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Emma burst into the Sheriff’s office, huffing as she dropped several takeout bags on her desk.
“Emma?”
The blonde’s head whipped around in the direction of the cells. There, huddled in the back corner of her cot, was Mary Margaret, knees drawn up to her chest, eyes on her toes.
“Mare?” Emma hustled around to the cell door, concern making her check the keys in her pocket.
“Emma,” Mary Margaret whispered again, voice thick with tears, “I think- I think I killed my father.”
“What?” Emma yanked her keys from her pocket, suddenly shaking fingers making it difficult to find the right one. “Mary Margaret what’re you—” Mary Margaret looked up, slowly shaking her head and something in those wide, tear filled eyes made Emma freeze. “Snow?”
Snow White swallowed heavily, and nodded.
-;-
Mary Margaret probably shouldn’t have been surprised to see Henry on the other side of the door.
“Hi, Ms. Blanchard,” the boy grinned up at her, peering around her to catch sight of her roommate, “Hi Emma.”
“Hi Henry,” Mary Margaret stepped back, allowing the boy entry to the apartment.
“Hey kid,” Emma greeted as Henry crossed the room, shedding his backpack and taking a seat on the barstool next to her. Mary Margaret shut the door and took up her place across the counter from the other two. “The Mayor know you’re here?”
“Nope,” Henry beamed.
Emma and Mary Margaret exchanged exasperated glances.
“Kid,” Emma groaned.
“Henry,” Mary Margaret chided gently, “You really shouldn’t disobey Mother so much, you know she worries about you.” She blinked when the other two gave her matching strange looks. “What?”
“Why do you call her that?” Henry asked.
“Call who what? Your mother?” She glanced at Emma, “Henry, I know that you might not always get along—”
“No, not that,” Henry shook his head, “You didn’t say your mother, you said mother. Like she was your mother too.”
“No I didn’t.”
“Yeah, actually,” Emma spoke slowly, her eyes wide, “you did.”
Mary Margaret blinked, turning stunned eyes from one to the other.
“You’ve done it before too,” Henry added. “Not a lot but sometimes… It’s because of the curse!”
“Kid!” Emma sighed, “Not everything is because of the curse.”
“But this has to be!” He grabbed for his backpack, yanking out his ever-present storybook. Flipping through the pages he landed on an illustration of Snow Whit standing with the Evil Queen. “See? She’s your step-mother. You’re remembering!”
-;-
“Mother came by earlier.” Snow White whispered as Emma unlocked the cell door and took a seat next to her.
“The Mayor?”
Snow nodded. “She wanted to gloat, I think. I… ended up telling her. About what Henry found…” her voice trailed off and she turned, bright eyes mournful, “Emma…”
The blonde shook her head, “No.”
“But Emma,” Snow reached out slowly to touch the back of her daughter’s hand, “I know you have questions and it isn’t fair—”
“You’re right, it isn’t fair,” Emma sighed, flipping her hand to entwine her fingers with Snow’s, “It’s not fair to any of us. And we’ll talk about that later. Right now I’m more concerned about why you think you killed your father. ‘Cause I’ve read that book cover to cover and it was pretty clear that that was all Regina.”
Snow shook her head, “It’s not in the book. Fairytales don’t tell the story from the villain’s perspective. But I wasn’t talking about my fa—the king. I meant- I meant my birth father.”
“You know who he was?” Emma whispered.
“I think so. I met him once, shortly before M—Regina married the king. His name was Daniel, and she told me he was her true love and they were going to run away so they could be together. She made me promise not to tell Cora, but I was so young and I’d just lost my mother, I didn’t understand and I didn’t think anything could be worse than losing a parent. But when I told- when I told…” Snow sobbed, “Cora ripped his heart out and crushed it.”
Snow folded in on herself, her sobs increasing and Emma reached over to pull the older woman into her arms.
-;-
“C’mon Emma, please?” Henry whined.
Emma stomped to a halt, “Mary Margaret isn’t even old enough to be my mom.”
“That’s because of the curse,” Henry insisted, “Time’s been frozen. But this will prove it.”
“Why do you want to prove it so badly? You realize that the curse being real makes Mary Margaret your step-sister?”
“And my grandma.” When Emma only arched an eyebrow at him Henry’s smile faded. “Please Emma. I know you still don’t believe me and I know it’s because you’re a grown up and so you don’t believe in magic but you promised you’d let me prove it to you.”
Emma sighed, “And this will prove it?”
“Yes.”
“Because if Mary Margaret is my mom that means magic is real.”
“Uh huh. ‘Cause everyone’s been frozen.”
Emma sighed again, “Fine.” Henry cheered. “But! If she’s not my mom then we’re gonna step away from the fairytale thing, okay?”
Henry deflated, “Okay. But I’m not wrong. You’ll see.”
-;-
“Who’s Cora?” Emma asked sometime later, once Snow’s tears had dried and her breathing had calmed.
“Huh?”
“Who’s Cora? You mentioned her, earlier.”
“Oh,” slowly, Snow extricated herself from Emma’s arms, “Cora is Regina’s mother.”
Emma blinked, “And she—” remembering Snow’s earlier distress Emma cut herself off with a whistle. “And I thought Regina was bad.”
“She wasn’t- she wasn’t always.”
“How did you two meet anyway? The book only said she married your dad.”
“She saved my life actually. I was only about Henry’s age, and my horsemanship wasn’t very good. Something spooked him and he took off. She pulled me to safety.”
“Something spooked your horse,” Emma repeated.
“Yes?” Snow’s brow furrowed in confusion at the disbelieving note in Emma’s voice.
“You can talk to animals!”
“I can talk to birds.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“What do you mean, seriously?”
“You can only talk to birds?”
“Yes!” Snow hesitated, “At least, I think so.”
Emma blinked, “You can literally do magic and you’ve never even tried to talk to something that didn’t have feathers?”
“It’s not magic!” Snow yelped. Emma jerked away, startled. “It’s not- it’s not magic. It’s not.”
“Hey.” When Snow suddenly leapt to her feet, Emma hurried up as well. “Hey, hey,” she caught Snow’s hands, forcing the other woman to look at her, “Okay, okay, it’s not magic. But you need to breath. Okay?”
As Snow began to calm, Emma led her back over to the cot. “You okay?” Snow gulped, nodding frantically. “You… wanna explain that one to me? What’s so bad about magic?”
“Magic…” Snow tucked her hands into her lap, refusing to meet Emma’s eyes, “Fairies have it. Or, they have fairy dust. But other than that… Most magic is dark. And it, rightfully so, it scares people. Even something like talking to birds wasn’t safe to tell people about.” Fists clenched and Snow looked away, “Some of the village children found out when I was small. They chased me into the tress and threw rocks until I was able to hide. When my parents found out they’d been chasing me, they and their families were sent away.”
“You didn’t tell your parents why they’d been chasing you, did you?”
Snow shook her head.
Emma sighed and glanced out at the dark window, then the clock, “You okay now?”
When Snow nodded, Emma stood.
“Where are you going?” Snow asked.
“I need to go talk to the Mayor. Pick up Henry.” With a huff, Emma slipped out of the cell and over to her desk and the food bags she’d dropped who knew how long ago. “Here, dinner. It’s a bit cold. We’ll come visit in the morning, okay?”
When Snow accepted the food with a nod, Emma locked up the cell once more.
-;-
“So,” Emma dropped onto a barstool across from Mary Margaret. “I hear you guys had a talk about DNA and genetics in class today.”
“We did!” Mary Margaret smiled at Emma even as she began gathering ingredients for hot chocolate. “It’s a little advanced, but they’re clever children, Henry especially…” she dropped the pot with a sigh, “Henry?”
“Yeah, apparently he figures that because I’m Sheriff I can run some DNA comparisons for him.”
“And who does he want you to run?”
“Well, for starters, us.”
“Us? He thinks we’re related?”
Emma’s eyes dropped away, “He thinks Snow White is my mom.”
“Snow White? Me?” Mary Margaret rounded the counter, sitting heavily next to Emma and taking the other woman’s hands into her own, “Henry thinks I’m your mother?”
Emma wiggled her hands out of Mary Margaret’s and clutched at her knees instead. “Yeah. Those fairytales he’s got? Not exactly traditional. Apparently Snow White and Prince Charming have a kid.”
“Emma… we’re the same age.”
Emma made a face. “Curse, remember? Anyways, I didn’t say I thought it was true. Just let me borrow your hairbrush or something and when this doesn’t come back like he thinks it will we can all move on.” When she didn’t respond immediately Emma reached back out to her roommate, “Mare?”
“What?” Mary Margaret blinked, eyes a touch unfocused, “Oh, right, hairbrush. Yeah, go ahead, you know where it is.”
“You alright?”
“Yeah.”
-;-
Emma shoved past Regina as soon as the older woman opened the door.
“Where’s Henry?” She demanded.
“Ms. Swan, what exactly do you think—”
“Can it, Grandma,” Emma snapped before Regina could get started. Regina’s mouth snapped shut, her eyes going wide, “Now, where’s my son?”
“I’m here,” Henry called down from the second floor landing.
“Great. Kid, pack a bag, you’re coming home with me tonight.”
“Awesome!” Henry cheered, racing off to his room.
“What, exactly, makes you think that you can just barge in here and take my son?” Regina seethed as she stepped into Emma’s personal space.
“How about the fact that your daughter is currently sitting in a jail cell trying to figure out if she murdered her father,” Emma hissed back.
“As far as I know Ms. Blanchard’s father died many years ago and she is currently in jail for murdering the wife of the man she’s having an affair with.”
“Cut the crap Regina, we both know she didn’t do it. And don’t think I didn’t notice you ignoring the other thing.”
“I don’t see a need to entertain silly delusions. Mary Margaret is not my daughter.”
“Maybe not,” Emma hissed, “But Snow White sure as shit is. So keep talking Grandma, ‘cause I would love to punch you right about now.”
Regina stumbled back a step, “You know?”
“I know.”
For several long, aching moments they were both silent. All the fight seemed, suddenly, to drain from the Mayor, her shoulders slumping. “You’re Snow’s…?”
“Yes.”
Regina swallowed, “What are you going to do?”
“Right now, I’m going to take Henry home with me.” Emma ran a frustrated hand through her hair, “You’re gonna figure out this mess with Mary Margaret and Kathryn. Then… I don’t know.”
“That’s it?” Regina blinked at the younger woman.
“Wha’d’ya mean, that’s it?”
“You’re not going to… arrest me? Vow to break the curse?”
“Look, I’m just here for Henry. All this curse business? Not really a priority. All I wanted? Was to bring the kid home. And now I’ve got a mother who’s in jail, a grandmother who’s a bitch, a father I do not want to talk about, and a ten year old that’s only gonna get hurt.”
Regina swallowed, “You’re handling this rather well, I see.”
At that moment Henry ran from his room and began to descend the stairs. Emma followed him with her eyes, “I’ve had a couple of months to adjust.”
-;-
Henry raced into the Sheriff’s office about 15 minutes after school got out. “Did you get it?” he cried, hardly able to contain his excitement.
Emma grinned, proffering a manilla envelope, “Right here, kid. Just waiting for you.”
He darted around her desk, “Okay, I’m here, open it!”
Smiling, Emma slid open the envelope and examined the results. As she read, though, her smile fell, and she glanced from the papers to Henry and back. Even with Henry’s (insane, crazy, ridiculous) curse theory being true, nothing she was reading here made sense.
“What?” Henry asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Kid,” Emma sighed, “Henry, I’m sorry, they must have messed up the results.”
“Why? ‘Cause I was right?”
“No. Because everyone in this report is related.”
Henry blinked. “But- but that…”
Emma spread the results out on her desk. “This one is you. See? Only one that’s male. And this one’s me, we already know I’m your mom. This one… this one say’s it’s my mom’s. And we’re definitely re-running that. But then this one says it’s your great-grandmother.” Henry gaped. “Kid?”
He turned to her, mouth opening and closing several times before he could manage to get anything out. “But that means the Evil Queen isn’t Snow White’s step-mother. She’s her mom.”
-;-
Bright and early the following morning Emma carried a drink-tray of hot chocolates into the station, Henry following behind her with a bag of pastries. Snow sat up, smiling at the sight of her daughter and grandson.
“Grandma!” Henry cheered. He dropped his pastry bag on the desk and hurried to her cell, pulling a key from his pocket as he rushed to open the door.
“Hello Henry,” Snow breathed, enveloping the boy in a hug when he threw himself into her. She glanced up at Emma as she carded her fingers through the boy’s hair, “Not that I’m unhappy to see you. But, why are you here?”
Emma arched an eyebrow, proffering the drinks tray she was still holding, “Breakfast.”
Snow blinked, allowing Henry to pull her out of the cell. “Emma, they’re supposed to be transporting me today. I don’t think DA Spencer is going to be very happy if he comes in to see us all sitting about having breakfast.”
Emma shrugged, dragging the other desk chair over so they could all sit together. “Yeah, well, if Regina knows what’s good for her she’ll have called off the attack dogs.”
Snow stared at Emma for several long moments.
“It’s okay Grandma,” Henry pipped up, grinning widely, “Mom took care of it, the Evil Queen can’t get you anymore.”
“Henry, I don’t think—” The sound of a cane tapping cut Snow off and all three looked up to see Mr. Gold poke his head through the door.
“Now this is interesting,” he said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. “Here I was on my way to let you all know that I’ve just been on the phone with the district attorney. It would seem our lovely mayor has managed to convince the man that Ms. Blanchard is being set up and she is to be released. But, somehow, I don’t think that will come as a surprise to any of you.”
Emma and Snow exchanged a glance, with a shrug and a gesture at Gold, Emma leaned back in her chair, sipping her cocoa.
Snow gathered her courage, and looked Mr. Gold straight in the eye, “Rumplestiltskin,” She watched as first surprise and then delight passed over the man’s features, but never any confusion. “Did you know?”
“Did I know what, your majesty?” the man asked, giving her a half bow over his cane.
“Did you know that…” Snow took a deep breath, steeling herself, “Regina is my birth mother?”
-;-
Mary Margaret glanced up from the grading spread out on the table as the front door opened. She smiled as Emma came though the door, which immediately fell as she caught sight of her roommate’s face.
“Emma? Is everything okay?”
Emma paused in the process of hanging up her jacket to turn and stare. Several times the blonde opened and closed her mouth before turning away once more. “I’m not sure.”
“Well…” Mary Margaret sat up a bit straighter as she watched Emma cross the room to take up the chair opposite. A manilla envelope was dropped on the table before her. “Maybe talking about it will help?”
Emma’s smirk had no heart, and she still wouldn’t meet Mary Margaret’s eyes. “Unfortunately, I think talking’s just gonna make it worse, but I don’t really have a choice.”
Mary Margaret blinked and pushed away her grading to give Emma her full attention. “Okay?”
“You remember a couple weeks ago when I asked to borrow your hairbrush because Henry wanted to run some DNA tests?”
“Yes. Oh, Emma, did he not take it well when—” Mary Margaret cut herself off when Emma shook her head.
“He’s pretty happy, actually. Results came back pretty much like he expected.”
“Like he expect—Emma, he thinks I’m your mother! You don’t mean that—” Emma nodded. Mary Margaret blinked, “B-but we’re the same age!”
Emma winced, “Yeah, that’s actually not the worst part.”
“Worst part? Oh no, Emma, I didn’t mean to imply that I wouldn’t want to be your mother, only that it’s impossible. Actually, I’d be honored—”
“Mare.” Emma reached across the table to take her roommate’s hand, “It’s okay. But, um, there’s something else you need to know. Henry included another sample, for a control, I guess, because he figured there was no way any of us were related. Except, um, that’s apparently not true. And I didn’t believe it, so I ran the test three times. And I checked the town records, she would’ve been really young, but obviously that’s not impossible—”
“Emma,” Mary Margaret squeezed the hand she still held, “Take a breath. Now tell me who Henry added.”
Emma chewed her lip a moment, looking incredibly guilty. “Regina. She’s—Regina—she’s your mother.”
-;-
Regina refused to turn away from the window when she heard the office door open and close, followed by the distinct tapping of Mr. Gold’s cane. She could just faintly see the man’s reflection in the window as he settled himself comfortably just inside her office doors.
“I’ve had something of an interesting morning,” the man said. When Regina only continued to glare out the window he continued, “You’d imagine my surprise when I got a call this morning informing me that my client was suddenly free to go, all charges dropped, courtesy of our very own Madame Mayor. Considering the deal we made not a week ago…” This time Regina couldn’t quite keep the twitch inside. “Even more interesting,” Gold continued, “was that when I arrived at the Sheriff’s station it was to a rather charming family breakfast.”
Regina’s fury spiked and she nearly launched herself from the window, catching herself roughly on the edge of her desk, “Did you know?”
Gold smirked, sauntering across her office to take a leisurely seat in her guest chair. “Everyone seems to be asking me that this morning. I’m afraid, dearie, you’ll need to be more specific. After all, I know a great many things.”
Regina leaned across the desk, “Do not toy with me, imp. Did you know—”
“That Snow White is your daughter? No.”
Regina crumpled, all the fight draining from her so abruptly it was all she could do to fall into her desk chair.
“I may not have a problem separating children from their parents,” Gold leaned back as he spoke, “But I am not in the habit of encouraging parents to abuse their children.”
“How-how is this possible?”
“Oh I think you know the answer to that, dearie.”
“But that would—she would’ve had to—surely she wouldn’t…”
“Wouldn’t she?”
Regina swallowed, distraught, desperately searching Gold’s eyes for an answer she didn’t want.
Wouldn’t she?
-;-
Something inside Mary Margaret recognized the feeling of Regina gripping her jaw. Something small and young shied away in shame and fear. A fear completely different than the cold shiver that ran down her spine her when Regina admitted to knowing Mary Margaret’s innocence.
It was probably that feeling, that tantalizing haze of knowledge just out of reach—of childish memory and habit clashing at the back of her brain with horrified adult knowledge at the fore—that had Mary Margaret crying out to Regina’s retreating back, “Mother! Wait! Mother, please. Wait, Mother!”
“What, Snow?” Regina snapped, whirling back around.
Snow hardly registered the horrified look on the other woman’s face as awful certainty settled into her bones. Memory suddenly fresh and terrible as she looked out at the woman who had raised her. And done her utmost to kill her. “T-there’s something you should know.”
“There’s nothing you could tell me that will change my mind, Ms. Blanchard,” Regina hissed.
“Mother…”
“I am not your mother!” Regina snapped, slamming her palms against the cell door.
Snow sniffed, tears still rolling down her cheeks, “You are though,” she whispered. “Th-that’s what you needed to know. Henry and Emma ran a DNA comparison. You’re not just my mother by marriage, Regina, you’re my mother by birth.”
Regina’s hand snapped through the bars, catching Snow by the chin once more. Snow quailed slightly under the familiar fury. “Your lies will only make things worse for you, dear.”
“It’s not a lie!” Snow jerked away and quickly stepped up to the bars, as toe-to-toe as she could stand against the other woman at the moment. “And you know it to be true. You are only ever this upset with me when you know I’m right.”
For several moments Regina ground her teeth together and then, suddenly, she smiled and straightened, “No matter. There’s nothing you can do anymore. After tomorrow you’ll be gone, and you can play your little games to your heart’s content.”
Tears sprung back into Snow’s eyes. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know how terrible she truly was, I didn’t know what she would do to Da—” Regina’s hand shot through the bars once more, catching Snow’s chin. But a horrible thought had just occurred to the younger woman and through little gasping breaths, Snow forced out, “Was he—was Daniel my—” she winced as Regina’s grip tightened, “father?”
Something in Regina seemed to snap in that moment and she thrust Snow away from her, even as wide, horrified eyes took in every detail of her face. Regina stumbled back several steps, barely catching herself when she ran into the couch behind her. “No,” she whispered, hands shaking as she pressed them to her chest, “No, no, no, no, no, no.”
Snow stared, shocked, and a little horrified, for never had she seen Regina appear younger than in this moment. When she fled this time, Snow let her, sinking onto the uncomfortable prison cot mattress as tear built in her eyes once more.