Catching Up
The next morning, Regina sits in her car outside the entrance of Emma's family's loft.
She's frightened of entering it. All of the devastation she has been feeling for so long isn't so easily squelched. The thought of looking Emma in the eyes is enough to bring tears to her own. When Emma left the past, Regina could feel it. She felt the tear in her world, just as she had felt the first time Emma and that wretched man entered it. The sound and vibration of it courses through her now, unsettling her to the core.
She hears the steady ticking of her watch, and it helps soothe her fast-beating heart.
She then thinks of the words of sense and strength that the Apprentice had spoken to her the night before, and raises her eyes to the door.
With a deep breath, she exits her car and approaches it. She opens the door and ascends the stairs slowly.
Every step brings a tighter squeeze on the vice of nostalgia around Regina's heart.
Once she reaches the apartment door, she immediately knocks. Nearly as quickly, Charming opens the door.
"Regina," he says, surprised, "What are you doing here so early?"
Annoyed, she pushes past him and calls for Emma.
"Hey, Regina," Emma yells from the top loft. "I'm getting dressed, hang on a sec."
Regina huffs, and begins to pace.
"Hey, what's going on?" Snow asks caringly.
"It's nothing that concerns you, Snow White," Regina answers and glares at her.
After a moment, Emma comes down the stairs looking radiant in plain jeans and a white wool sweater. Regina can't help but to be placed under that same speechless spell Leia was when they first met.
"Alright, Regina, what is it?" Emma inquires. "Hey?" she says when she notices Regina's state. Emma reaches for her hand, "You okay?"
"Oh!" Regina says, blinks, and draws back, "I need to speak with you alone."
Emma gives her a quizzical look.
"We'll take Neal on a walk," Snow says from the kitchen. She quickly gathers Neal as Charming sets up the stroller. "Henry!" Snow calls to Henry, "Come on a walk with us!"
"Coming! Later, Moms!" he says and runs to catch up with them heading out the door.
Once it closes, Regina takes a deep breath and slowly breathes it out.
"What's going on?" Emma pushes.
"I need you, Emma," Regina finally says to her and sits down at the kitchen table. "My friend's daughter is missing. I have to warn you- What I'm about to tell you won't be easy for you to hear."
With that, Emma takes a seat across from her and looks at her.
"When Snow was still only a few weeks pregnant with you, your parents were able to find a way to visualize your future," Regina explains carefully, "Charming saw a loving one, while Snow saw one filled with darkness. They wanted to rid the latter possibility of ever happening with you. So, they sought out help from the Sorcerer's Apprentice. He warned them of the consequences of their actions, but they pressed him to carry out with it just the same. They stole Maleficent's child, Emma. They transferred all of your potential for darkness into Maleficent's child. Snow and Charming had thought it was a dragon baby they kidnapped, but it turned out to be a human. Since the baby was cursed, it had to be sent to a land without magic. Here, to this land. She is still alive, of this I have no doubt. We need to find her."
Emma's breath comes in short bursts, and her hands on the table clenched into fists.
"My parents?" Emma's able to manage as her eyes search the table furiously. "What's her name? What's the child's name?"
"It's Lily Page," Regina responds.
Through eyes of malcontent Emma glares at Regina.
"Lily Page?" she asks bitterly.
"Yes. Why, what does that mean?"
Emma laughs, lowly and unamused. "Lily Page was my only friend growing up," she confesses.
Regina gasps and leans forward, "Emma."
She sighs and loosens her fists, "I had just ran away from the orphanage after a lifetime of disappointment. Lily and I met and immediately we stuck on to each other. We spent every waking moment together, helping each other survive. I thought her and I had something special, that we'd be together forever. But she betrayed me and I wasn't strong enough to forgive her. She tried to get me to stay with her. Told me that it seemed like her whole life was darkness, but that being around me made it brighter. But I pushed her away so far that she never bothered me again," Emma finishes with a tear glinting in her eye.
"Fate's a bitch, isn't it?" Regina says with a playful smile. "It pushes us. Maybe it's time we push back. You and I are meant to find Lily to change her fate. What do you say?"
Emma looks at Regina resolutely and asks, "Whose car we gonna take?"