Double Lives

Chapter 8

Author's Notes: Damn it's been a while. I'm so sorry about that guys and gals. Life got busy as hell. I went to New Orleans with my lady and partied it up on Spring Break and then school got crazy busy not to mention my business has been taking off. If you feel the urge check out my business on Etsy. It's called The Nerd Spa and I'd love to get some feedback from my once people on our Once line. Not to mention the other lines. As is, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and if you feel inclined please let me know you liked it. I can't promise that I'll get the next chapter out any faster given school is about to get hectic again and it's my last semester of my Master's so things are totally insane right now. Thank you for understanding and being patient. I'll try to get the next chapter out when I have a free moment! ~ Scarlette

"This is beautiful." Regina smiled softly at Emma as they looked around the spacious apartment. With Regina's new job and Emma starting her job with the Boston Police Department, they were making enough money to afford an upgrade to their living conditions. The Mills-Swans were growing steadily more confined in their little flat uptown and as Henry was getting older and wanted his own space, (really how much space could a six year old want her wife would ask?) it was time to start looking at another place with better schools for Henry and a closer drive for both his Mothers' to their respective jobs. Things had been tough but they were slowly improving and they were both now reaping the benefits of the near poverty they'd been in when they were still in school.

"I like the windows." Henry offered as he made a beeline to look at his room which was across the open kitchen and living room space from his Mothers', which he liked much better he claimed. "My room is big too!" He added as he headed into the white washed room. They would have to change the color. No child wanted a white room especially not their artistic well-read little boy.

"I'm not sure we can fit this into the budget just yet babe." Emma offered softly, feeling terrible as her wife's happy expression fell.

"But surely we can cut corners somewhere in order to make it work." Regina offered. "Henry loves this one so far and I like the open spaces. I can actually cook a decent meal without worrying about the electric eyes suddenly cutting off and look at that stove."

"The dishwasher is nice. I always wanted one. I'm rather tired of having dry, pruny hands." Emma eyed the black device with longing. It was an arrangement they'd had in place since they lived together before Henry was born and Emma had almost burnt the apartment down. They were living in a better apartment then they had when Henry had first been born but it was still a little shoddy and with Regina's new salary (being a lawyer had it's perks and Emma continued to ask if she could just be a kept woman,) they were able to afford a better apartment then the one they'd had before.

"The real estate agent said it was out of our price range." Emma shook her head as she looked at her wife with a small sad smile.

"What if we made them a lower offer? It's been on the market a while they might take it." Regina was desperate to get her way and she loved this apartment the moment she'd seen it. The only downside had been that it wasn't up for rent but rather for sale and Boston's properties were always at a premium, which meant they were harder to get a hold of.

The blonde took a breath looking at the hopeful expression on her wife's hopeful expression. "It is beautiful." The hardwood floors alone were worth every penny for the fact that Emma's allergies would enjoy the reprieve. She had terrible allergies and the old worn carpets in their old place didn't help in the least.

"We could be really happy here." Regina's voice was timid but hopeful. She rounded her pretty brown eyes, whipping out the famous puppy eyes to get her way. Henry often employed the same method when he was trying to get out of going to bed or brushing his teeth. It didn't work most of the time on Emma, but Regina was a sucker for the look and she often gave in on little things when it came to their son. However, when Regina chose to employ it, it was lethal. Her wife often asked how she'd managed to talk her into something without her realizing she was getting her way.

"So what do you say?"

The younger woman groaned and sighed as their son appeared.

"Please Mom? I like this room." Henry added as he came to stand in the doorway to the room he considered his bedroom.

Emma smiled at their twin hopeful expressions and nodded, "Okay, we'll try but if we don't get it, we'll have to keep looking okay?" She smiled as Henry cheered and her wife threw her arms around her and pressed her cherry lips to her thin pink lips. "Worth it." She muttered as her wife laughed brightly.

"Your Majesty, what an unpleasant surprise." Rumplestilskin dipped into a slight bow with a high-pitched giggle and Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was growing desperate now. Her family still strayed beyond her reach and she was losing hope of ever finding them as the months wore on. She wanted her wife and her son why was this so hard? What did she do to deserve not being with her family?

"I wish I could say the same but you're the only one that can help me."

"And why is that?"

"I need to get to a world without magic to retrieve something precious." She paced his lavish dining room, ignoring everything around her though the sunlight was reflecting off the roses that grew outside the floor to ceiling windows beautifully. Emma would like the blood red color so like her favored red jacket. She ran her own gloved hand along her black velvet colored sleeve. She had wanted to wear red finding it reminded her of Emma but she knew the dark one would find some way to use it against her.

"This something precious…what are you willing to give for it?"

"Anything." She offered, knowing she sounded desperate and not truly caring.

"There is a way to cross the realms." Rumplestilskin offered, resisting the urge to rub his hands together. He would finally get his way if he played his cards right. Regina was desperate for something and though he was curious as to what that was, he didn't see her making any moves that would interfere in his plans. He grinned, his ever-present oily grin as he stepped towards Regina, the sunlight glittering on his gold scaly skin.

"I've tried everything I can think of, unless you have an artifact that I'm unaware of…" The Queen trailed off as a puff of blue smoke brought forth a small rolled up scroll.

"What is this?" She demanded, turning and taking a step away from him, putting space between their bodies. It was an intimidation tactic on his part to get her to back down and though she fell for it every time she wasn't going to allow herself to be used by anyone in that fashion again. Emma is waiting on me, she thought. I'll be safe when we're together again and she'll take care of everything. And I'll take care of her and Henry in return.

"It's your way to go to a land without magic…to retrieve your precious somethings." He grinned at her, offering the scroll with a flourishing bow.

She eyed the scroll before snatching it from his hand and pulling it open with greedy fingers. Her cherry lips parted as she looked up at him with wide eyes. This was dark even by her standards. A curse to end all curses but if it put her on the path to her wife and son she was willing to do whatever it took…only this might be too much. She needed help but did she need this kind of help? It would cause her enemies to suffer too though and that was a plus. Considering all Snow White had done to her a little cursing was in order. She wouldn't allow her to end her second chance at happiness like she'd ended her first. She turned away, tucking the scroll into her pocket and moving away.

"Let me know how it works out dearie."

The Dark One's shrill laughter followed her out, sending a cold chill down her spine.

"Do you not realize what you've gotten yourself into?" Maleficent asked as she eyed the little scroll Regina held out to her. "This thing, this curse…I've never seen anything so dark. Isn't there any other way?"

"I don't know what else to do!" Regina raged and then forced herself to calm. Getting angry didn't do her any good. She'd all ready tried rage to get her to Henry and Emma and there was no way to them that way.

"Why do you need something so dark? Isn't there any other way?" Maleficent shook her head, her tight curls flying around her head as she stared at her closest friend. Sometimes they were enemies, sometimes they kissed with fists, but they had always had a strange and rather complicated relationship that neither had ever understood. She'd once thought to pursue something with Regina but her dark haired friend's dedication to the family she believed waited for her just out of her grasp was absolute. She wouldn't be with anyone but the wife she'd promised herself to and that was that. Maleficent had understood but that didn't mean they still hadn't sought comfort with one another over the years. Just not in the form that most people often thought of.

"There was something." Regina confessed, hunching forward. "My mirror mentioned it to me but I've had no success."

"What is it?" Maleficent asked, her purple and pink silk dress brushing over the muted stones of her palace's floor as she moved towards her best friend. She knelt down, laying her hands on Regina's knees as she looked up at her with large eyes. "I worry for you." She added, "This curse, it won't be good for you. It'll leave you empty and wanting. Even your family won't be able to fill this void."

"My family is all I have. They're right outside of my grasp. Sometimes when I almost give up hope, I can feel Emma."

Maleficent smiled softly, sadly watching her friend's eyes jump with desperate hope. "I felt her last night. Calling me, asking for me to come. She's there and our son. He's so beautiful. I wish you could see him. He's so smart and sweet. And Emma…my wife is so beautiful." She babbled on and Maleficent's smile grew indulgent as she listened attentively. It was the best way to diffuse Regina she'd come to find. All she had to do was mention her family and she'd babble on for hours about them. She didn't mind the chatter, finding it brought her own sullen moods to a screeching halt if only for a time. To see her oldest friend brought to life like that, the way she waved her hands, the bright happy smile on her face that lit up her pretty amber eyes made her own withered heart dance in her chest with the thought of her own happiness existing like Regina was so sure it did for her in this other world.

"You should come with me." Regina's words made her eyebrows shoot up.

"Is that what you want?"

"Once we figure out how to get there, you should come. You'd love Boston Maleficent. Emma and I have a beautiful home and if I explain to her that you're my oldest, dearest friend I'm sure she'd agree to let you stay with us. I could show you the city, we could have coffee and juice for Henry and go walking in the parks." Her friend was off again.

"Do you think I'd be happy in this place?" She asked carefully as if testing the words on her tongue. Happy, she hadn't been happy in a long time. Being happy was an indulgence she'd long since given up on but maybe this new world…this new place…she was slowly allowing hope to seep into her bones. Hope she hadn't felt that in a number of years.

"I know you would. Emma and I will do everything in our power to make you feel welcome. And our son would adore you, I just know he would."

"If I go with you, you aren't using this." She held up the scroll. "Promise me you won't use this to bring me with you."

"I…" Regina hesitated, chewing her cherry red bottom lip.

"Promise me."

"I promise."