Part 4

"Will you have a drink with me?" Emma asked. Regina continued to look at the place where their son had disappeared. She was stunned and suddenly felt such a terrible emptiness, much more terrible than the one left by Daniel or ... Robin. Though her feelings about the latter were complicated. Now was the time to answer the blonde's question. Regina tried not to look Emma in the eye, afraid she would feel that something inside again that drew her to the Savior like a magnet.

"Why do you keep offering me a drink, Miss Swan? I suppose you have better things to do? Have you taken Henry's words too much to heart? I assure you I don't require a babysitter." She said tartly, and though her mind knew she was doing the right thing, her heart longed for Emma... not to mention the thought of a kiss that had just crossed her mind. Something was wrong with her...

"Gina..." Emma sighed. "I just want to spend time with you, is that so hard to accept?"

"I guess you won't have a chance today." Regina said coldly as she saw Snow walking towards them. She had a "we need to talk" expression on her face, and judging by Emma's reaction to seeing her mother, Queen knew she didn't want to be part of the conversation. "See you."

And she did puff, immediately moving to her house.

But without Henry, it felt big and empty... and alien. It didn't bring comfort, neither did the castle walls she'd lived in growing up, or even her castle where she plotted revenge to destroy Snow White and Prince Charming... It was only now that the realization hit her that she was glad her revenge failed... The revenge that resulted in Emma, the Savior... a woman who evoked such emotions in the Evil Queen that she herself was afraid to admit or think about them.

But she just had to accept them and let go. Emma's love was this undeserving captain with no manners and a strong taste for rum... In addition, Regina once found him at Tinkerbell's, in a very ambiguous situation... But she did not mention this to Emma, because she did not want to spoil her happiness.

But lately, the blonde hasn't looked happy at all...

And that kiss...

At the thought of him, Regina touched her lips, as if she could still recall the taste of Emma's lips...so... sensual...

She shook her head.

She couldn't think about that now, not when Henry went on a trip. The Queen wondered if he had found any shelter, where had he landed? What does the Enchanted Forest look like now? She gave Henry all the maps and security in her castle, saying that if it existed, Henry could use it...

She was grateful to David for teaching Henry swordsmanship. She taught him how to ride a horse herself. Henry also occasionally met with Hook, but those were three meetings Regina reluctantly allowed, but then Henry himself refused to see his stepfather again. Regina deduced from the snippets of conversation that the pirate wasn't interested in Henry, he was just doing it to please Emma.

It didn't matter now. She had to move on with her life, although something was clearly missing... she knew that this must have been an important reason why she drank the potion. And without Henry it was even worse.

"Where are you my prince..?" She muttered under her breath as she felt a sob welling up inside her.

Regina looked around the empty living room, which was slowly sinking in the rays of the setting sun, and her eyes fell on the cupboard in the corner where she kept her cider. She poured herself a glass, kicked off her heels, and sat down in the chair. At the snap of her fingers, a fire appeared in the fireplace, and the queen sat sipping cider and staring into the flames.

All alone.

Again.

She sighed heavily.

She had always known that Henry would leave her. Not because she was the Evil Queen, but because children were like that.

They grow up, they leave home...

She did not regret the path she went through to be who she was now. It made her relationship with her son healthier... better... She appreciated every effort from the boy, whether it was to bring her a happy ending or forcing Emma to spend time with her.

She talked about forcing because she couldn't believe the Savior would want to spend time with her on her own. Although the blonde was fortunately not like her mother or father, Regina still felt inadequate. After all, Emma was a child of true love, she used white magic, she was pure. How could she want to be friends with Regina? It was beyond the understanding of the mayor.

She was always insecure because she was always told she wasn't enough... But was she really?

She was sipping her cider when there was a knock on the door. Surprised, she went to open it and found herself face to face.

"Miss Swan? What are you doing here?"

"I came for a drink?" Emma asked innocently, smiling slightly, but Regina sensed her uncertainty.

"Come in."

Emma's smile widened and she stepped inside, taking off her shoes in the hallway and hanging up her jacket. The sight was so... simple, yet so familiar to Regina, as if the Savior were walking into her own home. And this observation was disturbing.

She followed the blonde into the living room, trying to ignore the way the blonde's shirt tightened her shoulder and back muscles.

"Cider? Wine? Whiskey?" she asked, approaching the woman.

"Cider." Emma replied, leaning back on the sofa with a sigh that resembled a moan of pleasure, and Regina bit her lip at the sound, trying not to think about how wonderful it would be to hear that sound in her bedroom.

She turned with a slight blush and handed the glass to Emma, not missing that the blonde was watching her every move, licking her lips slightly, and Regina had a feeling it wasn't for the alcohol.

She sat down and grabbed her glass, watching Emma across the table as she downed half of it in one gulp.

"I see you needed that drink more than I did." The brunette noticed.

"You have no idea." Emma chuckled humorlessly.

They were silent for a moment, then the blonde took up.

"Do you know the last time we drank cider in this lounge?"

"It's hard to forget our first meeting." Regina smiled.

"Especially since I had to test every drink from you for poison afterward."

"You've given me plenty of reasons to resort to such measures."

"Is it about your tree? I won't tell, I was really pissed off." Emma chuckled.

But Regina remembered the image of the blonde cutting down her apple tree with a chainsaw. Sweat poured down her forehead and her muscles tensed, and she crossed her legs immediately, which did not go unnoticed by her companion.

"What is it about?" Emma asked dumbfounded.

"Nothing... so... how did the conversation with your mother go? Snow looked nervous and determined at the same time, what did you do this time?" Regina hastily changed the subject and Emma gulped the rest of the drink.

"I need something stronger for that." She said with a bitter expression. Regina raised her eyebrows, waved her hand, and Emma's glass filled with whiskey. She immediately drank half a glass.

"You could have done that right away? Then why did you pour me a drink yourself?"

"It's called good manners." Regina mocked.

"Interesting... I think you wanted me to get a good look at your ass from this angle." Emma said and Regina choked on her drink, blushing. The blonde woman laughed. "I wish you could see your face!"

"Very clever, Miss Swan. Now that we're done with getting off topic, why don't we move on to your mother." Regina muttered, her cheeks still flushed. With a little satisfaction, she noticed the change in Emma's facial expression, which suddenly stopped laughing, looking worried and even anguished, and Regina had an irresistible need to somehow relieve the blonde. But she sat there, motionless.

"My mother... she's just... my mother." Emma sighed as she sipped her drink and stared at the fire in the fireplace. "She wants to convince me at all costs that family happiness is for me. She even wants to force me to get pregnant and stay at home like an exemplary wife."

Regina sat silently, turning her glass in her fingers and watching the play of light in the glass.

"It doesn't sound like you at all, but it doesn't sound like Snow White either." Regina noticed. "Is your mother okay? For decades I tried to break her spirit, she was relentless. And now she wants her daughter, the Saviour, to just be a housewife?"

"My mother wants me to take care of Killian and stop considering...another option..." Emma mumbled barely audibly.

"What option, Miss Swan? Now I'm really intrigued." Regina put her glass down because she was afraid of letting it slip from her trembling hands.

"Do you feel it too?" Emma asked suddenly, looking at her intensely.

"I'm afraid I don't understand the question." Regina replied carefully, feigning confusion, but forgot that Emma knew her well.

"Come on Gina! This tension between us! Spark of magic with every touch! Even my dad noticed it." Emma scoffed.

"Your father, like your mother, is looking for signs in the horse manure to prove it's a unicorn."

"Stop. I know what you're doing, Gina." Emma shook her head, then stood up suddenly, swaying slightly, probably due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed, and crouched down in front of Regina, who was sitting paralyzed, watching the blonde's every move, who now gently grabbed her hand. A shudder ran through the brunette's body, her eyes turned purple for a moment, accepting the magic offered involuntarily by Emma.

"Are you still saying you don't know what I'm talking about?" whispered the Savior, intensifying her gaze, though the Queen had seen the woman's blue eyes wander to her mouth at times.

She shook her head in spite of herself, though the tension between them was palpable.

Emma watched her for a moment like searching for something, then Regina saw the playfulness in her eyes fade away, and her eyes become sad and empty.

But it was an impression of the moment. The blonde lowered her head, cleared her throat and stood up.

"I think I'd better go." She said quietly and headed towards the front door.

Regina sat alone by the dying fire for a long time, just as Emma had left her, wondering why the hell she hadn't kept the woman and explained her feelings? What was wrong with her? Why did she feel such a strong need to be with Emma, such a strong desire to be with the blonde?

In addition to her wounded heart, she also had to fight sexual frustration, because every touch of other woman almost drove her crazy.

***

When the first curse was broken a few years ago, when everyone's memories of their magical selves returned, and Henry turned his back on her by choosing his birth mother, Regina thought she had reached the end of her loneliness. That she couldn't feel any more alone.

However, it turned out that she was wrong.

Only now, when Henry wasn't around, did she feel what loneliness was. Zelena left right after Robin's death, wanting to raise her daughter away from this madness and small town. Her former stepdaughter and old nemesis has been keeping a distance from her lately, which might hurt Regina if she cared, but it made her wonder what it was about Snow White not chattering comforting words in her ear that Queen didn't need... The rest of the residents behaved correctly towards her, no one did her any harm, because Jefferson was locked up in the hospital in the psychiatric ward. Everything seems to be back to normal...

Except that Regina had never felt so abandoned before.

Salt on her festering wounds was also the strange behavior of Emma, who seemed to have taken her mother's words to heart and became an exemplary wife, almost never appearing alone, always accompanied by Captain Guyliner, who strutted in a leather jacket and open shirt, kissing Emma passionately whenever he saw the mayor on the horizon.

And Emma let him, though her smile was fake.

Regina didn't know what game it was, but her heart ached and stubbornly refused to admit to herself why.

She knew it was impossible to feel that way about Emma when her true love, Robin, had died not so long ago. Could she forget him so quickly and turn her affections to the sexy sheriff? No, it was impossible.

As if to soothe her remorse, she went to the cemetery after work. She conjured a small wreath and placed it on Robin's grave.

"You shouldn't be here." She muttered under her breath as she looked at the tombstone. "And if you were here with me, maybe you could explain to me... how I feel? Maybe if you were, I wouldn't feel so... heartbroken."

Regina felt tears spring to her eyes. Since Henry left, only now realizing that it's been three months, she's become very emotional. With him, she felt the need to pull herself together, to be there for him, no matter how distant, but she was... and now nothing was keeping her feelings in check except the image she had in society. The city was suffocating her, Emma's presence, and lately absence, only added to her burden. She didn't know what she had done wrong anymore, and that kiss... which apparently meant nothing to the blonde and which had shaken Regina to the core, came back to her like a boomerang. She couldn't reject him or accept him, because to accept would be to admit her feelings, and to reject that the kiss had nothing to do with it, that it was a mistake - and she wasn't ready to let it go.

So weak, so soft!

She turned away from the tombstone and walked towards the crypt. She pushed aside the sarcophagus and went downstairs to a room where she could cry, throw fireballs at nothing behind the mirror, where she could stop pretending...even for a while.

Regina didn't know how long she had been sitting in the crypt when she suddenly heard a murmur. She looked around anxiously, and immediately a fireball appeared in her hand - an old habit that had not died.

The murmur became a voice, strangely distorted, veiled. Regina began to rummage through the bookshelf where the sound was coming from. Suddenly she took out a slightly dusty leather frame, and the voice became clear. She gasped and opened the cover, inside there was a mirror, and in it a face ...

"Henry?" Regina asked, looking uncertainty at the person in the mirror.

"Mom!" The man greeted her with relief on his bearded face.

"Are you Henry?" Regina asked skeptically, and the man nodded hastily. A grown man who looked to be in his thirties was staring at her. His hair was messy, long and curly, dark, and his face was covered with a thick beard. Only the eyes were like Henry's, like Emma's eyes Regina knew so well. But they weren't full of life and hope, just tired and anxious. "What happened?" she asked hastily.

"Mom. I don't have much time to explain." The face in the mirror, he looked over his shoulder, the image was blurry every now and then, as if Henry was running. "They're after me. You have to help me!" The man began to whisper insistently.

"But... how... what... what's going on?" Regina was confused. "Why do you look like this?" She asked before she realized she was opening her mouth.

"Time flows differently here. Listen, Mom! Focus. You must help me. You must come to the Enchanted Forest and save Lucy!"

"Wait a minute...who is Lucy?"

"My..." For a moment the image disappeared. "...daughter." Henry gasped. His face flushed red, sweat pouring down his forehead. "I'm running, but they're getting close."

"Who?" Regina asked

Harry's face hardened. "Her guards."

"Who...?" She wanted to ask, but Henry's face disappeared and the spell was broken, the mirror showed only her worried face and wrinkles on her forehead. "Henry...?" She whispered, but was met with dead silence.