And yet…

And yet…

Regina turned around and opened the trunk of her car. She kept a few things there in case of emergencies (even if they had never been used), one of which was a blanket.

She did know better than to grab someone in such a state. The best case would simply be her getting sucked in and dragged to where Emma had gone. The worst, she would displace the connection and leave Emma as a catatonic vegetable until they could (unlikely in this world) find someone to reestablish the connection.

Instead, Regina shouted. “Sergeant Swan!” And then threw a small rock at the other woman’s bare arm.

Emma tilted and jerked.

“What the fuck?!” Emma righted herself, staring at Regina with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to say more but closed it as she shivered.

With a sigh, Regina approached and flipped the blanket around Emma. “Get in the car.” She commanded, much like she would Henry.

Emma, shivering hard now, complied. The Benz was warm, the blanket soft, and she had questions.

“What do you think you were doing out here?” Regina demanded.

It took Emma a moment as she gathered her thoughts before deciding to bull her way through. “Checking out why magic is so fucking weird in you town, your Majesty.”

“Magic doesn’t exist in this realm.”

“Ha!” Emma snorted. “A decade ago, I would have agreed with you. I’ll give you that magic is different than it is in fairytale land or wherever, but it does exist. Next you’ll tell me aliens and metas are Hollywood nonsense.”

“Aren’t they?”

“Uh…no. No they are not. Do you seriously not get anything current? I’ve seen what passes for news around town, but even you? And whatever Mr. Gold is, because I don’t buy his act. The creepy yes, but not the rest of it.”

This time Regina snorted, somewhat amused by her current companion. “How long have you known?”

“Since I was eighteen and recruited for a special task force within the US Military.” Emma rubbed her hands against her thighs, trying to ease the sharp tingles from her skin warming with friction. “I can’t tell you much about it, so whatever you’ve been able to dig up already is all you’re going to get.”

“Which has been incredibly little,” Regina glared at the blonde when the woman snickered.

“Yeah,” Emma grinned, “that’s what happens when you have some of the most security paranoid individuals as part of your team.” She leaned back in the seat. “So, which of your watchers told you I was heading to the town line?”

“Sydney,” Regina answered after a moment.

“Ah, explains the delay then.” Emma yawned and shook herself awake. “So…now what?”

“I suppose this is where you give your little speech over how you’re going to end the curse and take my son.” Regina braced herself for it. Emma had her at a disadvantage. The blonde had access to magic while Regina did not. She had been there before and she knew how such confrontations tended to end for her.

“Ha!” Emma shook her head. “Yeah, not gonna happen. I don’t have any intention of taking Henry away from you.” She paused, thinking about it. “Could I? Yes. But I won’t.”

Something within Regina was shaken loose. “Why not?”

“The curse or Henry?”

Regina looked at her, eyes wide with surprise. How was she even meant to respond to that? Henry was the important topic here. At the moment, she didn’t really give a damn about the curse. If she were honest (and she might be, someday) she hadn’t cared about the curse for some time.

Emma continued when she didn’t answer.

“The curse is going to have to be broken eventually, but I’m in no hurry to do it.” She explained. “As for Henry, I already told you. He’s your kid…not mine. Not since I gave him up.”

“I’m glad we both understand that,” Regina said, not knowing what else to say. “I would think you would be all for ending the curse. It’s what your parents would do.”

Emma snorted. “If they wanted that distinction, then they should have kept me.” She looked out the window. “Did you know that they kidnapped Maleficent’s daughter? Used her in a ritual and banished her through a portal?”

Undignified as it was, Regina gaped at her. Not that Emma could see it. Her attention was entirely on the world outside.

“What?!?” She hissed out. She hadn’t known her old teacher and sometimes friend had ever been pregnant…had an egg? Regina supposed it didn’t matter. It did explain the dragon’s depression. Why it had been so easy to…oh dear. That was going to make matters difficult once she was freed.

“Yeah,” Emma pulled out her phone and opened her picture folder before handing the object to Regina. “Her name’s Lily.”

“Your sister,” Regina had heard the name before, overheard it while observing some of Emma interactions with Henry.

Emma hummed in acknowledgement. “Her parents, the ones who adopted her as a baby, sent her to military school after our last encounter when we were teenagers. Fourteen, I think. Maybe fifteen, it all blurs together now. We met again after I was recruited and we undid the ritual. Life got…better, after that.”

“And the magic is what tied you together.” Regina didn’t need details to know or understand the connection. Rituals had their own special brand of consequences.

“And we’ve save each other’s lives several times over the last decade. She’s one of the few from our original unit to still be actively serving. The others have mostly retired and moved on.”

They fell quiet after that. The low hum of the car’s heater the only sound for long moments. Finally, Regina broke the silence.

“I suppose we find ourselves at an impasse then.”

“Not really,” Emma replied. “I figure we find a way to release the pressure, I leave to go back to my actual job, and eventually I break the curse that’s doomed me my entire life. Maybe during that…I could write to Henry?”

Emma hadn’t meant to get attached. She really hadn’t. There was just something about them both that drew her in and she was helpless against it.

“To both of you, if you’d allow it?”

Emma had never had much in the way of connections outside of her original unit. Those had been forged in hardship and fire. Emma had striven to keep people out, on not getting her hopes up and not growing attached to anyone or anywhere. Hex Unit (strange name, given only four out of their group of eleven had any sort of magical ability) had been made up of people determined to do the same.

Joke was on them, considering that more than half of them had ended up paired up and all of them had some kind of emotional attachment to the others. Okay, so one pair had already been well established, but Emma still counted them.

Regina studied her for a long moment. “What do you mean, release the pressure?”

Emma sighed. “Ok, so it’s like this…”

Chapter Text

Later that day, after both of them had gotten some form of sleep (if they were willing to call it that) and taken Henry to school (the boy was suspicious upon finding both of his mothers sitting in the mansion’s kitchen drinking coffee and being civil to each other), they went to speak with Mr. Gold.

“Imp, we have a problem.”

As in, Emma followed behind an angry and irritated Regina Mills as she stormed into the pawn shop. Emma had mostly avoided the place just as she had done her best to avoid the store’s owner. She took the chance to look around, but aside from a few traces of magic it was fairly average for a pawn shop. Perhaps neater than similar places she’d been before, more organized.

“I don’t recall having brought up any issues Madame Mayor.” Mr. Gold turned to look at them. If he was surprised at their rather sudden entrance he hid it well. “Ah, Ms. Swan. Come to view my little shop at last?”

“Enough of this charade Rumple. I know you remember.” She didn’t, but she suspected. Still, let him call her bluff.

“Rumple?” Emma cocked her head to the side, staring at the man with a new intensity. “As in Rumpelstiltskin?” Why did that…she reached out and yanked Regina back behind her. A sword materialized in her hand even as the exertion of summoning it through the interference of the curse caused her nose to begin to bleed. “Dark One.”

Rumpelstiltskin stared at the pair, more specifically Emma. “My, my Ms. Swan. That should not be possible.”

“It’s Seargent Swan,” Emma bit out, “and now I can tell Constatine why that summoning ritual didn’t work.”

“Is that demon chaser still around?” The man sighed. “Oh, very well. Put that away and we can have a civilized conversation.”

“That demon chaser is one of my teachers,” Emma informed him, “and yea, far as I know nothing’s killed him yet.” Things began to click into place for her with this new information. “You wrote the curse. That’s your magic tangled up in the barrier.”

“You appear to be far more knowledgeable than one would expect for someone who grew up in a world without magic.”

Emma sheathed her sword and resettled it at her side so she could sit. “Every world that contains life contains magic, or so I’ve been told.” She glared at him. “You actually have no idea.”

“Perhaps you should explain,” Regina seated herself on one of the offered chairs. “The curse either sent us to the wrong realm or you actually managed to be wrong about something.”

“I assure you Dearie, this is the correct realm.”

Very little managed to surprise Rumpelstiltskin. He typically knew the most out of anyone, done or manipulated whoever or whatever he had to so that he had the upper hand. He didn’t lie, but he could trick and talk around things to his heart’s content.

Listening to the young woman speak about what she had discovered, he admitted to himself that this was a surprise indeed. A somewhat welcome one, since it meant that once he could leave town he would not be entirely without magical resources.

“Breaking the curse would be the simplest solution,” he informed them once Emma had finished outlining the issue.

“Don’t have time for that,” Emma deflected with a shrug. There was no way she was going to leave Regina to face an angry town and a vindicated Henry on her own. She wasn’t going to let herself be manipulated into doing something she had little interest in doing.

“Yes, your muster date.” He wondered how he hadn’t seen that possibility, that the baby would grow up to be a soldier in this realm. A Knight, eventually, yes, but not common cannon fonder. A sheriff’s star he had seen, but not a young woman who came to town not only believing in magic but able to wield it.

“Yep.” Emma leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms as she kept eye contact with the man. She’d been warned about the Dark One the same way she had been warned about dealing with demons and terrorists.

No wonder she had always found him creepy.

Rumpelstiltskin met her gaze, clearly trying to find some angle he could use to get what he wanted out of her. He already had one favor owed to him from her with her interference with Cinderella, but he already had a plan for that favor and didn’t wish to use it here. Still, he would if he had to.

Regina watched them. Of the two, Emma was the one she was uncertain of. She had yet to see the woman lose her temper, even when Regina had tried her hardest to get the woman to snap. With her former teacher, she had leverage she could use.

“Perhaps,” Rumple began, “if I had an idea of just what you think you know, we could form a solution that benefits all of us.”

Emma huffed. She’d heard that tone before, but in this case she as willing to share. To an extent. She gave him a rough outline of the last decade, starting with Constatine finding her in prison and ending with her arrival in town. From the man's facial expressions (his mask was impressive, just as Regina’s was, but neither of them had ever had to read the face of a person who shapeshifted or been alive for more centuries than most could fathom), he was well aware of just how much Emma wasn’t saying.

Rumpelstiltskin knew he had sent them to the right Realm with the curse. He had checked his calculations endlessly, kept an eye on his son’s rough location for centuries. Perhaps, he allowed, he should have researched further into the intricacies of the varied Realms and how magic operated within them. He had accepted that this world had no magic (or would have none outside of Storybrooke once the curse was broken) and so had planned accordingly.

That it was no longer an entirely viable plan was of no matter. He would simply find another way. The reputation of the Dark One (not necessarily him) clearly proceeded him even here and he (as always) could and would make use of that. He was not as bloodthirsty as some of his predecessors, but there was no way from many to know that fact about him.

“And what are your thoughts on this matter, your Majesty?” He turned to Regina, wondering just what her stake was in all this. He knew she did not want the curse broken (this was her revenge after all), just as he knew that breaking the curse was inevitable.

Regina leveled a look at him. “I would prefer my town not become the site of a catastrophic magical explosion.” She had the trigger she could use, she supposed. However, it would mean separating herself from Henry. If she survived activating it, a life without her son was not one she wanted to contemplate.

He would be safe enough with Emma, but that wasn’t the point. She would rather live with the pain of knowing he hated her than lose him to the after effects of magic gone wrong. She would rather him be alive and separated from her than dead and gone beyond her reach forever.

“And I should help you resolve this issue to keep the curse in tact because?” He focused on Regina. Emma Swan might be keeping things to herself, but she had already given an important bit of information away without even realizing it.

Right, because of everyone in town he would most likely survive if and when the magic exploded.

“Belle,” regina said after a moment, watching him. He twitched.

“She is dead, and you know very well that Death doesn’t give things back.”

“I may have…misled you on that.” Regina said slowly, watching him. “She’s alive and in town.”

“Where?” He demanded, standing to his full height. His Belle was alive? Had been, all this time? What had Regina done to her?

“In the Mental Ward beneath the hospital with no memories, but alive and well.” She honestly didn’t know how this action of hers surprised him. Between him and Mother, it really shouldn’t.

“Wait, Belle as in Beauty and the Beast?” Emma got their attention. “Is that why the library is locked up and closed?”

“What are you blathering about?” Regina had no idea where the other woman’s mind had gone.

Rumple, who because of a small bout boredom did, chuckled as the tension was broken. “No Dearie, that would be because of the dragon in the basement.”

Emma frowned. “Okay…wait.” She twisted to look full on at the other woman in the room. “You locked Maleficent underneath the library? I’d have thought the bank would have been more apropos.”

“That is a gross assumption about things dragons hoard,” Regina said, offended on behalf of her (former?) friend.

“My best friend hoards lighters and clunky bracelets,” Emma replied, deadpan, “and the only other dragon I actually know does hoard gold.” She also thought having a dragon guarding the place where all of a town’s monetary assets were kept made sense.

Then again…she knew enough people who would argue the library being far more important so it did make sense.

Maleficent being brought up gave Emma an idea. She sat back and let the other two bicker over getting Rumpelstiltskin’s assistance and thought it over. She wished she had the time to get in contact with a few of the others because Emma was terrible at math and she never had understood much of the calculations that actually broke the magic down. She thankfully didn’t need to in order to use her abilities, but in times like this it would, admittedly, be helpful.

Distracting and time consuming, but helpful all the same.

She tuned back into the other pairs discussion just in time to hear them come to an agreement.

“No revenge,” Emma chimed in, gaining both their attentions. “It’s a waste of time and below both of you.” She eyed the man. “Besides, you used Regina to cast the curse so I’d say it’s fair. She paid the price you couldn’t.”

That sobered both of them.

“How…how do you know that?” Regina couldn’t stand how Emma could know and not want to take Henry and run as far away as she could.

“My teachers were very through when it came to instructing me about curses and how they typically come to be cast. I might not know the specific details, but magic isn’t free and comes with consequences.” Emma answered.

“Very true,” Rumple said after a moment. It seemed he would have to do some heavy reevaluation about the Savior. “I suppose we should begin planning then, if breaking the curse is not an option.”

“It’s not,” Emma stood up, “and I have an idea. I just need to make a phone call.”

Chapter Text

Henry trailed after Emma. Her time in town was quickly coming to an end and very little had changed.

Bringing Emma to Storybrooke was not going the way he had imagined it would. She was nothing like he had imagined her to be. She had been doing her best to keep him at arm’s length, listening to his mom rather than him.

Regina had been doing her best to keep him away from Emma. Until today, where she had sent him off with his birth mother for the whole afternoon. This was after two days where both women had been suspiciously busy both on their own and together.

“Here’s as good a spot as any,” Emma said, bringing their progress to a halt.

They were on a trail that skirted part of the town, separating it from the forest while still being within the boundaries of the curse. It was used fairly regularly as part of the overall park system of the town, but it was rather empty now. Just him, Emma, and the lone bench.

“Take a seat Kid,” Emma plopped down and stretched her legs out in front of her.

“Are we finally going to talk about the curse?” He asked, feeling the excitement welling inside him as he took a seat. Maybe she wasn’t actually going to leave.

“Kind of,” Emma replied, “but I want a promise from you first.”

“Anything!”

“Okay, first always ask what the promise or favor is before agreeing to it.” She told him firmly and waited for his nod before continuing. “I want you to promise that you’ll listen first, and that you give your mother a chance instead of continuing to condemn her as you have been.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Emma cut him off. “Things are going to be changing around town, and I need to know that you’re going to behave and not do something completely stupid like try to follow me or get into something you shouldn’t because you think it’ll prove you right.”

Henry stared at her wide eyed. “You’re really going to leave?”

Emma sighed, more than a little annoyed with him. “Yes Henry, I am. I told you that I couldn’t stay, and that hasn’t changed. I have other duties to fulfil, a job to do.”

“But what about breaking the curse?”

Well, she supposed he came by his stubborn streak and dedication from her. From what she’d seen of Regina’s work ethic and personality, nurture and nature had coincided.

“I’ll break it when I’m good and ready to do so, not before.” Emma replied. “I want your promise before this goes any further Henry. Nothing I say will matter if you aren’t going to listen. As nice a thought that it is, nothing is as black and white as fairytales would like you to believe.”

Things would be a lot simpler and a great deal more boring if it were. Emma had learned that orders were things to be followed but also questioned. She had learned when she was younger than Henry that there were very few ‘happily ever after’s’ and that even those didn’t always last. She might have been around his age when she understood that actions have consequences, but you weren’t always the one that paid them. Sometimes, you paid for other people’s actions.

“She got to you, didn’t she?” He demanded.

“Kid,” Emma looked at him. She wondered if she had ever been that…innocent and protected. Maybe before her first family had given her back, but she had no way of knowing. “Regina has nothing to do with this or my choice to leave. If you aren’t ready to listen now, your mom’s given me permission to write to you. You can tell me when you’re ready.”

Part of her hated having to do this. She didn’t actually want to take away any of his innocence. She wanted to protect him, keep him safe from the monsters of the world. She loved him, as rarely as she would admit that fact to herself. It was why she had given him up to the almost certainty he was going to be adopted as soon as he was taken.

He had been, more or less. He’d been raised never knowing what it was like to be hungry or cold. As bratty as he was being right now, he felt safe enough to act this way. To try his boundaries. He had been and still was very much loved by Regina, as much as he wanted to deny it.

A great deal of therapy (mostly mandatory, but some of it she had willingly arranged and gone to herself) had led her to being capable of having these kinds of conversations and the strength to have introspective thoughts.

“Do you even really believe in the curse or are you just humoring me?” Henry didn’t understand how Emma could know and not want to fix things. To get her parents back and make them all a family.

Emma chuckled. “The curse is real Henry, and I do believe in it. It’s haunted me my whole fucking life, just as other decisions made before I was even born. Your mom carries some of the blame for that, but so do others. If I can forgive the Evil Queen for casting the damn thing, then you can act like the young man you think you are and deal with what’s actually bothering you about being adopted.”

“What?” Henry had no idea what she meant or why she was saying it.

“The way I understand it, you’re angry that Regina didn’t tell you herself that you were adopted. You’re angry at me for giving you up. You’re lonely because you’re trapped in a town where you’re the only one who gets to grow up. You’re smart, observant, devious. I’ve also seen you be kind, helpful, honest.” She straightened up so she could look him in the face. “Trying to break the curse is your reasoning behind most of your current antics.”

Emma did have to wonder if any of her degrees had shown up in Regina’s background check. She knew she wasn’t any sort of brainiac (she worked with enough of those to know), but she wasn’t stupid either. Given the time, resources, and freedom to chose she had learned at least a small amount of any topic that piqued her interest. Being able to read what she wanted when she wanted to helped with that as well.

Henry opened his mouth to deny what Emma was saying, but found himself at a loss for words. She was right. He wondered if she had been talking with Archie or if Regina had told her what to say to get a reaction out of him.

“Why?” He finally managed.

“Why what?”

“Why did you give me up?”

Emma stared at him for a few moments. He’d already been given the ‘best chance’ explanation and he’d seemed happy with it at the time. It was true, not just a blanket reason.

“I was seventeen and in prison. I had no family or friends, nothing more than a beat up old car and a backpack of clothes to my name, and no funds to speak of.” Emma began. “I was terrified out of my mind, knowing that I had no idea how to take care of myself never mind an entire other person who was completely dependent on me for his survival.” She paused to gather her thoughts. “Keeping you would have been the wrong choice for the both of us, no matter how much I love you Kid.”

“What…” Henry swallowed, “what about my dad? Wouldn’t he have helped?”

Emma sighed, rubbing her face with one hand as she thought about how to answer that. “As far as I know, the man who donated half your DNA isn’t aware you exist. He’s the reason I was in jail to begin with because he set me up to take the fall for his crime. I got lucky that for once the system came through and proved I couldn’t have actually stolen the watches, but I still got time for possession of and intent to sell stolen goods.”

Henry sat down beside Emma and tried to digest what she had just told him. He didn’t think she would lie about something like this. There wouldn’t be much of a point. As far as he knew, she hadn’t outright lied to him about anything.

“Why would he do something like that?”

“I don’t know, and while sometimes I wish I did, in the end it doesn’t matter.” She sighed again and moved so she was facing him once again. “He made his choice, and I have to live with the consequences of it and the choices it caused me to make.”

“Like joining the army?”

“Yeah Kid, like joining the army.” Emma reached out and ruffled his hair. “I don’t regret giving you up, as much as I know that hurts to hear. Your mom has given you everything I wanted you to have when I made that choice, and I think when you aren’t being a little brat you’ve made her happy.”

Emma was right, it did hurt to hear her say that.

She also had a point.

They settled into silence, both mulling over what had been said. Emma was glad Henry hadn’t simply stormed off or protested more. She wondered if he even realized just how much like Regina he was.

“I think I can make that promise,” he said softly, breaking the silence. “I can try at least.”

“Trying is half the battle sometimes,” she told him. “You promise that you’ll listen first, and that you give your mother a chance instead of continuing to condemn her?”

Henry nodded firmly. “I promise.”

“Okay, so first off, magic is real and very much part of this world…” she began, giving a much simplified version of the spiel she had been given a decade ago. “You’re book is very wrong on that point, never mind what’s missing from the stories inside it. You still with me?”

Henry nodded, eyes wide. “Can you really do magic?” Wasn’t magic…bad? Dangerous?

“I can,” Emma confirmed. “Come on, there’s a reason why we’re here.” She got up and led him deeper into the woods.

Henry followed. Looking around, he wondered where Emma was taking him.

“Quick question,” Emma came to a stop, “do you feel any different here then you did at the bench?”

“No?” He hazard a guess. He was certainly more tired, unused to walking over the uneven terrain of the forest. Emma looked as if they’d just strolled down main street.

“Right, well we’re over the town boundaries now. Lily? We’re ready for you!” Emma shouted out the last bit, stepping aside and bringing Henry with her.

Henry gapped as a dragon descended from the sky. Part of him seized in terror but the rest of his brain just kept repeating ‘dragon’ over and over again. Just as the creature reached the treetops, it began to shift and change. When she touched down on the ground, it was as a woman around the same age as Emma.

“Show off,” Emma commented, letting Henry go so she could hug the other woman.

“Hello to you to sis,” Lily returned the hug, “I got the stuff, but what’s this all about?”

“First, this is Henry.” Emma motioned to the boy behind them.

“Hi nephew!” Lily said brightly, offering him a wave and a grin.

“Hi.” Henry returned the wave. He could practically feel the questions bubbling up inside him.

“Second, I found your mom.”

“Holy fucking shit, you did not.” Lily turned her full attention to Emma. “Really? She’s here?”

“Yep, underneath the library in dragon form.”

“Is that why the libraries always been closed?” Henry asked. “Mom has a dragon in there?”

“Maleficent, to be specific.” Emma tacked on, grinning.

“Okay, some of the stuff you asked for makes sense now.” Lily fidgeted in place. “How are we doing this?”

“Remember that snow palace in the Yukon?”

“Yea, pretty certain you still have scars from that mission.” Lily thought about it for a moment before she caught the reference. “Not again!”

“Yep, step across the boundary and you’ll be able to feel it.” Emma took the bag her sister had been carrying and began to rifle through it.

“Holy shit, ow.” Lily stumbled back. “You’ve been dealing with that for weeks?”

“Yep.”

“Uh, what are you guys talking about?” Henry looked between them, utterly confused.

The pair began his first lesson on magic. Henry sat down and listened, watching as Emma began to lay things out for the spell she and Lily were going to do. From what he understood, they were going to drain away the magical build up from within Storybrooke and use the excess to shift Maleficent to human form. They were going to put a crack in the barrier and reconnect some of the severed ley lines to keep magic flowing more evenly.

“And Mom didn’t know about any of this?”

“Not with her magic cut off by the curse, otherwise I’m pretty certain she would have fixed the problem before it started to become a lit match on a powder keg.” Emma replied.

“Why not just break the curse?”

“Because Emma hates dealing with drama and I bet Snow White is just full of it.” Lily commented. “I’m ready.”

“Henry, stand right,” Emma moved him to where she wanted him, “here, and do not move. You’ll know when we’re done.”

To him, it didn’t look as if they did much of anything. At first. Slowly, like the build up before a thunderstorm, the air took on a charged quality. The hairs on his arms stood up and his skin tingled. If he looked just out the corner of his eyes, he could see faint lines of color that disappeared if he tried to focus on them. There was a sort of boom and his ears popped.

“Emma?” He rushed forward to where Emma had fallen to her knees. Lily wasn’t much better.

“We’re okay Kid, it was just a lot.” Emma pointed to the stones sitting on the cloth between her and Lily. They were all glowing softly. “We need to get those to the town line.”

Lily cackeled. “I can’t wait to see how you explain this to his mother.”

‘This’ turned out to be travel by dragonback. Henry clung to Emma, terrified to look down. He wondered if this was what riding a roller coaster felt like, with the up-and-down motion of Lily’s wings.

“Breath kid,” Lily kept him steady as Emma set things up, “you did good. Short flights like that can be rather jarring. There are smother ways to fly.”

“Like on a plane?” He hazard a guess once he felt more stable. At least Emma’s car was just beyond the town line. He didn’t think he could travel via dragon again so soon.

“Sure kid, like on a plane.” Lily chuckled. “Go wait in the car, we shouldn’t be long.”

Henry did as she said, glad to be inside and away from the cold. He could still see them and what they were doing, but this time he didn’t feel anything or see the lines of color from before.

“Did it work?” He asked once they climbed into the car.

“Yea Kid, it worked. You’ll have to tell me about the changes as they happen, okay?” Emma started her car. “I’m taking you home and then we’re going to meet up with your mom and finish this. Stay in the mansion, okay?”

“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed. He wanted to see more, but first he wanted his notebook so he could begin writing down everything. He could do that while he waited.

Much later than Emma would have liked, she collapsed onto her bed at the B&B. Lily was still up with her mother, probably plotting revenge or other trouble of some kind. Regina had gone home to Henry. Rumpelstiltskin had returned to his shop and Belle, a small stone in hand that should return the woman’s memories. If not, Regina had handed over a matchbook that, according to her, would supply the amnesiac with curse memories.

Emma was too tired to care either way.

She did have the one thing she wanted.

Regina had agreed that Emma could send letters to both Henry and her.

Chapter Text

Henry, mail!” Regina called up the stairs, letter in hand. She smiled as she heard her son head towards the stairs. “No running!” She heard his steps slow down.

“Is it from the same base?” He asked, thudding down the stairs.

“It looks as if it is,” she handed over his envelope, keeping hers. Emma had proved to be a decent correspondent, even if her handwriting was sometimes abysmal.

Henry ripped the envelope open, pulling out the letter inside before sitting on the stairs to read it. He frowned. “She didn’t get leave to come visit over Easter.”

“She told you that it wasn’t likely,” she reminded him gently. “And even if she had, most of it would have been spent traveling. She is in California.”

“I know,” Henry flipped the page over. “Oh…Emma says that her current unit is going to be deployed overseas soon.”

“Honey, I’m sorry.” Regina knew what that meant. Both of them had been looking forward to having Emma return long enough for Henry’s birthday. Hesitantly, she reached out to hug him. She tightened her grip when he leaned into her.

“It’s part of her job, she warned me it made planning things hard.” The box full of letters and small trinkets Emma had sent him over the last several months was a timeline of their building relationship.

“I know,” Regina suspected that there would be more details in her own letter from Emma. She hadn’t expected to become as fond of the woman as she had but…well, she was. “Go upstairs and finish your letter. You can show me whatever trinket Emma’s sent you this time during dinner. The package is on the entry table.”

“Thanks Mom,” he returned her hug. Emma was right, he thought when he paused to turn back to look at his mother and saw the small happy smile on her face before she disappeared into the kitchen, he did make his mom happy.

In the kitchen, Regina read her own letter. Like she had thought, Emma had given her more information than she had Henry. No specifics, but several reassurances that it was nothing more than a routine deployment moving troops about.

Sighing, she folded the letter and tucked it into the drawer she had dedicated to her correspondence with Seargeant Swan. There were a few small trinkets and photographs tucked in the drawer as well.

The box for Henry yielded a small stack of books and a small autograph book.

“Mom! Do you know what this is?” Henry eagerly showed her. “How did she get these?”

“Well, she did say that she had worked with a few of them before. The of the Supers, I believe.” Regina had dedicated herself to learning more about the wider world since Emma had left, no longer discounting things as she had before.

“Supergirl,” Henry supplied, pointing to the first autograph. It had a small drawing of a dog on the page waving at the viewer. “And there’s a page with signatures of her original unit!” Some of the autographs came with pictures and Henry was just as ecstatic over those.

For a boy who loved heroes as much as Henry did, it was the ultimate birthday gift. Even if it was several months early. Regina let it slide, knowing she could have withheld it but choosing not to.

Withholding it was something her mother would have done. She might have even denied the gift altogether if it wasn’t something she felt to be appropriate. Or if it were something Regina had deeply wanted but Cora felt had not been earned.

She shook those thoughts away. She had made it this far without becoming like her mother, she would continue to do so…lying about the curse aside. Regina was trying to make up for that by being more open with her son about her past and the things she had done. Henry was very invested in assisting her in making amends.

For someone who had only been in town for three weeks, Emma Swan had left an impact on them and she continued to do so even in her absence.

“Mail call! Swan!”

“Oh, someone got another love letter!” Lily called from her bunk, catching the pillow Emma threw at her.

“It’s from my kid, and she’s not my girlfriend!” Emma glared at her sister.

“Only because you never asked her,” Lily shot back. She went to get her own small stack of letters.

“You have a kid Sergent?”

Emma looked up from her letter. It was odd, getting things in the mail semi-regularly. Nice, but odd.

“Yea Private Jenkins, I do. He turns eleven in August.”

“You have a girlfriend?” Lucy Lane strolled in, waving at them all to stand down.

“No.”

“Yes!”

“No,” Emma shoved Lily off her bunk. “Regina is not my girlfriend, just a friend.” She would like it if Regina would agree to become her girlfriend, but that wasn’t a question that should be asked via letter. Emma thought their written exchanges had drifted into flirting territory (she knew hers had, both deliberately and accidentally), but Regina was a hard woman to read.

“And the mother of your kid,” Lily muttered.

There was also that. Emma wanted a relationship with both members of the Mills family waiting for her in Storybrooke. If having one with Henry meant that she and Regina remained nothing more than friends…well, her heart would get used to it.

“Sounds complicated,” Lucy commented, “and not why I’m here. Sergeants, with me. Your unit has a new assignment, and I brought along some friends to help.”

Chapter Text

Henry stared at the television, not wanting to believe what he was seeing. More and more often lately things around town had just…updated. Only a small handful of people noticed, the curse adjusting to keep things isolated in the loop, but things were changing.

Things like this, as the news replayed itself once again.

It took him several tries, but eventually he managed to get out a single cry.

“MOM!”

Regina dropped her bag and hurried to the living room. “Henry, what is it?” Her voice trailed off as she caught sight of the television.

“…bombed by an as yet unknown group. Several people are unaccounted for, including Seargeant Emma Swan who is listed as Missing In Action…”

Emma’s picture appeared on the screen, rank and name underneath. She was dressed in her uniform fatigues, smiling at the camera.

“She has to be okay, right?” Henry turned to her, eyes begging for reassurance. “She’s not…we’re not going to get that call.”

Henry had thrown himself into research on what it meant to have a family member in the military. He’d given himself nightmares with some of it, but Regina hadn’t stopped him. She’d done her own research, comparing this world to the one she came from. She wanted to be prepared to be there for Henry should the worst happen.

She hadn’t expected to realize that she’d taken on the role of ‘partner to person in military’, but she had. She dreaded getting that call as much as Henry did.

Emma had told her about the flag, putting Henry’s name and relationship to her on the forms. Regina had signed off on it, not expecting it to matter for decades.

“She’s alive Henry.” Regina could be assured of that by the simple fact that the curse was still intact. Changed yes, but overall still firmly in place. “She’s alive and they’ll find her.”

They sat in the living room for the rest of the day, just watching the news for any information. Regina didn’t know who she could call to get information, if she even could.

She wasn’t a queen in this realm. Only the mayor of a small town in Maine. Her only tie to Emma was Henry and that wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Unless Emma had left something saying so, no one was going to tell either of them anything.

She would still try, for both their sakes.

Hours turned into days and any new public information was scarce. Days turned into weeks, with only one bright spot of Emma’s most recent letters finally arriving. They were dated two weeks before the news announcement. She told them not to worry if they didn’t hear from her for a while.

Regina poured over her magical library, trying to find something that might help in locating Emma. Henry tried to help, taking notes and putting bookmarks on anything he thought sounded useful. He scoured over the pile of letters she had sent him, trying to find anything that might help. He suspected his mom was doing the same with about as much success.

Weeks turned into a month. Regina admitted defeat. Every spell she could find required something of the person being searched for. She had nothing of the sort. Henry suggested using him, since he was part of Emma but she had to explain to him that it wouldn’t work that way.

Maleficent had been of little help, worried as she was for Lily. The younger dragon was injured but otherwise alright. She had called to reassure her mother of that fact twice, but both phone calls had been short.

“I was wondering when you would come to me.” Rumpelstiltskin barely glanced up as Regina entered his shop.

“Rumple,” Belle chided him, “don’t be rude. Hello Mayor Mills.”

Regina gave the town librarian a tight smile. “Hello Belle. Did the newest shipment of books arrive?”

“Yes,” Belle nodded, holding up the book she was currently reading as she answered, “I’ll have them in the system and ready by next week. Still no word about Emma?” She and the Savior had been exchanging letters, starting with Belle thanking her for her assistance and continuing with an exchange of knowledge. Seeing the news had worried her almost as much as it had the small Mills family.

“None, which is why I’m here.” She turned to Rumpelstiltskin. “I need your assistance.” Regina was proud of herself. She had managed to get that out without gritting her teeth.

“I’m afraid Dearie that your research has already told you what you need for a location spell, and I haven’t got anything of Ms. Swan’s amongst my collection.” Not that he hadn’t tried to do so, but Emma Swan had been very through in preventing that from happening.

Regina kept her outward calm even as she felt the rage bubbling away inside her. Damn, but she had hoped the conniving little imp had something.

“You don’t have anything that would be of assistance?” Regina knew him; had been trained by him. He always had something up his sleeve, for a price.

Over the last eight or so months, she had built a relationship with the woman meant to destroy her curse. Emma had gone from a threatening unknown to an acquaintance, to a friend, to developing feelings Regina was afraid to name. She had come to care for Emma in a way she had not cared for anyone since Daniel.

She was absolutely infuriating, with her suggestions on befriending some of the townspeople she did not find absolutely abhorrent and correcting some of the wrongs she had wrought in her vengeance against Snow White. The blonde had also been, more frustratingly, correct in that doing those things would help her relationship with their son. Of course, it also meant that she (hopefully) had people who would stand by her when the curse ended and they all remembered who she had been. Those that already did notwithstanding (Jefferson, who was always a bit of a wild card. Maleficent, who had mostly forgiven Regina when plied with enough wine and the ability to be as horrid as she wished to Mary Margret. Belle, surprisingly enough.).

Henry, like he had before learning of his adoption and the curse, was depending upon her to fix this. He wanted the chance and the time to know his other mother. Regina found herself wanting the same thing, for both herself and Henry.

Emma had wormed her way into the Evil Queen’s heart, past the walls she had built up and the active distain she had shown the other woman. The blonde had ignored both, and given back in equal measure when Regina managed to hit a particular sore spot.

They had discussed parts of both their pasts. Henry. Emma had expressed an interest in making Storybrooke her home after her current tour of duty was over. Regina found she was not against that idea.

In the rare, quiet moments when she was honest with herself and indulged in a tiny bit of fantasy, she could see Emma settling into the small seaside town. Emma returning home to the manor to have dinner with her and Henry. Watching Emma as the blonde did her morning run (something she had actually done, regretting only that she hadn’t fully allowed herself to enjoy it) and tried to convince Henry to join her. Holidays spent as a family.

The pair of them building a romantic relationship as they raised Henry together (and maybe, perhaps, a few other children over the years). Regina did not think she had been imagining the flirtatious tone several of their letters had taken on. She had certainly intended some of the more risqué comments she had written. She knew she had not misread the many glances she had caught Emma giving her. She had certainly not missed the way Emma had stepped in to defend her.

It was dangerous, the attraction she felt for Emma. Loving someone had never ended well for her…or the other person.

“I’m afraid not,” Rumple’s words brought her out of her thoughts. He was unwilling to part of the one thing that he thought might make a finding spell work. He had plans for the True Love Potion. Plans that he was not willing to change.

Those plans had already been endangered once because of Emma Swan. She was far more formidable than he had anticipated.

Well, the Sight never had promised to be infallible. There were always dozens of tiny threads, possibilities that were likely to occur as not. Even the vast powers and capabilities of the Dark One could not account for all of them. He’d manipulated the ones that had the most chance of success in his favor.

All of this would be for naught if he failed to find his son.

He had already failed Baelfire enough. He would not do so again.

“Perhaps a more political solution?” He suggested.

Regina scoffed. As if she hadn’t already tried that path. It had led nowhere and she informed him so, much to his amusement and her irritation.

“Maybe one of her friends might be able to help?” Belle suggested, wanting to end their standoff more than anything else. Nothing good would come of the two of them at each other’s throats. There had been enough of that. She was still concerned that, promise or not, her lover still had some sort of revenge in mind for Regina imprisoning her.

“I’ve tried that as well, but I have yet to hear back from any of them.” Regina had used the contact information Emma had given her. Presumably, that meant she had at least informed those closest to her about who Regina was and possibly why she might reach out to them if she couldn’t get in contact with Emma.

The bell above the shop door clanged as someone entered. All of their attention turned to the newcomer.

Lily Page and an unknown blonde stood there. Both women looked grim and were dressed in fatigues, Lily’s were desert brown to the other’s black. For a single, heart stopping moment Regina thought it was Emma but the blonde in question was shorter and tenser.

“I got your messages,” Lily broke the silence, ignoring the others to focus on Regina. “I got here as soon as I could.” She turned to Rumpelstiltskin. “And I’m paying Emma’s debt, so you can’t hold that over my sister’s head.” Lily had no idea what favor the man might have asked of Emma, but she figured this was as good a payment as anything else.

Another pair entered the shop as the first pair stepped aside. A stern looking brunette and the other with a shock of pink hair with VI tattooed on one cheek had a man between them.

“Idiot thought he had information that could help. He’s lucky I didn’t eat him.” Lily explained, arms crossed over her chest as she glared at the man. “Meet Neal Cassidy, AKA the asshole who left Emma to rot in prison.”

Regina knew what else that made the man, but she wasn’t going to mention it.

“Bae,” Rumple breathed out, shocked to see his son suddenly in front of him.

“Hi Papa,” Neal greeted sheepishly. This was not how he had imagined seeing his father again, if he ever did.

“We’re on a time limit,” pink hair spoke, “Cait says we’ve got an hour before we have to back to base. If the queen’s coming, we need to go.”

“First my son, and then we can go.” Regina rarely rushed into anything. This was one of those times she was willing to do so.

Chapter Text

Henry was full of questions when his mom arrived at the school to pick him up alongside his Aunt Lily. More came to him as he was ushered home to pack a bag and three more people he recognized from Emma’s pictures were waiting for them. He restrained himself, excitement warring with concern as they were escorted to the strange looking plane waiting just outside the town boundaries. Two more people were at the controls, one with an eye patch and the other who took a single look at his mom and snorted.

“Emma’s got a type alright.”

“That’s what I said!” Lily snickered. “Five minutes and then we’re good for takeoff.” She left the plane to speak to Maleficent. He mother couldn’t leave town with the curse still in place, else she might very well have gone ahead and joined them.

“Mom,” Henry whispered, “are you going to be okay?” He’d never known her to leave Storybrooke. He supposed she must have when she adopted him, but he’d never actually asked.

“I’ll be alright Henry,” Regina assured him. “Being the caster of the curse does have a few benefits, although I rarely take advantage of them.” She had no real reasons to leave Storybrooke so she mostly refrained from doing so if not required for her job (a rarity) or when she was in the process of adopting Henry.

“Do you know where we’re going?” He asked this louder, curious to see how they would respond to him.

“Midvale, California,” the auburn haired woman in black (the one who had made the comment about Emma) answered. “We’re dropping you off in a safe place while we find Emma and bring her home.”

“And what is this ‘safe place’ exactly?” Regina glared hard at the woman, a look she hadn’t had much use for since trading in her dresses for business suites.

The woman raised an eyebrow at the look but other wise didn’t react. “My mother’s house. Midvale’s only a little bigger than Storybrooke and we thought you’d be more comfortable leaving him someplace more familiar than somewhere like National City.”

“You’re Alex Danvers,” Henry grinned, pleased with himself for putting a name to a face. “Emma told me about spending time there in one of her letters. Can your sister really eat six pies and not get sick?”

“Yes,” Alex answered.

“Cool.” Henry continued, figuring she was open to answering his questions. “What’s it like having an alien for a sister?”

The other women on the plane snickered as Alex sputtered for an answer. Regina merely watched in amusement as her son charmed them.

“How do you know that?” Alex eventually got out. She knew Emma wouldn’t share Kara’s secret.

“Um…her disguise is a pair of glasses and a ponytail?” Henry tilted his head to the side as if he were confused. At least he hadn’t come right out and asked about Supergirl. He’d naturally assumed that those on the plane already knew since Emma had told him they kept very little from each other.

“He’s Emma’s kid alright,” pink hair said, wide grin on her face. “I’m Vi, that’s Caitlyn,” the woman with the eye patch and dark blue hair, “Lexa,” the stern brunette, “and Clarke,” the blonde. “You’ll meet the others when we get to Eliza’s.”

“Alright, everybody sit down and buckle up,” Alex ordered, composure regained.

Regina discovered that she was not a fan of flying. Henry seemed to enjoy it once takeoff was over, but her stomach continued to flip and threatened rebellion.

Clarke moved to sit next to her, settling a hand on her clenched fist. A gentle warmth stole over her and she opened her eyes to stare at the younger woman.

“You’re a healer.” Just about any magic user could learn how to do at least a few, basic healing spells but the power to heal with a simple touch was a rarity. From her understanding it was due to the magic being specialized, not applicable to much of anything else. It was as much an innate talent as it was study. Something inside a Healer drove them towards the healing arts and using them to help others. It was something that could not be learned, it simply was.

“I am,” Clarke replied. “I was the medic for Hex Unit until we,” she nodded to Lexa who was watching them, “retired. Now, I patch up Lexa’s people between bouts of chaos in National City.”

“Oh?” Regina was glad for the distraction. Henry was happily chatting away with Vi and Lily. She was pretending not to hear them talk about flying by dragon.

“I run a security company,” Lexa filled in. “Emma sometimes works with us when she isn’t deployed, and she has a standing job offer whenever she wants it.”

A direct hint if there ever was one that Emma had people who she could turn to. Emma had options that weren’t Regina.

These were the people who would help Emma take Henry away if that was what the blonde wanted to do. A task that Regina had a feeling they would not fail at.

“Emma mentioned that when she first came to Storybrooke,” Regina acknowledged the unspoken meaning. “She also mentioned something about an ‘obstacle course from hell’.”

Lexa cackled, breaking her stern façade as Clarke sighed and shook her head.

“It’s good training, and it keeps my people prepared to survive.”

“It’s what happens when you leave a bunch of adrenaline junkies and an engineer who lives off of chaos and spite alone after they’ve had a few too many drinks.” Clarke muttered. “You’re lucky no one’s broken anything serious yet.”

“It meets all of the state’s safety guidelines and regulations,” Caitlyn commented from her seat in the co-piolet’s chair. “Compared to some of the shenanigans we’ve gotten into over the years, both here and elsewhere, the obstacle course is likely one of the tamer things to come about.”

“True,” Alex chimed in, “ten minutes to landing so buckle up. J’onn and Lucy are waiting for us.”

They didn’t have a great deal of time to spend in Midvale. Regina only had about ten minutes to speak with Eliza and say goodbye to Henry. She promised him (perhaps unwisely) that she would have Emma with her when they returned. In turn, Eliza promised that Henry would be safe until then.

It was a struggle, but Regina was doing her best to trust these people. Emma trusted them and that had to be enough for now. Emma had just as many issues with trust as she did.

With a final hug, she let her son go. She watched as he climbed into Eliza’s car, already pestering the woman with a dozen questions. He would be okay.

Back on the plane, the rest of Hex Unit had gathered along with a man who had been introduced as Director J’onn J’onzz of the DEO. Yet another place where Emma had a standing job offer and did the occasional fieldwork for. They went from Midvale to the part of the Mojave Desert where the DEO base was located.

Waiting for them at the base were the last three members of Hex Unit.

Regina did not yet have access to her magic, but she didn’t need it to know that the smallest woman in the trio waiting for them was a necromancer. She didn’t think she hid her shock at the woman’s presence or even thought to do so.

Necromancers, in her experience, were typically loners prone to hermitage and irritation at those who come to them thinking they could resurrect lost loved ones. Necromancy itself had a dark stigma to it, as did most things dealing with death. Regina did not adhere to the belief that it was inherently evil, but she did quietly agree that that particular magic gift was unsettling.

Lily introduced them. “Raven,” the woman wearing a leg brace and dressed as if she had been pulled from a mechanic’s shop saluted, “Harrow,” the necromancer, “and Gideon,” a redhead with a large two-handed blade on her back and aviators on her face, “this is Regina.”

Raven whistled, eyeing Regina up and down. “Damn, Emma’s got a type.” She looked the rest of the group over. “No kid?”

“Already at the safe house,” Alex told her sharply. “Let’s get inside and get started. Have Luthor and Supergirl arrived yet?” She led the way inside.

“Ma’am, conference room nine,” one of the agents answered, holding out a folder to Lucy who took it.

“Thank you Agent Vasquez. J’onn,” Lucy scribbled something in the folder before passing it over to the man, “you’re officially in command until I return. If my father happens to turn up making demands,” she had a vicious smile on her face, “General In-Ze’s former cell is available.”

J’onn nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind Major Lane. Come back alive, that’s an order for all of you.” He left them there, Vasquez falling into step behind him.

“This way,” Alex led them deeper into the base.

Regina looked around, but it was all very bland and utilitarian. It reminded her of the less public areas of her castle, albeit with far more available light and less dirt. Agents, not all of them human, scurried around as they went about their jobs. People she assumed to be doctors or scientists of some kinds wondered about as well, again not all of them human.

Astounding, really, how much the curse had truly isolated Storybrooke from the rest of this world. Emma’s disbelief had been well founded. Absently, she wondered if any of the off-worlders (Emma had called them that in a letter) had their own versions of Earth fairytales from their planets of origin. How similar or not they might be.

It was a lot to take in even with some knowledge ahead of time. She had honestly never expected to see it in person. Banishment from Storybrooke was the least likely punishment to come her way after the curse broke. Death was the most likely outcome, or never ending imprisonment.

Arriving at the conference room brought two more introductions as Lena Luthor and Supergirl were introduced. Regina was glad that the blonde (who was practically vibrating in place) refrained from hugging her.

“Full disclosure time,” Lucy spoke once Kara had given the ‘all clear’ that the room was secure. “Emma’s current unit, aided by Harrow, Gideon, Vi, and Caitlyn, were infiltrating a base here,” she brought up a map on the screen on one end of the room, “and ferreting out a sect of H.A.M. that intelligence said was causing trouble on all sides.”

“H.A.M.?” Regina asked, wanting badly to remind them all that she knew none of this. However, she had her dignity and did not want to appear weak before these women.

“Humanity Against Magic,” Lily filled in, “an anti-magic terrorist group who believe that magic has no place in this realm, world, whatever you want to call it. Their operatives seek out and destroy any and all magicals and magical artifacts they can get their hands on.”

“Contradictorily, they do have contacts within and work with parts of the magical communities if it suits them and their goals.” Clarke continued, rubbing her arm subconsciously. Lexa wrapped an arm around her partner.

“They’re also anti-alien and have worked with those organizations, which is part of why they fall under DEO jurisdiction.” Alex added in. “We were first put together because of trouble they were causing and the Powers That Be decided there needed to be a specialized group to fight against them.”

“They’re where we’re even here,” Harrow spoke for the first time. “They were attempting to summon something,” her voice was full of scorn, “and dragged us here in place of what they were trying to do.”

“Then they tried to kill us,” Gideon tacked on, vengeful smile on her face. “Big mistake.”

“Similarly, that is how we came to be here as well.” Caitlyn said. “A bit more convoluted, but the same results.”

“Of course, they destroyed everything about how they did it,” Vi continued, “so we’re here permanently as far as anyone on our side can tell.”

“And we have tried,” Lily tapped the table, “but this has gotten off topic. The group we went up against here, it was part trap part suicide mission.”

Lucy took control of the briefing. “We lost two people, three more are permanently injured, and the other five are still in recovery. Emma was captured, and they nearly captured Lily and Harrow as well.”

“Emma got us out,” Gideon explained. “Tossed Harrow to me and poofed us both to where Caitlyn was set up as lookout and sniper.”

“She did the same with me and Lily,” Vi said, “I tried to grab her to, but another explosion went off and we were with Cait.”

“Other troops had arrived by then in response to the bombing,” Caitlyn was frowning hard even as she spoke. “We were ordered to pull back with our injured. I thought she was with us when the order came, but it wasn’t until the fighting stopped that we discovered she wasn’t.”

“I was unconscious,” Lily was clearly putout by this. “They weren’t just ready for magic users, they were ready for us. Part of the reason it took so long for your messages to reach me is because I’ve been in recovery. Mom’s got through just fine, but everything else was held back.”

“And now we reach another part of the problem,” Lucy clicked over to another slide. “The area and the surrounding forty mile radius has been thoroughly searched by every means we have at our disposal. The official line is that all of the missing are likely dead, but with no remains their status remains MIA but are not considered high priority.”

“So no one is actually searching for Emma.” Regina knew resources could not all be dedicated to finding a single person (she had fought that particular battle in her vendetta against Snow, but she was the queen and had a much smaller search area with Snow actively fighting back), but the part of her that wanted Emma back screamed with rage. “And we know she isn’t dead because the curse is still intact.”

“Yes, and Emma is also the only person listed as missing that no one can account for.” Raven took over the slideshow and brought up a list of images of other soldiers that had gone missing in the same incident as Emma. “All of them are in a POW camp waiting for the bureaucrats in Washington to arrange their release or for some of our troops to liberate it. Either is likely, but then so is death while they wait.”

A gruesome take of the situation, but also one rooted in reality. Regina had had those negotiations, or some form of them anyway. It had been simpler in the Enchanted Forest but also more brutal. Often negotiations weren’t needed because her own troops took back their people, the opposition let them go in a show of mercy or slaughtered them wholesale upon capture, or the prisoners were simply forgotten about and left to rot. Unless one was a noble of rank or well known in some way, there was no point in trying to use captured soldiers as leverage.

“Another problem is that Emma is normally our Searcher,” Lucy continued. “Lily has access to the spells and components, but…”

“But they don’t work for me,” Lily explained, almost sheepishly. “I’ve tried, but those spells always fizzle out or blow up when I try them.”

“So you need me to cast the spell,” Regina felt the little bit of hope that had been building die. “Except I don’t have access to my magic in this realm.”

“Actually, we have a solution to that.” Lena said, pulling out a small box. “Or rather, Emma had one. She asked me to keep this until it was time to send it, not knowing if she would be back in time to do it herself.” She handed it over. Emma had asked her because she trusted Lena not to open it.

Regina took it, wondering just what Emma had come up with. They had discussed magic before, short exchanges but rarely in depth. She had admitted that she did miss having access to that part of herself. Not for the destructive power, but she hadn’t always used her magic for destruction. There were days, especially when Henry had been a baby and a toddler, that she had missed being able to wave her hand and be dressed or clean up a mess. She hated feeling defenseless whenever she had to leave town.

Opening the box revealed an absolutely gorgeous piece of polished amethyst in deep purple lanced through with what appeared to be silver. It was roughly the size of her fist. There was a short note.

Dear Regina,

Happy Birthday!

Hopefully I’m giving this to you in person, but if not then I hope it at least arrives in time. I know you don’t normally celebrate much, considering your response when I asked when the date was. Henry told me, but don’t be too upset with him. I had to bribe him handsomely for the information, so you taught him well when it came to negotiating.

If it works like it should, once you hold it outside of town it should jumpstart your magic. I don’t know how well it’ll work once you’re back within the bounds of the curse, but you won’t be defenseless outside of Storybrooke. If it doesn’t work, I guess you have a fancy looking paperweight.

Hold in the palm of your hands and say: Mi poder regresa a mi / Mi poder, libre.

Tell me what happens!

Love,

Emma.

She traced the last word written in Emma’s messy scrawl before the woman’s name. Did she mean to sign in that way? How did she mean it if she had? Was it even possible to fall in love with someone through a series of letters?

Well, she had never gotten anywhere by hesitating. Magic was needed to find Emma so she could answer those questions.

It hurt nothing to try and see if it would work.

Regina tucked the note in her pocket before reaching into the box and pulling out the stone. It was smooth and heavy in her hands, cool to the touch. It began to warm as she cupped it in her hands. She focused herself on what she wanted, and repeated the phrase Emma had written down.

The stone flared and she found herself wreathed in familiar purple smoke. Someone yelped in surprise, another yelled what sounded like holy shit.

Regina shifted the stone (it would make a lovely paperweight for her office, add a bit of color) to one hand. The other she held out and flicked her wrist in a motion that still felt familiar even after almost three decades of not casting. Warmth filled her palm as a fireball formed, just as she intended.

“That is fucking cool.” Gideon poked Lily. “Can you do that?”

Lily snorted. “I’m a dragon, I literally breath fire. Harrow, control your wife.”

“Impossible, I’ve tried.” Harrow replied. “It never lasts.”

“And to think, my empress of bone, you agreed to eternity with me,” Gideon’s smirk was telling.

Harrow merely rolled her eyes in response.

Regina banished the fireball. “Shall we get on with it then?”

They got down to business.

A world map was laid out and Regina was handed a pendulum made out of opal, a swan engraved on the surface. She could feel traces of what she thought to be Emma’s magic saturating the stone and chain. This was something Emma handled often and clearly took care of. Regina handled it with care.

Slowly over the next hour they narrowed down the maps until the pendulum did nothing more than spin in place.

“At least it narrowed it down to a single city.” Lexa frowned. “Teleportation or portal magic? It would explain how they escaped without anyone seeing where they went.”

“Probably, it wouldn’t be the first time.” Alex flicked through her tablet. “Raven, toss the map of Vancouver up on the big screen.”

“Already there, looking for likely locations now.”

Regina sat back and watched them as she sipped on the coffee Lily had gotten for her. She raised an eyebrow when the younger woman sat a plate with half a sandwich on it in front of her.

“Eat. The last thing I want is a lecture from Emma about us not taking care of you. The last thing you want is a lecture from Kara about the importance of food. It’s only amusing until it’s aimed at you.” Lily watched her as she nibbled the offering.

She was hungry, she realized as she ate. Had she eaten anything since breakfast with Henry that morning? She couldn’t remember.

Once they had narrowed down possible locations, Regina did the spell again. And again. And again. Finally, it was down to a roughly seven block radius in one of the warehouse districts.

Alex expanded the search area to ten blocks and sent Kara out to do recon. The rest of them prepared to go.

Regina exchanged her heels and power suite for boots and a set of fatigues. She was going, and she was going to put the fear of the Evil Queen into the fools who had taken Emma and thought they could rid a world of magic.

Kara’s voice came over the com unit. “I found it! Looks like eight people, but the building is old and has…a really unhealthy amount of lead. There might be more that I can’t see or hear. Sending you the location now Lena!”

“Got it,” Lena transferred the information to the thing in her hand before handing a similar item off to Alex.

“We’re on our way Supergirl, stay out of sight. I’ll call if we need back up.”

“Okay!”

“Pair up,” Alex ordered. “Lily, you stay with Regina. We want these guys alive to answer questions. Lucy, are we good?”

“Try not to cause to much property damage, ‘rescue mission’ only covers so much.” Lucy turned serious. “Officially, this mission is not happening. If you get caught, you will all be considered AWOL operating without permission. Now get out of here and bring back our friend.”

A portal unlike any Regina had ever encountered opened. It was a good thing she had been paired with Lily, otherwise she might have faltered at going through it. Magical portals came with well established rules and limits. She had no idea what those were for a portal created by technology.

Once through the portal, they split up into teams to search the warehouse. Regina got to see firsthand just what Harrow was capable of as bone constructs appeared to assist Gideon in taking out the first of a group of supposed guards and then transforming some of that same bone into restraints. Then the rest collapsed back into bone dust and chips.

Regina made a mental note to never tell Rumpelstiltskin about her. She didn’t want to know what the Dark One would do with such a power at his disposal.

Sounds echoed throughout the warehouse as the different teams made their way deeper into the building. Regina flinched at the sound of gunshots. She hated that sound.

“Guns, how barbaric,” Harrow muttered, bringing up a shield as they were spotted by another group of opposition. “Page, now.”

“Gladly,” Lily’s smile was vicious.

In a swirl of gray smoke, a dragon replaced the human woman. With a roar that shook the windows, she launched herself over the shield wall and landed amongst the people arrayed against them. Those people screamed.

Gideon tumbled out from behind the shield to join the fray. Harrow dispersed her shield just in time for them to watch the last man go down under the pommel of Gideon’s sword.

Lily shook herself and then shrank down, moving to settled around Gideon’s shoulders.

“No scratches,” the ginger admonished the dragon as she resettled her sword, “I just got the last of them out of the blade.”

Lily huffed, blowing a stream of smoke.

“If you’re done being idiots, we should keep moving.” Regina moved ahead, not in a mood to be amused by the younger women’s antics. She heard a huff.

“Ow, do you sharpen your elbows on purpose when you do that?”

“Don’t be silly Griddle. That would be a waste of energy. The Queen is correct. We are not here to play.”

“Right night boss.”

Because Regina was now in front, she spotted the ajar door first. Gideon stopped her, going in front with her sword pointed forward.

“Harrow, trip wire.”

“Step back,” Harrow waited until they were behind her before sending forward one of her constructs to trip the trap. She formed a bone shield to protect them from the blast.

Regina conjured a blast of air to clear the space in front of them. Once they could see, they moved forward. They cleared several more traps that way, leaving behind a small trail of destruction in their wake. Regina doubted that was what Major Lane had meant when she told them to keep the damage to a minimum.

To be fair, they weren’t the ones who had set the traps.

“Is noise torture next? Because I already have a headache.”

“Emma!” Regina spotted the woman tied to a chair in the next room they entered. The blonde was not in good shape, and that just from what Regina could actually see.

Emma blinked at them. “Huh, concussion must be back. I’m hallucinating.”

“You’re amazingly lucid for someone with a concussion Ms. Swan.” Regina snapped at her.

“Sergent,” Emma correct absently, “but it’s really hot when you call me Ms. Swan.”

Regina blushed as Lily and Gideon snickered.

“No, that sounds about right for Emma with a concussion.” Lily had shifted back. “If she starts calling you silly nicknames, that’s a tell-tale sign.” She approached the bound woman with caution.

Once at Emma’s side, she prodded the most obvious head wound. Emma yelped, eyes focusing just long enough for her to get a clear look at Lily.

“Ow!”

“Pretty certain you’ll live. Harrow, can I move her or are there broken bones?”

“Several,” Harrow approached. “Nothing extreme, but Griffin should look her over before I heal any of them. Gideon?”

“I got her.” Gideon sheathed her sword and pulled a knife, slicing the bonds holding Emma to the chair. “Harrow, we’re gonna need some splints. This arm looks nasty.”

“Here,” Regina had dug into the first aid bag that Clarke had handed out to all of the teams and pulled out a roll of gauze. It wasn’t much but it would at least work to keep the splints in place.

Emma kept blinking and trying to keep everyone in her line of sight. “Lily, Lils, you see her to, right?”

“See who Ems?”

“My queen,” Emma blinked lazily. “huh, do you think she’d mind if I called her that?”

Lily glanced at Regina and spotted the slight blush dusting her cheeks. “I don’t think she’d mind. Do you want to call her that?” She motioned for Regina to stay where she was. It was working to keep Emma mostly distracted from what Gideon and Harrow were doing to get her ready to move.

“Obviously. Did you know that’s what her name means? Do you think she knows?”

“That her name means ‘queen’?” Lily glanced at Regina, who nodded. “I’m sure she does. Can you tell me something else about her?”

“She makes her own cider. Best I’ve ever tasted.” She wavered. “Think…do you…letter…us…send s…s…some?”

“Yea Ems, I bet she will if you ask. Stay with us Emma.”

“Sergent Swan,” Regina found her voice, “Henry is looking forward to seeing you.”

“Hen? Kid…here?” Emma looked around, crying out when it pulled on her various hurts. Henry couldn’t be here!

“No, he’s somewhere safe.” Regina assured her. “Can we get her out of here yet?”

“She’s stable enough.” Harrow decreed. “Page, portal.”

Gideon picked Emma up as Lily activated the portal watch. All of them walked through it and back into the conference room at the DEO.

Chapter Text

Emma blinked heavy eyes open, grimacing as the room around her took shape. Her mouth was dry and her head ached. There was weight on her left leg and brace on her right arm.

That was going to make writing to her people difficult. The break had to have been bad if it hadn’t been something the combined powers of Clarke and Harrow couldn’t simply fix.

She tried to sit up, feeling like one enormous bruise. Where was she?

Not the warehouse or anywhere else that H.A.M. had kept her. Besides, they wouldn’t waste resources on putting her back together when they were going to kill when they’d finished trying to get useful information out of her. Hell, they’d barely given her enough water to keep her from dying of dehydration.

At least she was somewhere friendly, given the IV in her offhand. That, or they’d discovered a use for her where it would be better if she didn’t look half-dead.

Her shifting about jostled the weight on her leg.

Henry popped up, blinking tired eyes at her. For a moment, the two just stared at each other, matching eyes wide in shared surprise.

“Kid?” Well, she tried to say it at least.

“You’re awake! I’ll go get mom and Dr. Danvers.” He was up and out the door before Emma could try to speak again.

Huh…well, at least she was somewhere safe. Regina wouldn’t leave Henry somewhere unsafe.

She passed out again.

The next time she woke up, the room was dimly lit and Regina was sitting in the chair beside the bed.

“Gina?”

Regina startled, looking up to meet Emma’s eyes. For a moment, the two just stared at each other.

“Water?” Regina finally remembered to offer.

“Yea.”

Several ice chips later, her mouth and throat felt better and her stomach was making itself known.

“Where am I?”

“Private room at Midvale Township Hospital,” Regina gave her a condensed version of events that had led them here.

“Oh gods…that wasn’t a hallucination.” Emma closed her eyes, cursing her pale skin as it reddened with embarrassment.

"No Seargent Swan, it was not.” Regina allowed herself to be amused. Emma was, according to every doctor that had seen her, going to make a full recovery. “You should be happy. You gift worked as intended, even if I wasn’t of much use in the actual retrieval. Your friends are quite talented.”

“Yea, they are. How’d you find me?”

“Locator spell, a great many of them.”

“Then you helped a lot. Lily sucks at those spells.”

“So she said.” Regina brushed aside some of Emma’s hair, tucking it behind her ear. “Your friends did what they could, but the rest is going to take time.”

“Yeah, those assholes did a number on me.” Emma swallowed. “What about everyone else? My unit?”

Regina told her what she knew. Emma leaned back, closing her eyes as she listened. It always hurt to lose people, more so people she had trained and led.

She jerked up, looking around frantically as she recalled waking up the first time. “Henry? Where’s Henry?”

“Emma, calm down. He’s fine. Agent Danvers took him to get something to eat, and then she and Lily were taking him back to Eliza’s to sleep.”

“He’s safe?” If he were with Alex and Lily, he would be safe. Not much would get past those two.

“Yes Emma, our son is safe.”

Emma slumped back onto the bed. “They kept asking about him. Wanting to know who he was, how to get into Storybrooke. They had this old world drawing of him on a scroll, but it looked old.”

“Yes, we found several of those and more.” While her group had found and retrieved Emma, the others had found a small treasure trove of information. Including the disturbing discovery that Storybrooke was not as hidden and obscured from the outside world as she had always thought.

She had no idea why anyone would want her son. Henry was a normal little boy. Well, close enough anyway given who his family was.

“ok.” Emma closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted. “I’m starving. Do you think they’d let me have a bear claw and some grilled cheese?”

“Doubtful, but I should find the doctor so you can be looked over.” Regina stood up. “I’ll return.”

Controlled chaos ensued shortly after that. It wasn’t until the next day that she and Regina got the chance to talk alone again.

“He’s grown so much,” Emma commented softly, watching their son as he lay curled up in the other chair. He’d tried to stay awake but exhaustion had won out and the boy had fallen asleep.

“He has,” Regina agreed, settling a blanket over him. “Do you speak Spanish?”

Emma wondered at the sudden shift, but answered. “Yea, along with passible French, Latin, and Italian.”

Regina hummed. “I’d wondered, when the spell in your note was in Spanish.”

“Oh,” Emma ducked away, recalling how she had signed that note.

“Yes, ‘oh’.” Regina approached the bed. “Bold of you to sign it that way.”

“I mean it though,” Emma could be brave, she knew she could be. Even at the risk of her own heart. The woman had come to help rescue her. It had to mean something. She didn’t think Regina would do it just for Henry.

“Good.” Regina leaned in and kissed her.

Emma squeaked in surprise before reacting and kissing back. “Wow,” she whispered when Regina pulled back.

Regina smiled. She supposed one could fall in love through letters. “Yes, well, apparently I’m just your type.”

“Oh gods,” Emma groaned. “What did Lily tell you?”

“Lily told me nothing, but no less than three of the others have commented on it. Major Lane mentioned something about a JAG lawyer?”

Emma whined. “She really needs to let that go. I can’t help being attracted to older women with sass and a killer glare.”

“So you’ve liked me since the night we met then.”

“The moment I saw you racing down your walkway in heels calling for Henry. ‘Hi’ was literally the best I could do. I’m lucky that came out coherently.”

Regina cupped her face gently. “This relationship is not going to be easy. Your parents are going to be certain I’ve bewitched you.”

Emma huffed. “You have, just not with magic. And I’m willing to put the work into this relationship if you are. Everyone else can stay out of it.” She paused for a moment. “Except Henry, but he’s the only exception.”

“Agreed,” Regina hoped their son would understand. She thought, hoped he just might.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Emma told her, because this moment needed more kisses.

They would figure everything else out later. The curse. Whatever it was that H.A.M. or whoever was using them as goons wanted with Henry. The remainder of her current tour of duty. It could all wait.

Right here, right now, all that mattered was that she had a beautiful woman in her arms that she loved and who loved her back.

“Wait,” Emma broke the kiss, “just so we’re clear. I am in love with you.”

“Good, because I am in love with you as well.” It was freeing, in a way, to admit that. Regina hadn’t felt this way since…before everything. She kissed Emma again.

Henry, unnoticed by either of his mothers, grinned as he pulled the blanket over his head to block them out. Fitting, he thought, that the Evil Queen’s curse would be broken by the Savior falling in love with her and thus redeeming the villain as well as saving everyone. It was a good way to end this chapter of their story.

He fully, truly believed that.