Chapter 2
Emma, 6.21.2015
She was a runner. It was in her bones, the urge to pack up and leave at the first hint of trouble. It was an itch that she had to scratch, regardless of the situation. She was throwing her clothes in to the open, brown suitcase in the middle of the bed, pushing away all thoughts that crossed her mind about a certain woman who was with child, supposedly her child, more specifically.
Knock, Knock, Knock
“Ma! I know you’re in there! Open the door!” Henry’s deep, booming voice sounded from behind her closed door. She paused, lips trembling, before going about her task with renewed vigor. She needed to leave and she needed to it fast. She couldn’t deal with this, she didn’t know how to wrap her mind
“I heard everything you know,” Henry intoned again. “I can’t believe you think that it’s not yours. You know Mom would never lie to you, especially not about something like this. Please Ma, just come to the house and talk to her, or talk to Belle, she has books on everything, including magical conception.”
Emma frowned briefly when her son said ‘magical conception’, but said nothing as she finished throwing the last of her things together, quickly poofing them all down to her car. She smiled for the briefest moment, thinking about her shiny, new Ford Escape. She’d saved for months and finally the slick 2015 hatchback belonged to her. She turned back towards the door, her smile evaporating, her head bowing in shame, she could still hear Henry’s feet shuffling outside her door. White smoke enveloped her, sitting her snugly in the front seat of her car. She glanced at her house, which was no longer a home and without hesitation put the car in drive and tried to put as many miles between her and Storybrooke as she quickly could.
Emma drove for hours without stopping, the music blaring out of her radio almost loud enough to drown out the thoughts screaming inside her mind. It was entering KY when she finally felt her body start to lose steam, the need for sleep and a shower growing too strong to ignore. She needed food, a hot, fresh cooked meal. She had been surviving on Monster energy drinks and gas station nachos and now her body demanded food of substance. She had a few people she knew in KY, contacts she maintained for cases just like this, so when she got to Louisville, she pulled out her phone and made a few calls. Her friend Jenny answered on the first ring.
“So you’re in town I’m guessing,” Jenny’s light voice asked across the phone.
“Can I crash?” Emma asked, her voice heavy with exhaustion.
“Course, Ill text you the address. See ya in a bit,” came Jenny’s reply.
Emma pulled back into traffic and back on to the freeway. She followed the directions her GSP gave her and quickly made her way to her destination. She drove up to the old Bedford stone home, its old rustic charm beckoned to her, a lighthouse beacon amongst a stormy sea. She put all thoughts of magic, fairy tale characters, True Love and magical babies behind her.
Bo, 6.21.2016
Bo sat on the comfy, red couch that Tamsin had recently brought over to the crack shack after complaining that the old one was really much too uncomfortable. She lazily licked chocolate ice cream off her spoon while Chopped buzzed in the background as she her thoughts drifter to Tamsin. Only a few hours had passed since Bo had seen Tamsin take off from the bar, her luminescent wings almost glowing in the dim light on the Dal Riata. Seeing her magnificent wing span brought Bo back to just a few weeks ago when she had felt those wings wrap around her, feathers caressing her skin as she and Tamsin came undone in one another underneath a statue dedicated to the Norse Goddess Freyja.
She sighed when she thought of Tamsin taking her beyond this plane of existence, to a place where Gods and Goddess still lived and ruled. They had made love and worshiped each other with no concerns of time or place. The whole encountered blurred from one moment to the next, the number of heartbeats, orgasms and whispered words of desire and want becoming one constant moment in time. At some point in the night, as they lay beneath a star studded sky, Tamsin had turned to Bo and, drunk off Bo’s essence, confessed her love for the succubus. Bo had looked at her, heart full to the point of bursting, and smiled, pulling her close and kissing her, which only lead into more rounds of screams and moans.
It was easy to tell herself their encounters were just for feeding, that Tamsin’s chi was simply more nourishing and the reason why she sought her out after a particularly hard day. It was easy to pretend that those times were increasing in frequency. She rarely fed anymore from anyone besides Tamsin.
She had never felt the way she did when she was with Tamsin while she was with anyone else, not Dyson or even Lauren. This realization had left her distant and reserved, Tamsin feeling the greatest chill. Bo was confused, and if she was honest with herself, scared. She’d never allowed herself to feel this depth of emotions for someone, such a deep and encompassing love, and the fact that it overshadowed what she felt in all of her previous relationships really drove her to putting distance between the powerful, wonderful Valkyrie and herself.
She knew she shouldn’t have allowed the chasm to grow so wide, but if history taught Bo one thing it was that love was dangerous. She could deal with Lauren and her lame, but sweet science jokes. She could deal with Dyson and his ‘we mate for life’ thing but dealing with her feelings for Tamsin, accepting her feelings for the beautiful Norse angel, Bo just couldn’t deal with that. Everything she touches goes bad and Tamsin was one thing Bo refused to mess up. Tamsin had become her person. Her safe place. With Tamsin, she could just be herself. No expectations, no demands, just her. Bo didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to lose that, but she also didn’t want to hurt her. She ate another bite of her ice cream and sent off a quick text.
10:49pm. Be safe Tamsin
10:52pm. Always.
Bo smiled. It wasn’t much but it was the only thing she could give Tamsin right now.