Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all of your reviews about the last chapter! I was amazed at how many there were :) So this chapter isn't as long as a few of the others but it's a very important chapter, however warning for mentions of abuse and warning that it might be hard to read for some people, however I do have the next chapter already planned so please don't worry too much :) SQ will always come out on top! Please tell me what you think I always love to hear from you all. Lots of love Rouge xxx

Chapter 18

Numb.

That's all Emma felt.

She could see that Regina was guiding her towards the staircase, ready to descend downstairs to confront her parents. She could see that she was moving for herself but she didn't know how she was doing it, she didn't feel like she was in control of her own body. There was a sudden ringing sound in her ears; and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She looked to Regina for some kind of explanation, some form of comfort. She could see Regina's lips moving, talking to her, but she couldn't hear what she was saying. She had entered a state of complete panic.

"Emma!" Regina raised her voice sharply and gently prodded the blonde's shoulder. It seemed to have some kind of effect as Emma jumped and looked back at Regina.

"Huh?..." was all Emma had managed to vocalise.

"Emma, we don't have to do this now if you're not ready" Regina spoke much more quietly this time "You don't have to move in today" she reassured her girlfriend.

"No no...I want this...it's happening today" Emma looked more determined as she rolled her shoulders backwards in small circles as if she was warming herself up for a fight. She took a deep breath as she heard her mother calling her name after hearing the commotion upstairs and slowly made her way downstairs first. Mary Margaret was already in the small kitchen area starting the preparations for dinner and David was making himself comfortable at the dining table with a bottle of beer.

"Emma there you are, what's going on up there? Are you ok? We thought we heard voices" Mary Margaret addressed her daughter first with her father offering her a kind smile and a nod of greeting.

"I'm...i'm ok" Emma mumbled trying to keep her nerve, "I need to talk to you guys about something important" her last few words trailing off as she stuffed her hands into her pockets nervously.

"What is it sweetheart? Dinner won't be..." Mary Margaret stopped as she turned around to see Regina coming downstairs to stand by Emma. "What on earth is she doing here?!" Mary Margaret frowned placing her hands onto her hips.

"Mom" Emma moaned "Regina has been helping me; I really need to talk to you guys"

"Emma what is it?" David inquired "sweetheart sit down and talk to us" he calmly said as he pulled out one of the other chairs surrounding the dining table. Emma reluctantly took a seat, placing her now shaking hands onto her lap as she started picking at her nails. Mary Margaret and Regina took a seat too.

"Well?" Mary Margaret asked abruptly, she was clearly uncomfortable with the former evil queen sitting across from her.

"I...well you see...I have...I am in a relationship" Emma blurts out staring at the dinner table moving her hands from her lap onto the table nervously "and I'm very happy and Henry is too...we have been spending a lot of time together now and I want your blessing" Emma smiled a little at Regina "I want you guys to be happy for me and..."

"Oh Emma!" she was interrupted by her mother. Emma looked up briefly to see a wide grin across Mary Margaret's face "that's wonderful sweetheart! I'm so glad for you!"

"...You...are?" Emma asked looking a little confused as to why her mother was taking this so well"

"Of course I am! We both are right David?" Mary Margaret placed her hand onto Charming's shoulder gently as she swivelled in her seat excitedly.

David added "Well, of course we are happy that you are happy Emma, not that this situation was our first choice but..."

"Well no, it's always proper for a princess to marry a prince but if hook has declared his love for you then you must absolutely pursue it!" Mary Margaret continued as Emma's slowing growing smile and flicker of hope instantly disappeared.

"Hook?! I don't love hook!" Emma frowned instantly realising that that is who her parents thought she was talking about. "No no this is all wrong" Emma huffed looking down at the table again as Regina rolled her eyes at the two idiots in front of her. She knew she would have to help Emma explain.

"What? You were not talking about hook? Then who were you talking about?" both Emma's parents looked confused.

"What's going on Emma?" David coaxed

In one calm movement, Regina gently placed her hand over Emma's on the table and as a reaction Emma slipped their fingers together. That was all it took for the two charming's to realise what was going on.

The next few seconds dragged on as if for hours. Mary Margaret stared at the couples linked hands hard, as if this would somehow help her understand. David opened his mouth but no words came out so after a few seconds he closed it again and proceeded to rest his chin on his fist. Emma's cheeks burned a deep red as her head dipped, the only think keeping her from getting up, panicked, and running away was the smooth, calming motion of Regina's thumb stroking the back of her hand as their fingers clung together.

"Wait...WHAT?!" Mary Margaret suddenly raised her voice and exploded "NO! No way is this happening! This is a joke right?" She started to laugh in an almost manic tone as she stood up, making the legs of her chair scratch against her wooden floor.

Emma could feel the heated anger bubbling up inside her as she gripped Regina's hand in hers as her mother continued on her rampage. "This is all wrong! Emma she is the Evil Queen! Not to mention my step mother! And a woman! This is so wrong!"

"Are you able to teach our son anything with that closed mind snail brain of yours? Honestly it is very disturbing, I am worried as a parent that his teacher has no imagination or could be so heartless" Regina sassed cheekily at Mary Margaret's inability to accept that Emma could have feelings for someone like her.

"You would know all about being heartless Regina" Mary Margaret hit back at the queen before she addressed her daughter once again. "You were supposed to marry Neal! But you didn't accept him, so then you were supposed to settle for hook!"

"Mary Margaret!" David attempted to stop her knowing this wasn't the way to help anyone and took hold of her arm "How long has this been going on?" he asked

"A few months now, a week or two after we came home from Neverland" Regina answered calmly but Emma was too angry now she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Settle? Why should I have to settle for anyone?!" Emma stood up addressing her mother, her chair making the same screeching noise against the floor as her mother's did. She broke her hand away from Regina's and slammed both of her palms down onto the table. "I don't want to settle! I'm not settling!"

"Then what on earth are you doing with her?" Mary Margaret asked coldly

"I LOVE HER!" Emma shouted as the tears well up in her eyes, "Please can't you understand?" Regina was quick to stand up too and place her arm around her now trembling girlfriend.

"Regina?" Charming addressed her much calmer than his wife but the pair could still see the shock in his face.

Regina answered him with a determined nod "I love her too, we didn't mean for it to happen, we just realised that our feelings for each other since Neverland had changed"

"Of course you meant for it to happen! You could see she was vulnerable and now you are feeding on it!" Mary Margaret shouted "Emma how could you be so foolish can't you see she is using you?"

"Mary Margaret, stop that is enough!" Charming intervened

There was a sudden "Thud" sound coming from upstairs followed by a series of smaller bangs. The adults stopped shouting and looked over just as Henrys suitcase came banging down the wooden stairs shortly followed by the young boy himself carrying another smaller bag with a cheeky smile on his face. "Sorry, I couldn't carry it downstairs".

"Henry? What's going on? Go back upstairs please we are talking to your mother" David asked kindly

"Mother's" Emma corrected "He has two mothers and we are both here" she huffed angrily.

"I can't grandpa, me and mom are moving back home with mom!" he smiled excitedly "Isn't that great?"

The room fell into a stunned silence.

"Henry dear why don't you go back upstairs and check you haven't left anything and start to get your mothers things ready to go" Regina advised gently.

"Yes Mom" Henry smiled and ran back upstairs. As soon as the young boy was back upstairs the adults erupted again.

"You're not taking him!" Mary Margaret threatened.

"That's funny; I don't remember you having custody of our son? Oh right that is because you don't! Henry will be coming to live with us in my house" Regina shot back glaring at the woman who threatened to keep her son away from her.

"It's what he wants mom, it was his idea" Emma informed them "He wants to live with Regina again, he misses her and he misses his home".

"Emma we just want what is best for Henry and yourself" David tried to explain without making the situation worse. He put his arm around Mary Margaret in an attempt to calm her.

"Being with his mothers is what is best for him, you can ask him yourself, it is what he wants" Emma started to raise her voice again but it cracked due to the underlying tears in her eyes threatening to come out and the lump which felt like a boulder forming in her throat. "Please understand, please we want your support and blessing. I don't want to hurt you guys but I love Regina" Emma explained as she held onto Regina's hand for comfort.

Mary Margaret looked at her sadly and shook her head "I can't allow this Emma"

"I'm not asking you to allow it Mom, I want you to be happy for me...for us" Emma sniffles gently "We are going to be a family with Henry but I don't want to lose you guys, I want you to be part of that family too. But you have to accept Regina and I as a couple".

David gave Emma a worried, small smile as he tried to understand, he loved his daughter more than anything and he hated to see her so upset like this. He had also gotten to know Regina much better himself these past few weeks, Henry and Emma had been very happy in that time and if Regina was the cause for that then he was grateful. His family deserved some happiness after what they had all been through. He knew that Regina had changed, he just wasn't sure if he could trust her completely with his family yet. Mary Margaret, on the other hand, couldn't even look at either of the women; she was too confused and upset about the situation. Her daughter was not meant to be with Regina, princesses marry a prince, that is how she had been brought up. It didn't make any sense to her, however truth be told, she wasn't as angry with Regina as she made out, she was just so terrified of this backfiring on Emma and it ending in her getting hurt that she thought putting a stop to it right now before it progresses any further would be best. She was just trying to make Emma see that.

Emma's eyes darted backwards and forwards between her parents trying to read them as she stood there desperate to hear that they accept her for who she is and accept her new family. She thought she saw some kind of hopeful signs from her dad, but her mom she just couldn't see any hope. She knew she had to open up. She took a deep breath and took a final attempt at gaining their acceptance "I have lived so many disappointments, literally, lived and breathed the pain of rejection. I was abandoned by my parents; I was rejected by my first foster family after 3 years. I was rejected by a lot of families. I was beaten, abused, bullied my whole childhood." The room had turned silent again; Mary Margaret had tears running down her face at hearing what her daughter had gone through. Regina was there stroking the back of Emma's hand soothingly, supportively listening to her true loves most guarded secrets as she let them in "even when I got out of the system I had pain...I was homeless, no job, no money, no family. I had to steal to get buy and deep down I hated myself for what I was doing. Then I was put into jail and I had Henry taken away" Regina gently wiped at the tears rolling down her girlfriends cheeks as she let her emotions out but she didn't dare speak, no one did, they let Emma carry on. "I had pain in one way or another every single day. Even when I was with Neal or even when I came here and found you both" she addressed her parents "The pain was still there" she sniffled wiping at her own face too "I can tell you the exact way pain tastes, the way it smells, the way it sounds. I can tell you about the way it shreds you, strips you down to your rawest, thinnest layer and grates at your vulnerability...at your innocence. The way it teaches you not to have hope because what the hell is the point? It hardens your heart...no one has ever been able to understand that, no one has ever been able to feel the way I have...until Regina. Regina understands, she has been through it all too, in different ways yeah, but the pain is the same." Emma takes a long pause before she carries on "Regina makes me happy, she makes me feel warm and loved and safe, with her the pain disappears and that's all I have ever dreamed of feeling. I love her"

"Emma I..." Mary Margaret sighs as she looks down sadly before uttering the words Emma didn't want to hear "I just can't".

Emma felt her heart hurt, she couldn't believe that her parents were hurting her all over again, but the pain was just as raw as the first time. Regina could see how hurt Emma was and it killed her. She put her arm around her again and the blonde turned into her for a cuddle as she cried.

"It's ok Emma lets go" Regina whispered as she kissed her girlfriends head. Emma just gave a small nod as she cried into Regina's shoulder. Opening up like that had exhausted her, and it was all for nothing.

Henry came downstairs with Emma's boxes "Mom?" he asked quietly "What's wrong?" he didn't like to see his mother upset.

"Come on Henry we're going home" Regina sniffled gently herself as she offered him her arm.

"No!" Mary Margaret attempted to stop them from leaving edging closer to the door.

"Did Grandma and Grandpa upset Mom?" Henry asked as he went over and hugged Emma as Regina put her arm around him too.

"Emma wait, I give..." David quickly started but it was too late

In a puff of purple smoke Emma, Regina and Henry disappeared with their luggage.