Snow White suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the scene in the den of the Mills' mansion.

There, on the couch, was the mayor's evil half in a black leather pants and white tunic with her feet bare, and her daughter Emma who's comfortably sleeping against the Queen's front with her back facing Snow's as they laid on the cream colored couch. The Queen smiled smugly as she saw the blonde's mother entered the room and pulled Emma's slumbering form more closely against her front.

Snow thinks she's going to pop an aneurism right there and then.

"W-what—"

"Do shut up, Snow White. Can't you see Emma is sleeping?" the Queen snipped in a whisper as she held the sleeping blonde close with a protective arm around her back.

"I told you, Snow, now is not a good time," Regina said behind her with an exasperated sigh.

Snow turned around to face the mayor with a bewildered expression. "W-what… what's happening here, Regina? Why is my daughter being held by her ?" Snow spluttered as she pointed a finger at the figure on the couch.

"I'm right here, you know. You can ask me," the Queen said in a bored tone. Emma must've mumbled something in her sleep because the Queen suddenly comforted her. "Hush now, darling. I'm here," she said in the softest voice that Snow never even heard from Regina.

Snow feels she's going to faint.

"Come with me to the kitchen and I'll make us some tea," Regina said as she grasped the shocked woman's arm. "Do you need anything?" she asked the Queen as she looked fondly at Emma's sleeping form.

"We're alright," the Queen answered as she pressed soft kisses on the blonde's golden mane.

Regina smiled softly at the scene before turning around and dragged the small woman into the kitchen. As Snow seated herself in one of the bar stools Regina prepared the kettle and grabbed some boxes that contains the bags of assorted flavored tea.

"Do you still prefer chamomile, Snow?" she softly asked the still distraught woman.

"Y-yes. Yes, chamomile please," Snow stuttered.

With a nod, Regina gathered two tea bags of chamomile tea and put them on two separate mugs. One the water on the kettle is ready she poured them on the mugs and let the tea bags settle. One she placed the mug in front of Snow she situated herself in one of the barstools across the pixie haired woman.

None of them spoke for a while. As Regina sipped her tea she watched the distraught woman in front of her. She's still looking a little pale but otherwise alright. And based on her slumped shoulders she knows the woman finally understood the situation.

"Since when had he been hurting her?" Snow asked in a broken whisper.

Regina took a deep breath then. It's not her place to say anything but Emma never asked her to lie to her mother. "Since he came back from the Underworld," she replied.

That snapped Snow back to attention as she raised her gaze to the woman across her. "What?" she rasped.

Regina just shrugged. "I'm not sure. But since he came back Emma has never been the same again. I didn't notice at first but there are times I find her hiding her bruises. When I asked her once she said it's because of her clumsiness." Regina heaved a sigh. "I should've known better."

"Do you…" Snow faltered as she took a deep breath. "Do you think he's done this before?"

Regina frowned. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I've seen some changes in Emma when she and Killian started dating. It was barely noticeable but it's still there. I thought it was because their relationship were still new and all so I never asked."

Regina did her best not to smack the woman in front of her for her obliviousness. "Snow—"

"It was none of my business!" the woman shrieked.

"And yet you managed to reveal a secret," Regina deadpanned.

"I was ten! And I thought we were past that?!"

"To me, yes. To the Queen, you still have a lot of work to do."

"Oh, for God's sake."

"Who, for the love of God, screamed like a banshee on the loose?" the Queen's irritated voice floated in the room as the said woman entered. "Emma is resting so please keep it down," she added as her gaze met Snow's. "Oh, it was you, then," she stated with a raised eyebrow.

"Excuse me?!" Snow gasped, aghast.

"You do, dear," the Queen said as she passed Regina and headed straight to the fridge.

"I do not!" Snow insisted.

"Do keep it down, dear. It's not pleasurable to hear," the Queen sniffed as she closed the refrigerator. She's now holding two cups of blueberry flavored yogurt. Seeing Regina's fond smile as the woman took notice at what she was holding, the Queen smiled as she gathered two spoons. She squeezed Regina's shoulder fondly when she passed by.

"What was that all about?" Snow asked, her eyes wide in shock at the affectionate gesture of the Queen once the said woman was out of the kitchen.

"Nothing you should be concerned about," Regina said and waved her off.

"Regina—"

"We already had a mutual agreement," she cut her off, "And both of us are concerned with Emma so she's doing her best to be civil towards you or any of the Storybrooke's citizens."

"She just insulted me! And you call that being civil?!"

"Had she ripped your heart out?"

That stopped Snow from spurting out nonsensical rambles. "W-well… no."

"Had she incinerated you on the spot the moment you walked in?"

"…no"

"Then there's your answer," Regina said with a roll of her eyes.

"B-but—"

"Please bore someone else with your incessant whining. If the Queen hears your unpleasant ramblings one more time I won't stop her from anything she wanted to do with you." She glared at the woman. "Now tone it down. Emma has been through a rough situation last night and she needed the rest."

Snow huffed. "I still don't understand why Emma ran towards you for comfort instead of me. I'm her mother, for Pete's sake!"

"Because she knows you'll only give her the hope speech and all that true love crap that will only make her feel guilty," Regina snapped. "She already feels left out now that you're pregnant again and she needed someone to snap her back to attention and not to smother her. You should know by now that Emma doesn't like being coddled."

"B-but… But why you in the first place? She can go to Ruby. Or Lily!"

"Because she knows Miss Lucas will tell you since you two are close friends. And her friendship with Miss Page is rocky at best." Regina sighed. "And she didn't came to me, Snow. To the Queen. If I hadn't seen them together in my front porch last night I wouldn't even know what happened."

That must've done the trick because Snow suddenly deflates. "How bad was it?" she whispered as she wrapped her hands around the mug of her cooling tea.

Regina bit her lower lip momentarily before sighing. "She has a rather large bruise on her left eye, a handprint-shaped bruise on her neck, a few bruised ribs, and a broken wrist." Regina stopped speaking for a few seconds to keep the sob from coming out of her lips. "Me and Queenie over there tried to convince Emma to let us take her to the hospital to check if she's suffering from a possible concussion since she's been drowsy all night but she refused quite vehemently to the point she almost had a panic attack. So me and the Queen has been keeping tabs on her all night."

Snow is now gripping her mug quite forcefully as her face turned red in anger. Regina can sympathize. If Emma hadn't stopped her on time, she might've gone to the sheriff's station to give that handless wonder a piece of her wrath.

A chime from the small woman's phone echoed between the tense silence of the kitchen. One look at the message the woman suddenly had gone pale. "Shit."

"What—"

Before Regina can utter the question the front door suddenly burst open, almost breaking it off from its hinges. Then the figure of her fifteen year old son came to view and Regina suddenly stood up from her seat when she saw how Henry's face reddens with furious rage. But beneath all that rage was worry for his blonde mother.

"Where is she?" he asked as his mother stood in front of him.

"Sweetheart, you need to calm down," Regina placated her son as she gently grasped his shoulders. She can feel his body shaking.

As Henry looked at her, Regina can see tears forming in his eyes. "Where is she, Mom? Where's Ma?"

Regina shushed her son as she pulled him in a hug. "Your Ma is fine. She's resting in the den with the Queen. Now calm down first before you go see her. She's worried enough now as it is."

The boy nodded as he rested his head on his mother's shoulder. Regina helped him calm down by gently stroking his back up and down. When his breath slows down that's where she released him from the hug, only to gasp out loud when she saw how badly bruised his right hand was.

"Henry!" she worriedly exclaimed as she took the boy's hand in hers to examine the bruise.

"He deserves it," Henry said through gritted teeth.

"I'll go get some ice," Snow said from behind her. A few moments later Snow is carrying a clean towel with ice in it that Regina took to press it against the boy's injury. Henry let out a hiss at the contact. "Did you get him good?" Snow asked much to Regina's astonishment.

"Snow!" Regina gasped.

But Henry just smirked at his grandmother. "A good crack on his jaw and cheek with a strong knee in the nuts," he said proudly.

Regina's eyes widens at that. "Henry!"

"Very good, my boy," Snow smirked with a giddy clap.

Regina doesn't want to admit it but the way Snow acts at the news she's beginning to worry, and slightly scaring the hell out of her, but still.

"Hey, what's with all this— Henry!" Emma gasped as she took quick strides to get closer to the boy even though her bruised ribs are protesting on the sudden act. "What happened to your hand?" she asked, worry clouding her beautiful sea green eyes.

"I'm fine, Ma. It'll heal," he mumbled as he took a closer look to his blonde mother's appearance. "I'm sorry for my language, Moms, but you look like shit."

"What do you think how I feel?" Emma deadpanned.

Henry winced apologetically. "Right. Sorry, Ma."

Emma shook her head. "None of that. Let's go to the den and take a seat," she said as she ushered her son into the den in slow steps with Snow and Regina trailing behind them.

"What did you do, boy?" the Queen asked as she too saw the bruise on Henry's hand.

The boy shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I got myself a new punching bag."

The Queen just raised an eyebrow at the boy before gently grasping his hand with her own. She hoverd her hand above the bruise until a crimson smoke emanated from her palm and wrapped itself around the bruised hand. A few moments later the smoke cleared and Henry's hand is as good as new.

Henry looked at his now healed hand with awe. "Wow. It looks like nothing happened. Thanks, Mom!"

The Queen just smiled sweetly at the boy then kissed him on the forehead. Ever since Regina shared the lightness in her dark heart and apologized to Henry profusely for her previous actions since she came to town and had proven herself somewhat worthy of his trust, he had started calling her Mom again. Making her heart almost burst out from her chest. "You're welcome, my prince." She ruffled his hair affectionately. "No more punching faces for you, young man. Let the adults do all the action. Now, up you go and do your homework."

"But, Mom—"

"Listen to your mother, Henry. We'll share the other information with you once you're done with your school work," Regina interjected.

"We don't want to distract you from your education since you're already distracted now as it is," Emma added.

"I really hate it when you guys started ganging up on me," Henry mumbled with a pout.

The Queen clucked her tongue as she pushed the boy towards the door. "We're not ganging up on you, son. We're just worried since all this chaos has been preventing you from focusing on your education. We hope you understand that."

"I know," Henry sighed.

"We'll keep you posted. We promise."

With a dejected nod, Henry stalked his way up the stairs and to his room, leaving the women in the den with uncomfortable silence. In the end, Snow was the first one to snap.

"What are we going to do now?" Snow asked as she glanced at her daughter that is now sitting between the mayor and the Queen.

"Is killing him out of the cards yet?" the Queen asked in a bored tone.

"No one is killing anyone, alright. Just leave it," Emma said with a sigh.

"Leave it? What do you mean 'just leave it'?! Don't you see what that poor excuse of a man has been doing to you?!" The Queen was livid.

"I just don't want to bother anyone with my problems," Emma mumbles.

Regina reached out to touch the blonde's hand with hers. "Emma, you know you will never be a bother to us, right?" she said as she gently caressed the bandage that held the woman's broken wrist with the tip of her index finger.

"Still, it's my problem to fix. You shouldn't be getting stuck in the middle of my personal drama," Emma argued.

"If you getting this battered up to the point you can't even stand up on your own, it's our business," the Queen snapped. "I should've ripped his heart out then crushed it when I had the chance," she mumbled irritatedly to herself.

With a slight smile on her lips, Emma grasped the woman's soft hand against her own and gently squeezed it. "I haven't thanked you from saving me last night," she whispered.

The Queen just waved her off to hide the blush that's slowly forming on her cheeks. "I was just passing by when I saw what happened. And I know Regina will undoubtedly strangle me if she finds out I didn't do anything to help you."

Regina inelegantly snorted at that. "Damn right," she muttered under her breath that didn't go unheard by the blonde.

That made Emma smile. "Still," Emma insisted as she squeezed her hand again. "Thank you."

Instead of letting Emma's hand go like what her mind was commanding her to do, she flipped her hand and entwined their fingers together without even glancing at the woman. The act didn't go unnoticed by the pixie haired woman that's just quietly sitting in the loveseat.

Snow knows there's something going on between the three women. Something neither the three of them even notices. But whatever that is, she hopes it will be good, if not better, for her daughter. Emma has already been through so much and she wishes she could do something more, something she can provide as her mother. But she missed so much of her daughter's life that she doesn't even know where to start. Emma hasn't opened herself towards her mother, even when she was still pre-curse Mary Margaret Blanchard. Emma is a closed-off person with a mile wide walls that she surrounds herself with and only very few people were lucky enough to break through it to get to know the real Emma Swan. Unfortunately for Snow, she's not one of those people Emma trusts implicitly.

It hurts her to know that Emma trusts Regina—and now the Queen—more than her own mother.

"You should stay here for the meantime," they heard Regina said as she kept her gaze down on Emma's bandaged wrist.

"She's right," the Queen agrees. "You need someone to look after you."

"I'm a big girl, I can handle myself," Emma grumbles.

"Your bruises and broken wrist says otherwise, my dear," the Queen countered. "And with your bruised ribs, you're not fit to go to work either."

"Unless you let us take you to the hospital for a proper checkup on your bruises," Regina adds.

"I'm fine. No need to go to the hospital. Jeez! And I can go to work. There's nothing much to work around anyway besides those reports," Emma argued.

"And how can you write those reports manually if your dominant hand is incapable because of your broken wrist?"

"I can still go to work," Emma stubbornly huffs.

The Queen looked at the quiet pixie haired woman with a withering glare. "She get that stubbornness from you," she accused with a well-manicured finger pointed at her.

Snow just raised her hand in mock surrender while rolling her eyes.

"Wait! How come you get to heal Henry's broken hand but not mine?" Emma suddenly asked with a whine as she look alternately at the women sitting on her either sides.

Regina and the Queen looked at each other. One knowing look from each other they immediately knew what the other was thinking. Seeing this, Emma groaned. That look is not good.

"Let's go to the hospital to get you properly checked out," Regina said.

"Then, and only then, will we heal you," the Queen added with a smirk.

Emma only groaned again. If she wanted to go to work without her injuries getting in the way, she might as well heed the queens' wishes. It was really disturbing at how Emma was tightly wrapped around their little finger. And whether Emma admits it or not, she sort of likes it, embarrassingly so.

Great. Just great.