One of the reviewers from "The Chosen Happy Ending" wanted a chapter from the other Emma's perspective, and I have delivered (hopefully well). Strong mentions of Regina getting busy with Facilier from Season 7 (I'm pretending he didn't die, cause I wanted Emma to have to deal with Regina's boyfriend, and, out of the show's options, I liked Facilier the most). I know some people wanted Emma to be hitting on/seducing the other Regina, but that would not go over well when she goes home. I follow up the Facilier business with some interactions between Emma and the Evil Queen (come on, that kinda makes up for Facilier), and then some family fluff. This is angstier than it is fluffy, but the ending of "The Chosen Happy ending" makes up for it, promise.
"Son of a-" Emma swore under her breath. Her foot had caught on the edge of a table and sent a vase to its untimely demise. She waved her hand to repair the shattered pieces and hastily put it back in its place. Regina was going to kill her. She was an hour and a half late for their latest attempt to send her back to her own realm. She'd realized that many things were different here, but her wife's distaste for tardiness hadn't changed in the slightest. She's not your wife Emma inwardly corrected herself. That was the biggest change from this realm to hers that threatened to slowly crumble the Savior's beating heart.
When the Sheriff had first arrived in this Storybrooke, her parents and Hook had rushed her to Regina. Unfortunately, they hadn't called ahead, and when Emma had gone crashing through Regina's castle (the fact that there was a castle in Storybrooke was a confusing detail Emma ignored in the pursuit of her wife) she'd stumbled in on the brunette locked in a heated embrace with some tall, burly stranger the Sheriff didn't recognize. The pair had broken apart when the door crashed open, but before the Mayor could ask more than "Emma, what are you-" the blonde had crossed the room and punched the man in the face.
Hook and David had caught up with her in time to see the Sheriff attack Regina's boyfriend and held her back before she could inflict further damage. Snow explained to Regina that Emma believed she had married the Mayor, all while Emma and the man she'd punched glared at each other. The Sheriff was pleased with the swollen nose she'd inflicted and happily imagined that the man would wake up with two black eyes the following morning. At least, he would have if Regina hadn't gently caressed his face and healed his nose. The Queen had then turned towards the Sheriff when she'd finished, probably intending to do some magic tests, but Emma had other plans.
As soon as Regina was close enough, Emma launched herself forward and kissed the brunette. Regina didn't push her away, and Emma waited for a burst of energy to flash away from them, signaling the end of a curse, but the Sheriff waited in vain. The blonde finally pulled away. "I don't understand. That was True Love's kiss. That should have broken the spell." She looked at Regina, and the Queen met her with an unwavering gaze Emma hadn't seen before.
"It didn't work, because there is no curse," Regina had murmured, "and we're not in love,".
No, it didn't work, because I'm in the wrong damn realm. Emma still got angry and hurt every time she thought back to her first day here. They'd figured out that someone had switched her with this realm's Emma, but it didn't take the sting away from that night. Now every time she sees Regina, a jolt of pain sears through her heart. Even as she climbed the steps towards the library, she tried to prepare herself for the pain that awaited when she saw her wife's face.
As she walked down one last corridor, she took a deep breath and came to a stop outside of the library. She squared her shoulders, knocked, and waited for Regina's voice to float through the door, granting her permission to enter. However, Emma was only greeted with silence. Confused, the Sheriff gently pushed open the door, only to find the room empty. Damn it. The Sheriff's phone was dead, and she hadn't called Regina to tell her that she was going to be late or that she was still coming. The brunette had likely given up on the blonde showing up. It wouldn't be the first time since coming here that Emma had failed to show up for one of their appointments. Still, Emma was there, and it was relatively early.
The Sheriff set off down another corridor, determined to find Regina, apologize, and convince the brunette it wasn't too late to work on getting Emma to her correct realm. She had only been to Regina's room in the castle once, but she was fairly certain she could find it again with a little luck. After several failed attempts, multiple backtrackings, and a helpful maid, Emma finally saw the door she was looking for. A pleased smile on her face, Emma lifted her hand to knock, but before she could, she heard a faint moan drift through the door. Surprised, Emma's hand froze over polished oak. Was Regina in pain? Emma shook herself and was again about to knock when she heard another moan, this time accompanied by the faint squeak of bedsprings.
Oh no, Emma took a step away from the door, her hand falling to her side. The squeaking springs were becoming louder, and Emma could hear the low rumble of a male voice. No, no, no, no, no!
She was not hearing her wife having sex with someone else. This couldn't be happening! But she heard another moan flit through the door, and Emma knew that sound. She'd drawn it from Regina more times than she could count. She loved that sound, but standing out in the hall, listening to someone else pull it from the brunette, Emma felt like she was going to be sick. She turned and sprinted down the hall, needing to escape this hell.
Emma was about to turn the corner into another corridor when she ran into something solid and nearly lost her balance. Warm hands caught her by the waist before she could tumble to the floor. The Sheriff heard a faint chuckle in her ear and an amused, husky voice mutter, "You truly are the clumsiest princess I have ever encountered." Emma straightened herself up and met the eyes of the Evil Queen. Well, evilish. The Queen had been mostly reformed since Regina had split her from her body. "What's got you dashing about this time, Sheriff?" the Queen asked.
Just then a muffled "yes," echoed down the hall, and the Queen's eyes flittered from Emma's face, to Regina's closed door, and back again. The Sheriff knew her face was probably red and that her eyes were probably shiny with the tears she was desperately fighting back. Emma watched as the Queen's expression morphed from puzzlement to surprised amusement as she put the pieces together. However, when the Queen looked at the Sheriff again, she seemed to take pity on the blonde. The Queen schooled the growing smirk on her face and waved a hand in the direction of Regina's bedroom. All noises echoing down the hall instantly became silenced, and Emma sighed in relief. She still felt like her insides had been hollowed out, and there was a dull ache in her chest, but at least she no longer had to hear the sounds of Regina in bed with someone else.
The Savior felt herself deflating now that her ears were out of immediate danger. She wanted nothing more than to go curl into a ball on her bed and put today behind her. The Sheriff nodded at the Queen, muttered "Thanks," and moved to step around her. She was stopped by a gentle hand grasping her chin, redirecting her gaze to meet the Queen's. Any other day, the blonde would have been floored by the contact. She had always thought the Queen was sexy, and the outfit the Queen was currently wearing would usually drive the Sheriff to distraction, a dark grey woven dress that covered everything, except a plunging neckline that was hidden only by a flimsy piece of shier mesh material. Today though, the Sheriff was too deep in wallowing in her self-pity to truly appreciate the attire.
Emma felt the Queen's nails lightly dig into her skin, reclaiming the blonde's attention. Green eyes met brown, and the Queen nodded her head towards Regina's bedroom door. "She did have feelings for you." It took Emma a few seconds to process what she'd heard.
"Wha-"
The Queen continued like she hadn't heard Emma, "A long time ago, before she split us apart, she thought there was something between the two of you." The Queen stared at the blonde like she was a difficult math problem she couldn't quite solve. "And it was painful to realize that she – we –" the Queen gestured between herself and the Sheriff, "could never be a couple. It was after you came back from Zelena's time portal. In the span of ten minutes, you had ruined my chances with Robin, started dating the pirate, and reminded me of all the reasons I didn't deserve a happy ending in the first place."
The Queen's words sounded harsh, but her expression was neutral, like she was just stating facts. "I believed you would never see passed the Evil Queen, not enough for us to have a chance to be together. And when I walked away that night at Granny's, you let me go. By the time you came to find me, I had already decided that I needed to put my feelings for you to rest. I would fight for Robin. He was who the pixie dust had showed me, and he never looked at me the way you did that night." The Queen's voice had lowered to a whisper by the end of her speech, and Emma found herself leaning forward to catch every word. "I chose Robin, and you chose the pirate."
That's not what happened, not in Emma's realm, but she couldn't find it in herself to protest. Feeling somewhat defeated, she asked, "Why are you telling me this?"
The Queen's eyes hardened, "It wasn't easy to get over you, but she did. I did."
The Sheriff was taken aback by the force behind the Queen's words, not quite understanding the shift in tone. She watched the Queen's face as the darker woman seemed to have some eternal debate. The brunette sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. In a much gentler voice than she'd used before, the Queen added, "But I still felt it, when you told her you were marrying Hook. She and I were already separated from each other and living in different realms, but I felt her heart jerk in pain. It was just a fleeting feeling, because Regina wouldn't allow herself to really feel that kind of pain. Not since Daniel, because she realized that's how she turns into me… but I recognized the feeling as soon as I felt it." The Queen's gaze was smoldering. "You can't be angry with her for moving on. She had to."
The Sheriff shook her head, "I never rejected her. That was another version of me. I love her." There was no denying the fierceness of Emma's tone, but the Queen remained unmoved.
The brunette lifted an eyebrow, "If a portal opened right now, leading back to your old realm, would you take it?"
Emma didn't even have to think about her answer, "Of course."
The Queen nodded, like she expected it, "Then stop pining for my other half." She jerked her head towards the closed door down the hall. "If you make her open old wounds and relive old flames, you will only hurt her all the more when you leave."
Emma dropped her gaze to the floor, unable to meet the brunette's harsh stare. "I just want her to be happy."
The Queen released the Savior's chin and sighed, "I know you do."
"D-does he make her happy?" Emma hesitantly asked.
The Queen smirked, "I'd say so, based off what we just heard." At Emma's pained expression, the Queen softened, "Yes, he makes her happy. He challenges her, not like you used to, but he is good for her. And, if I'm not mistaken, she is already falling in love with him."
The Sheriff felt her heart sink at that last statement. She knew the Regina down the hall wasn't hers, but she still felt her heart fracture to hear any Regina was in love with someone else. She really didn't want to, but standing in Regina's castle, facing the Evil Queen who actually cared for her other half, and knowing that Regina had found happiness with someone else, Emma couldn't help but wonder Is Regina happier here?
The Queen gently cupped the side of Emma's face, "Go home, Sheriff." The brunette's thumb swept away a tear that Emma hadn't realized escaped. The Sheriff nodded absently and felt the Queen's hand fall away from her face. By the time the blonde looked back up, the Queen was waltzing away from her.
Before the Queen could walk too far, Emma called, "Wait!"
The Queen looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"
"If you felt the same things Regina felt for me, why didn't you come to me when you were split from her? I hadn't even married Hook yet."
The Queen hesitated, and Emma could swear she saw pain flash in the brunette's brown eyes. Finally, the Queen cleared her throat and answered, "You were a weakness, Sheriff. A weakness I couldn't afford." Then she turned back around and turned a corner before Emma could ask anything else. Love is weakness. She'd heard Regina say that many times before, but if Emma was the Evil Queen's weakness, then that meant… but it couldn't. Emma stared at the wall the Queen had disappeared behind, fighting the urge to go chasing after her. The Queen's words from earlier echoed back to her, you will only hurt her all the more when you leave.
Emma felt like she was sinking. She dragged her feet along the stone floor as she made her way out of the castle. It hurt, but she knew she couldn't ask the Queen the question burning her mouth, because the Queen was right. Emma didn't want to stay there. She wanted to go home to her own realm. If I ever get to go back home.
The Sheriff felt sharp little prickles in her heart, like thousands of needles were prodding her from the inside, but after the conversation she'd just had, she really didn't have the strength to do anything about it. She didn't know how long it took her or even how she got there, but the Sheriff found herself knocking on the door of her parents' house.
A smiling Snow opened the door, but her face quickly fell when she caught sight of her daughter. Emma knew she must look awful, since she'd been crying since leaving Regina's castle. Without the Sheriff saying anything, her mother had wrapped her in a tight hug and was leading her inside the house. The blonde was gently pushed into a kitchen chair, and Snow bustled about the kitchen until she slid a cup of hot cocoa to Emma and took the seat next to her.
Once Emma's sniffling had subsided, Snow reached across the table to lightly place her hands over her daughter's. "Emma, what happened?"
"I ran into Regina and Facilier, while they were busy." When Snow's confused expression didn't shift, Emma sighed, "They were busy, busy."
Snow's lips formed a small "oh" of understanding before her eyebrows knit together in sympathy. "I'm so sorry." Snow waited, but when Emma didn't continue, she gently offered, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No… I just don't know how to make this stop hurting." Emma hated how pitiful she sounded, but she couldn't help herself. She kept her eyes trained on the table, determined not to let anymore tears escape. There were a few beats of silence, and then Snow's hands left the Sheriff's. Emma was mildly surprised when Snow wrapped her arms around her and rubbed soothing circles on her back. Despite the unexpectedness of the gesture, in that moment, Emma allowed herself to be held and let her head rest against her mother's shoulder.
Snow pressed a soft kiss on top of Emma's head. "I know this is really hard for you," the brunette murmured into blonde hair. "But I know you, and I know you can get through this. And if your Regina is half as determined as this realm's Regina, then I know you two will find your way back to each other."
Emma squeezed her eyes shut and let herself be reassured by her mom's embrace. She took a deep breath and permitted some of her insecurity with the realm situation slip into the conversation. "How can you be sure? I'm supposed to be in love with Hook in this realm. What if that messes with the whole True Love's always finding each other thing?"
Snow was quiet for a moment and then asked, "Do you really believe Regina is your Tue Love?" There was no disdain or disbelief in Snow's tone. It was a genuine question.
Emma still felt stung and vulnerable from running into the Evil Queen, and she'd spent months seeing Regina be perfectly happy without her. But Emma forced herself to focus on the last several years she'd spent with her Regina. All the monsters they'd fought, all the curses they'd broken, the life they'd built, the family they'd made… It wasn't a kingdom, but it was special. It was worth the world to her, her life with Regina. And maybe she had other options, maybe Regina had other options, but Emma had been in love before and that had nothing on the love she felt for Regina. A confidence she hadn't felt in a while filled her tone as she answered, "Yes, Regina is my True Love."
Snow squeezed her daughter's shoulders and promised, "Then it will come together in the end. Just keep fighting, and don't give up hope." Emma nodded, and the pair became wrapped in comfortable silence as Snow continue to rub her back.
That was how Charming and Neal found the pair a few minutes later. Emma sat up when she heard her father close the front door, and her little brother came charging at her. The Sheriff allowed him to climb onto her lap, and she wrapped her arms around him to make sure he didn't fall. Neal was younger here than in her realm, but she didn't mind. She had missed him being this size. But having the kid in her arms reminded her of another person she hadn't seen in too long.
Emma sighed, "I miss Eva." David glanced at his wife, who gave him a sad smile. Charming looked back at his eldest child. He remembered the pain of knowing that he wouldn't get to see her grow up, thinking he wouldn't even get to hold her when she was born. So, he squared his shoulders and walked closer to his family. He nudged his wife and daughter to stand and then started shepherding them into the living room, with Emma still carrying Neal. "Come on," he ordered, "I'm ordering pizza, and we're having a family movie night."
David may not be able to help his daughter get back to her own realm, but he could help distract her from the pain of things she couldn't control.
~SQ~
Emma woke up on her parents' couch and pushed off the blanket someone had placed around her after she'd fallen asleep. She stumbled into the kitchen where her parents kept filling her plate with pancakes, until she insisted she couldn't eat anymore.
She quickly changed into one of the extra shirts she had at her parents' place, and then made her way over to Hook's after saying goodbye to her family.
She went over to Killian's and the other Emma's almost every morning. Mostly, for Hope, the other Emma's daughter with the pirate. Hope was just a baby, but Killian was sure that it was best for the baby to be held for at least a little while each day by Emma. He seemed to be right, because, event though she wasn't really Hope's mother, the baby still seemed to always be calmed by her touch. Emma sighed as she continued her walk to Killian's. Hope was insanely cute but holding her always made the Sheriff miss her own daughter that much more. She just wished that she would get to hold Eva, and her Regina and Henry, sooner rather than later. If only the Sheriff knew how quickly sooner was coming.
For those who really wanted Hook's Emma to end up with Regina, I tried to leave a possible relationship with the Evil Queen open in this realm for Emma, should she ever decide to leave Hook.