A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait guys! I've had the worst writers block and I haven't really been able to move past it. I'm still not 100% happy with how this chapter turned out but i'm just going to roll with it, I guess.
"I found her!" She breathes with relief into the phone as soon as her father picks up. "She was an idiot and went to confront Regina, again."
"Alright, Ruby and I are on our way. I really am sorry Emma, I thought that I could trust her." David mumbles dejectedly.
"I understand, David. I never thought that she would stoop this low either. I guess both of us have learned our lessons. Just make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm not sure how much more Regina can tolerate, and I honestly can't blame her."
"It won't." He assures her back in a steel voice and she can't help but believe him.
"Alright, I've got to go and get some things worked out, keep me updated." Emma tells her father.
"I will. Love you, Em."
"I love you too, Dad." She says as she hangs up.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she takes a deep, calming breath. What the hell am I going to do now?
She paces the length of her room for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion that Regina isn't safe in Storybrooke, at least not without Emma there to help protect her.
Making a decision, she sprints down to the kitchen and skids to a stop in front of Cassie, "Hey, I have a bit of a problem."
"What is it, Darling?"
"Sooo..uh..there's been a situation in Storybrooke and I was wondering if it would be okay if Regina came and stayed with us while we're here?"
"What kind of situation?" Cassie questions back, curious as to why her adopted daughter is being so vague.
"Well, um..It's...uh..." Emma murmurs quietly, trying to figure out what to tell her.
"Emma Swan, I know I raised you better than this. Full, articulate sentences, please." The older woman scolds with her eyebrow raised.
"Ughh! Fine! So my..uh..Mary Margaret and Regina have a pretty complicated past and Mary Margaret has been noticing how close the two of us have become and it's basically driving her insane and she keeps threatening Regina and so I threw her in jail while I'm away but she still managed to escape and go after Regina and now I don't trust that it won't happen again and that she'll actually manage to hurt her, not that Regina isn't capable of taking care of herself, because she definitely is, she's one of the strongest and most powerful women I know, but it only takes one time, you know? And I'm just really worried about her and I would feel a lot better if she were here with us where I can keep an eye on her, because..."
"Emma!" Cassie says, snapping her fingers in front of the blonde's frantic eyes, stopping her from having a full on panic attack. "Relax. Take a breath."
As Emma calms down, Cassie grabs her hands and says, "Of course she can stay with us. Any woman that you feel this fiercely about is more than welcome in my house."
Emma lets out a slight breath of relief and sags against the older woman, enveloping her in a tight hug. "Thank you, Mamita!"
"Of course, darling." The woman says back as she kisses Emma's forehead. "Now, go make your arrangements with Regina and start getting ready! You'll need to leave as soon as possible if you're going to make it back to Boston in time to at least make an appearance at the rehearsal dinner!"
The blonde nods before sprinting back out of the kitchen towards her room, hearing Cassie exasperatingly say "And no running!"
As she reaches her room she pulls out her phone and dials the number that she had memorized long ago. It rings twice before she hears, "Hello."
"Hey, so David and Ruby are on their way over now to come get Snow, and then I want you to pack a bag and be ready for me to come pick you up. You're not safe there right now, and I'm really not comfortable with you being there without me." She breathes out as she quickly takes off her shirt and frantically searches through her bag for her curling iron.
"Non-sense, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Miss Swan. And though I appreciate your concern, I do not need you to protect me." Regina huffs out.
"I know you don't, but I would never be able to live with myself if something happened to you and I wasn't there to protect you. Snow still has a lot of friends, and it only takes one shot you don't sense before you're seriously hurt or k-killed." She says, her voice trembling slightly on the last word.
Regina softens as she hears the raw emotion and frantic worry in the other woman's voice. Her heart skips a beat and a blush creeps up her cheeks as she lets go of her pride and gives in with a sigh. "Very well, darling. If that is what you believe is best, then I will come join you in Boston."
Emma lets out a relieved sigh as Regina continues. "But! I will not allow you to drive all the way back here just to pick me up. I am quite capable of making my way there on my own. You've been talking about this weekend non-stop for the last month, I know how important is to you and I refuse to be the reason that you miss any part of it. I will just drive to where you are staying and wait for you to return."
"Okay, but the drive is a few hours and by the time you get to Boston the dinner will only just be starting. Why don't you meet us there? And then you can just follow us back to the house afterwards."
"Are you sure that's appropriate? I wouldn't want to intrude?" The older woman asks timidly.
"Are you kidding me? Everyone has been dying to meet you!" Emma exclaims excitedly.
"Alright, if you're absolutely positive. Send me the address and I will get ready and leave as soon as your deputies depart."
"Okay, just a sec." Emma says as she pulls the phone away from her face and looks up the address of the hotel where the dinner for that night is being held before copying it into a text and sending it to the brunette.
When she brings the phone back up to her ear she can hear a slight commotion on the other line before a loud, barking laugh erupts from her speaker and practically makes her jump out of her skin.
Before she has a chance to ask Regina who is laughing so loud and why, she hears Ruby wheeze out, "Oh! My! God! What the hell happened to her? She looks like a freaking oompa-loompa!" before she erupts into another fit of laughter.
Emma hears Regina chuckle softly before composing herself and saying in an innocent tone, "I'm sure I have no idea what you're referring to, Miss Lucas. Is this not how Mrs. Blanchard usually dresses while out in public? She looks the same to me."
As Ruby collapses to the floor laughing, Emma can even hear David chuckling slightly in the background.
The werewolf finally collects herself and says, "You know what, she's lucky it isn't any worse. I know I wouldn't ever want to cross you."
Still chuckling, she hauls the unconscious women up into her arms and carries her out to the cruiser.
David nods appreciatively in Regina's direction, knowing very well that the fate of his wife had been in the older woman's hands and that she could have done much worse. He follows Ruby out and Emma hears the car start as it presumably pulls out of the driveway.
There's a quiet moment before Emma says, "I can't believe you turned my mother into an oompa-loompa and didn't tell me."
Regina panics slightly as she asks, "You're not upset, are you?"
"Are you kidding? Of course not! She had it coming, and like Ruby said, she's lucky you didn't do worse! How long will the enchantment last?" She asks chuckling.
Regina lets out a breath of relief she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Oh, only a few weeks..seven or eight at most." She says with a smirk on her lips. "I have pictures."
Emma erupts into a fit of giggles as she pictures her mother having to walk around town with orange skin and bright green hair for up to two months.
Soon they're both laughing and it takes awhile for them to calm down enough to speak.
"Okay, well I had better go and start getting ready, I'll see you soon. I lo...uhh..Have a safe drive! Bye!" Emma stutters out, trying to cover up what she had almost said.
She prays that Regina hadn't caught her slip up, but the surprised inhale she hears the other woman make, has her fearing that she had.
Regina sits in stunned silence for a few moments, her heart pumping against her rib-cage before she realizes that Emma is still waiting for her to respond.
"Y-you too, dear. Goodbye." She manages to say before hanging up and sinking down onto the stairs next to her, a smile slowly making its way across her face.
She had definitely heard what the blonde was about to let slip out.
7:00 pm
Emma and Henry casually stroll into the elegant dining area that has been set up for the reception, with Cassie and Lizzy trailing slightly behind them. The blonde looks around in awe and wonders when her childhood friend had gotten so classy. But then quickly realizes that woman's fiancé's blue-blooded background probably has a lot to do with why they're in this ridiculously fancy 5 star hotel instead of at the bar where they would normally be on a Friday night.
It's also why both her and Henry are dressed impeccably in their matching tuxedos.
Her eyes are scanning the room for a mop of curly black hair when she hears an obnoxious Boston-Italian accent yell from across the room, "No freaking way! Emma Swan?!" as a tan man dressed in a suit comes jogging up to her and envelopes her in a crushing hug, lifting her feet off of the floor.
She chuckles and hugs the man back, "Hey Frankie!"
"I can't believe my eyes right now! What are you doing here?!" He asks her excitedly.
"What? Did you actually think I'd miss the wedding of one of my closest childhood friends?" She asks him in mock offense.
"Well no one's heard from you since you moved to that tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, we were all beginning to think you must've fallen off the edge of the earth."
"That's not exactly true, little brother." A husky voice replies from behind Frankie and he turns around to face a tall, curly haired brunette walking up to them with her arm around the waist of a petite blonde woman.
"Are you telling me that you've been talking to this shit-head and you didn't bother to mention it to anyone?!" He asks her exasperatedly.
The woman laughs as she smirks and says "Yep!"
"Oh, you're lucky it's the night before your wedding or else I'd be forced to kick your ass right here!" He says, opting for a light slap to her arm instead.
She scoffs and says "Oh please! I'd love to see you try!"
Emma clears her throat softly to re-gain their attention, as she holds up her hands "Children, please. Enough with the dick measuring! We all know that mine is the biggest!" Frankie and the woman shoot her glares before all three break out in laughter.
Emma walks up to the brunette and tightly embraces her. "I've missed you, Janie."
"I've missed you too, Em. It's been way too long."
They continue to hug for a few more second before separating and discretely wiping away their tears.
Emma steps back next to her son and lays a hand on his shoulder. "Henry, I'd like you to meet Jane and Frankie Rizzoli, two of my best friends since before I was your age. And this is Jane's fiancée, Maura."
Frankie and Maura both say hello and shake his hand while Jane gives him a hug and says "Its nice to finally meet you, Henry. I've heard a lot about you. I hope that you won't be too bored with all of the adult crap going on this weekend."
"No Ma'am, my mother is Mayor so I'm used to attending events like this, I actually enjoy them, but thank you for your concern." He says politely in return.
"You've got an exceptional son, Emma." Maura tells the other blonde warmly.
"Thanks, but I really can't take much credit for that, if I had raised him he'd probably be more like Frankie over here." She says with a chuckle and she elbows the man lightly in the ribs.
"Hey!" Frankie yells out in mock-offense. "There's nothing wrong with me!"
"Ha! Yea okay, tell that to the ketchup stain you managed to get on your shirt before we even got here!" Jane laughs.
"But yea, anyway, Regina, his adoptive mother is who deserves all of the credit, she did an amazing job." Emma continues, not noticing the hush that falls over the crowd as a pair of heels can be heard making their way up the tile hallway leading into the ballroom.
Everyone in the room, including the group of people surrounding Emma, has their eyes glued on something behind the blonde, so she turns around and her jaw drops open as she sees the stunning brunette hesitating at the entrance of the hall.
"Who is that?!" Jane asks softly as the room erupts into quiet murmurs of appreciation and jealousy.
But Emma doesn't hear the question as she continues to stare at the woman she hardly recognizes.
She can't seem to take her eyes off of the brunette as they roam from the woman's perfectly coiled hair, across her smoky eyes and sculpted red lips, before falling down to appreciate six inch stilettos's paired with a form fitting black dress that has gold lace running up the sides, across her shoulders and down into the deep v-neck that exposes perfectly tanned cleavage.
"Ma, you're drooling." Henry says as he casually walks past her and up to the woman, offering her his elbow.
As the pair regally walk back towards the small group surrounding Emma, she quickly closes her mouth and swallows thickly, shaking her head slightly to try and regain function of her brain.
Emma clears her head enough to stop openly gawking before she smiles widely at the woman walking towards her. She steps up to meet her son and his other mother just before they are able to reach where her friends and family are standing.
"Regina...you look...wow." Emma says breathlessly as she looks the woman up and down before she nervously rubs at the back of her neck.
Regina blushes slightly at the compliment as she replies with one of her own, her eyes slowly roaming up the younger woman's body. "Thank you Emma, I could say the same for you. I'm not sure I know any words worthy of describing how beautiful you look in this moment."
It's Emma's turn to blush as she quietly says "Thank you." Before getting lost in the heated chocolate gaze staring at her.
"Ew! Hello?! Your 15 year old son is standing right here!" Henry says disgustedly which causes the bubble between the two women to pop. As they mentally shake themselves out of a stupor and notice that every pair of eyes in the room is glued to their interaction.
There's an awkward silence before Lizzy unashamedly asks, "So are you going to just stand there all night gawking at each other or are we finally going to get to meet this woman that you're always gushing about?"
A/N: I reviewed this a few times, but i'm only human, so shoot me a PM if you find any mistakes and i'll come back and fix them! As always, shoot me a review and let me know what you thought! :)