Work Text:
"Hi Mom, we"re in the living room."
Regina shakes the water off her dripping coat and sighs, removing her sodden shoes on the rug. Her hair"s even wet from the short distance from the car to the house. Carefully hanging her coat up, away from the rest, she follows his voice into the living room.
He"s on the floor in front of the sofa, not on the sofa - why would he sit on the sofa when he can sit on the floor? Controller in hand, he leans in, guiding his little avatar as he and Lily make soup.
No, not soup, that"s the last level.
Burgers?
"We need cheese."
"Right, cheese. What did I grab?"
"Sausage, just put it on the counter, we"ll need it."
Pizza. It"s a pizza level.
Lily sits beside him, also on the floor, guiding her own little cartoon chef to the cheese. Her beer rests on a coaster on the coffee table next to Henry"s soda, and it"s nearly gone. Sitting down on the sofa behind them both, Regina runs her fingers through her hair, shaking it dry while she glances over the pile of homework. "Are the counters moving?"
"Yeah they float away and Lily--"
"Dammit." The pizza Lily was trying to construct floats to the other side of the screen and her little chef can no longer reach it. At least, nothing"s on fire.
However, nothing makes Mal laugh quite as hard as the kitchen being on fire. Her nose crinkles up and it"s adorable, even if it makes her useless at playing until she stops laughing.
They managed to all play together for awhile Sunday morning before Zelena came with the baby, Lily had to go to the diner and Henry went to the library to work on a project with his friends. Moments always end with them scattered, pulled in a hundred different directions.
Henry saves the pizza before it catches on fire, then pauses the game and turns his head up to her. "How was the school board meeting?"
Regina rests her hands on her knees, watching the rain lash the window beyond the television before she looks back at her children. It was easier just to watch than talk to them, even though she loves them. "Long."
Lily swings her beer, controller on her knee. "I don"t know how you do it. All those meetings."
Henry looks at Lily and grins. "You should have brought Mal, I think they"re still scared of her."
Regina herself is no longer evil queen enough that anyone is afraid of her at school board meetings. It"s both wonderful and abysmal. Meetings drag on far longer than they used to, but it is for the best. She"s not the mayor she once was, and meetings take longer, but it"s better, arguments and all.
"You"ll be happy to learn the school is getting a sailing program, the harbor will make space for some training skiffs and Hook has offered to lead the program, like you thought."
"He likes teaching." Henry pats her knee. "It"ll be good."
"I hope so."
"He"ll be patient with getting dumped in the harbor by kids, over and over. Should be funny." Lily finishes her beer and stands, looking down at Regina with a not-so innocent smile. "I might have to come and watch. I mean, volunteer to help at the school."
"We need practical skills, Mom, in case we ever go back to the other world. Swords, archery, sailing, it"s all important." Henry drags himself up on the sofa beside her and pats her shoulder.
"And more fun than basketball?"
"I like basketball." He shrugs, staring up at the ceiling before he looks at her. "Just not as much as I like swords, and I doubt knowing basketball will help me with an ogre."
She prods the center of her forehead. It"s not quite a headache, but if she"s not careful, it"ll get there. Regina smiles at Henry, taking his hand and squeezing it. “Thanks for suggesting it. I think it"ll really help Killian feel more connected to the town."
"Well, that"s the grand plan right? Emma said you and Mal were helping him with the paperwork of existing in this work, and I know Mal loves paperwork more than you do."
Chuckling, Regina accepts the glass of wine Lily hands her when she returns. "More than I do, really?"
"She got excited about his stats homework." Lily sets out a placemat and napkin on the coffee table in front of Regina. "No one should ever be excited by stats homework."
"It wasn"t that bad." Henry tilts his head towards the heavy book on the side table. "Mom"s always loved helping me with my homework. I"m used to it."
Lily rolls her eyes. "Queens of darkness my ass, queens of nerds is more like it." The way she keeps smiling warms Regina"s chest enough to make up for the rain.
Henry looks up at his step-sister, grinning. "Dinner turned out good."
"Thanks, we have all these tomatoes from the garden outside of town, so they"re in everything. Making sauce is pretty easy though." She nudges him and grins. "Easier in real life than this game. I haven"t set this kitchen on fire once."
Sipping her wine, Regina tries to focus on pleasant heat of it in her throat, not the fact that she"s hasn"t made dinner once this week and only Monday was she home to eat it with her family.
"Mom even helped," Lily announces before the microwave dings and she"s off to the kitchen to grab Regina"s dinner.
"She helped?" Mal"s cooking assistance usually involves making sure baked goods are heated all the way through, grilling anything that needs to be cooked outside, and stealing uncooked meat to fry it herself. It"s loosely defined as assistance, though Regina loves having her there.
"She did," Henry says. "It was pretty funny watching the two of them. Lily knows how to really cook and Mal kept cheating with magic."
"Cutting tomatoes with magic isn"t cheating."
Henry chuckles and sits back, giving her room to eat when Lily drops off her pasta. "It"s very much cheating, but useful with dishes."
"You didn"t let her wave the dishes clean again did you? We have a dishwasher." Regina stabs the first bite of her pasta, with it in front of her, she"s acutely aware of how long ago lunch was.
"Shit, you need parmesan."
Henry raises his eyebrows.
"Fuck, sorry." Lily mutters in the kitchen.
"Nothing I haven"t heard."
"And nothing you"ll repeat. Your sister"s fucking language is something she"s going to work on."
"Fine, Mom ." Lily emphasizes the word like it"s just as bad as fuck. She leans over Regina"s dinner to grate parmesan on top of it. Serving at home. She doesn"t have to do that, but…
She said mom.
Regina nearly drops her fork on the carpet, and reaches for her wine without any subtlety.
Lily blushes, deep red, and sits down on the floor, cheese grater in hand. "So Mom, dragon mom, said I could try it on you, if I wanted to. See how it felt. She thought you"d like it."
Gulping her wine and trying not to cry is a fucking great example of maternal affection, and Henry squeezes Regina"s hand because Lily isn"t ready to be tearfully hugged over dinner. Not yet.
"It felt wonderful," Regina says, looking up into her daughter"s dark eyes. "At least, on my end."
"Eat," Lily insists, pushing the moment back even though gratitude is all over her face. "Henry and I can make awkward conversation while you wolf down your food. You"re starving."
"We can"t call it dragoning down your food?" Henry nudges Regina, then gestures at her food. "You eat faster than Ruby when you"re hungry."
"My other mouth is bigger, a chicken is literally a chicken nugget when you"re the size of a fucking house."
"You"re saying you need a barrel of barbeque sauce?"
"That would be nice, yeah."
Henry winks at her. "Fuck yeah."
Henry and Lily look at each other until they crack, both laughing. It"s easy, happy, far more warming than the dinner or the wine (though both are fantastic). Regina has to grab her napkin because she"ll laugh and get sauce everywhere.
"A whole chicken is a nugget."
"Size-wise, yeah, I think that"s about right, I-" Lily pantomimes holding something in a claw. "I think so."
Regina"s pasta has just the right amount of garlic, but she can"t concentrate. They"re talking, about nothing, teasing each other, telling her all about the secret level they discovered that has banjo music and--
They"re safe, they"re happy. They get along, despite the age gap, and vastly different childhoods and the way Lily"s was sacrificed.
Regina spears the last bite of pasta before her mind stubbornly reminds her that dragon mom should be present for this. Mal was home for dinner preparation, and presumably she ate with them, but she"s not here laughing at their adventures in the video game kitchen or letting them teach her how to play. "Where is dragon-Mom?"
Lily and Henry share a glance and Lily takes Regina"s empty plate before Regina even has time to think about taking it to the kitchen.
"Upstairs."
Regina glances at her watch and it"s barely after eight. "Upstairs?"
If Mal had work to do, she"d be in the study, reading or something, she"d be here, with the kids. Worry settles into her stomach, competing with the warmth of food. She finishes her wine in a quick, stinging gulp.
"She was really tired," Henry says, again reaching for her hand to pat it. "Not from wedding planning or work or anything, just tired."
"And you didn"t tell me?" she touches his cheek, brushing stubble beneath her thumb. He"s growing up so fast.
Lily hovers back in the doorway. "She"s okay, tired can be okay."
"She promised."
She kisses Henry"s forehead, smiles at Lily. "I"ll just--"
"It"s okay, Mom." Lily rolls her eyes and heads back to the floor next to Henry with new beer. "We get it. We"ll be here, serving pizza to ghosts."
"Eating dessert."
"We have definitely earned dessert."
"We"ve worked so hard."
Regina leaves them deciding if they want ice cream or if they want to make brownies, and heads upstairs, her chest tight with love for them both.
The bedroom door hangs open, the weary light of the storm painting a grey swath in the hall. Inside, Mal"s blazer lies on the chair with her trousers, her shirt from this morning peaks over the hamper in the corner. Her earrings sit on the vanity next to her watch, abandoned like everything else. Regina walks silently forward, approaching the bed in the weak light.
Nested in the blankets and pillows, surrounded by binders, Mal"s fast asleep, curled up as if wedding planning was something worth hoarding. It"s barely more than a week away now, and Regina"s seen the drawings and tried the food and her dress waits in the spare room beside Mal"s and the rubies. Trying it on never reminded her of Leopold, of being traded like a trophy of her mother"s, not even when Snow said she looked beautiful.
She told Archie later that her stomach didn"t knot up, that she"d liked the dress and standing there with Snow, Zelena and Emma had seemed entirely normal. This is another world, another love, and marrying Maleficent is what she wants.
Even if the planning is frustrating, both dull and overwhelming. At the end, it"ll be worth it, and for some reason Mal enjoys it. Dragons don"t usually throw extravagant dinner parties, but she likes choosing centerpieces and talking about ice sculptures with Snow and Granny.
Always says she does. The storm wails through a crack in the window and Regina shuts that first, then turns to Mal. The heavy grey of the rain outside means not even the light from the street has reached them and she lies asleep in the grey sheets. For someone so tall when she"s awake, she"s curled small in bed, legs like coils wrapped beneath her.
One binder"s on the floor, another on the chair and the notes on the bed are all about food. Regina stacks them back together, raising an eyebrow at the elk. Of course there"s roast elk, it"s not enough to have a wedding, it has to have elk.
Perhaps it tastes better to her.
She reaches up and brushes Mal"s soft hair on the pillow, toying with the end of a curl. It"s as useless to try and get Mal"s hair to stay curly in the humidity as it is to hope Regina"s will stay smooth. She brushes her hand over Mal"s cheek, frowning because her skin"s warm, even for her. Regina holds her forehead, remembering Mal"s concerned face floating in her blurry vision.
"Well, I don"t think it"s strep."
Mal"s eyes flutter, and she smiles her way awake. "You would know."
"You have a fever."
"And I"m in bed." Mal reaches up, touching her arm. "I feel like that"s reasonable."
Shaking her head, Regina kisses her forehead. "Fine, be reasonable."
"You"re making a face."
"I"m not good at being reasonable."
Chuckling, Mal sits up a little, looking past Regina at the storm. "It"s the dark moon, dear."
"And?" Stuffing a pillow behind her so she stays sitting up, Regina rests their foreheads together. "You can"t even see the moon."
Chuckling, Mal kisses her, lips hot against her cheek. "I think it"s a good sign."
It"s hard to look at calendars and think about days. They performed the ritual, they made a child, a spark of one, surely, but she"s here. So this is that and she can"t really do anything about that because it"s a good thing. They want this child, a chance to go through the whole experience together, to raise another person.
"So it"s the ritual?" That"s easier to say than "the baby", "the egg", "the pregnancy": all of those are heavy words.
"Lily gave me a fever for weeks. This is just tonight dear."
Is there a difference because Lily wasn"t planned and this one is? Magic creates on a whim when unasked but demands much when summoned.
"I wish you weren"t sick."
Mal tugs her down, holding her against her chest. "I"m not sick."
"It"s barely eight thirty and you"re in bed." Mal"s heartbeat rushes beneath her, steady and strong. How does it feel to carry their little spark? Can she feel anything but heat?
"I took a nap yesterday, and the day before."
"That"s how you stayed up until ten."
"Cheating." Mal kisses her head and they snuggle closer. "I meant to tell you."
"You didn"t do that well "
"You were busy."
"I"m never too busy for you, that has to be it. You have to trust me."
Mal runs her fingers through Regina"s hair, and even they"re too warm. "I trust you."
"You have a phone now, you can write notes. You can email me, use the mirrors in my office."
That makes Mal laugh beneath her, soft and low. "All right, all right, our baby makes my head spin."
The burn in her chest flames up, tight and demanding. Why can she say it while Regina can barely think it?
She has to sit up, has to look at her eyes. "And that"s all right?"
"The internet says it"s entirely normal. Exhausted, slightly dizzy. I read it." Mal squeezes her fingers, so smug.
"The internet covered "magical pregnancies conceived through eldritch rituals"?"
Blinking slowly, Mal smiles and reaches for Regina"s chin. "I"m sure it does somewhere." She stares at her, deep, unmoving. "Being warm is a good thing for me. Good things happen when I"m warm, and I don"t mind sleep."
"Of course not." Regina"s eyes sting, and as much as she wants to be happy. They made it a month, Mal has symptoms, they"re closer--
"It"s all right."
"It"s terrifying."
Sitting up all the way, Mal kisses her softly on the lips, sighing into their mouths. "It is."
"You don"t seem to be."
"It"s hard when you"re tired."
Regina kisses her back, then squeezes her hands. "Fine."
"I love you."
"You don"t get to weasel out of this with I love you."
Raising an eyebrow, Mal pats Regina"s chest. "I don"t weasel, I slither, when the occasion calls for it."
Sneaking one last kiss, Regina drags herself from the bed to change into her own pyjamas. "How was work?"
"Storybrooke continues to function with monetary efficiency, and property taxes may bring in more money for the school after all." Mal settles back, closing her eyes. The forgotten storm rumbles beyond the windows. "And there should be enough in the utility budget to pay for this storm and the next one."
The lights flicker ominously while Regina hangs up her blouse. "Should?"
"You know I"ll find it."
Thunder rolls hard enough to shake the glass and the lights shudder again before giving up. Darkness wraps around them, heavy, like a cave.
"Dammit." Regina pulls on a t-shirt quickly and hurries to the door. "Henry? Lily?"
"Regina-"
"Are you all right?" she calls down, ignoring Mal"s interruption.
"Regina-"
"We"re fine, Mom, getting candles in the kitchen."
"We"ll be right down." She turns back to the bed where Mal"s dark shape seems to be sitting up. "What is it?"
"Regina, you need bottoms."
Bottoms? Her legs are bare. In the storm and the darkness, she didn"t notice, or care, but... Regina waves her pyjama bottoms on with magic, running on concern and frustration.
"Do you think the generator at the hospital came on?"
Mal sighs, deep and tired. "I"ll check." She closes her eyes, then she"s gone, vanishing in grey smoke.
"Dammit." Regina didn"t mean poof over there and check it. Her phone still has battery, there"s a radio in the study. There are several ways to check on the town that don"t involve Mal outside in the rain.
But she"s too late.
That almost headache throbs in the center of her forehead, insistent that she pay attention to it, because it needs her, like everything else in her life. She allows herself one moment of muttering about her too-literal dragon and rubbing her neck, then she stands, collecting the flashlight from the closet.
Henry and Lily meet her in the hallway with a flashlight and a package of candles. "You okay?"
Lily studies Regina for a moment, then sighs. "Mom went out, didn"t she?"
Henry"s eyebrows rise. "Out?"
"She mentioned something before about the town and the lines. She worries about the powerlines a lot, since she found out what they were for."
"I don"t like her flying in this storm."
"She"d say she"s totally safe."
Henry smirks a little and reaches for her arm. "I"m sure she is."
"Flying in rain isn"t really a big deal, it"s slower and it tickles a little." Lily hands Regina the flashlight and holds the candle, staring at it before she flicks her fingers and it lights. "Sweet."
"Awesome."
Lily grins at the candle before she looks back at Regina. "Sorry."
"No, no, it"s wonderful." She halts her concern long enough to remember how long it took her to light a damn candle. "You"re ahead of where I was."
"I have better teachers." The softness in Lily"s voice makes her pause.
"We try."
"You"re pretty great," Henry insists, taking a candle. "Here, light this one too and we"ll leave it in the bathroom."
This one flickers immediately and Regina"s chest aches with pride instead of concern. "It"s beautiful."
Lily smiles, then blushes and turns towards the stairs quickly. "All right, that"s enough momming, worry about my other mom now, please."
"She"s fine."
"She just went out there?"
"She thought it was important."
"You guys should really work on your definition of important." Henry hands Lily another candle for the living room, too amused to get matches.
"You know how she talks about the town."
"And Mal likes what you like."
"Except cucumber."
What else has she missed at dinners this week? "She hates cucumber?" Regina asks, only half paying attention as she checks in with Emma that the Sheriff"s station is safe.
"I put it in salad."
Regina chuckles. Salad is barely tolerated, definitely not enjoyed, even with kale. "She doesn"t like much of anything in salad."
"Cucumber is apparently the worst."
"It was pretty funny."
"Says the boy who almost lived on toast for a year."
"I was four, not--" Henry pauses, looking at Regina and tilting his head. "How old is she?"
"Dragons don"t keep time that way."
Lily rolls her eyes, running her fingers through the candle flame. "Old. Really old. Like...somewhere after Vikings, before the White castle was built. She mentioned flying over the foundation, maybe eating one of the draft horses."
Regina can"t remember if she"s heard that particular story, but it sounds about right. "Horse is tough."
"Must have been a bad winter for elk."
"Is elk really better?"
"Than horse?" Lily sets down her candle and sinks onto the sofa. "I haven"t tried horse."
Regina leaves them discussing the various creatures Lily"s eaten since she"s gotten back and if horses are afraid of her. Regina paces in front of the fireplace, then throws the fireball that"s been itching her palm.
Lily whistles. "Can"t do that yet."
"Mom?"
Crouching down to look into the flames, Regina sighs. "She never answers her phone when she"s flying."
"The loop over the town doesn"t take long, if nothing"s on fire or--"
Henry rubs her shoulder. "She"s fine."
"I didn"t send her out there."
"She"s direct, and you"re--"
Even through the storm, the whoosh of dragon wings in the backyard lifts the weight off her chest.
"Told you the loop over town was quick."
"Quick for you."
Regina doesn"t hear anything else that Henry and Lily say, because Mal"s back, finally. Yet instead of arriving back home in a puff of smoke, Mal returns through the doorway, human again, soaked to the skin. Her pyjamas cling to her skin like wet paper and her hair"s plastered to her head.
"Why did you go out there?"
"You wanted the town checked."
Her chin trembles in the way Mal"s chin never moves. Her skin"s warm and slick against Regina"s hands, but...is she cold?
"Not like that."
"You"re too literal, Mom," Lily says, grabbing a blanket off the sofa. She tosses that over Mal"s shoulders.
"I"ll get towels," Henry says, smiling a little. "Welcome back."
"Thanks."
"You"re cold."
"I"m not, really." Mal leans forward to kiss her cheek. "See?"
"You"re soaking wet."
"That is true."
Regina swallows her own inappropriate language. "You should be careful."
"I"ve never melted before." Mal"s smile is all gentle warmth but Regina wants to smooth her hair and make her sit down or change clothes or--
She did melt into ash beneath the town, she was dead, like Daniel, like Robin--
"Regina?" Mal"s hand catches her cheek and they stare at each other. Mal always sees too much.
"I"m sorry, it"s ridiculous, I knew you were fine."
"I am fine, sodden, but fine."
"I thought you might get cold."
"I thought I was too warm."
Regina sighs, her chest tight enough that her stomach knots in sympathy. "You are."
"We"re always warm," Lily says, startling them both. They turn and she smiles, tentative. "Unless this is different, not just dragon weirdness."
Meeting Mal"s bright eyes, Regina glances down, then back at Lily"s expectant face. Henry returns with his arms full of clean towels and starts to speak but stops. They stand, silent, staring at each other, mothers and children: their odd little family unit.
"Weirdness might be the appropriate word," Mal begins, her fingers finding Regina"s, warm and soft.
Henry hands over the towels in one mass, his eyes soft with concern. "So you?"
Pulling her hand back, Lily retreats behind her step-brother. "And it?"
"We"re not sure-" Regina starts, but Mal nuzzles her forehead, all dragon and shy.
"It"s early," Mal continues for her.
Resting her hand on Henry"s shoulder, Lily doesn"t look at her mothers. For a moment, Regina"s heartbeat echoes in her ears. She hates them, she hates this. They"ll lose her and she"ll never forgive them.
"Okay," Henry says, reaching up to touch Lily"s fingers. "Okay, so operation dragon baby is a thing. A real thing."
"You"re going to have to stop freaking out." Lily crosses her arms over her chest and her eyes cut into Regina. "Like, calm the fuck down or something."
"I"m not freaking out."
Henry shrugs and smiles. "This is close to freaking out."
Regina barely has to extend her hand and he"s there, warm against her chest. His head touches hers and she"s reminded again how tall he is; how strong and wise her little boy has become. "Not really," she whispers.
He squeezes before he lets go and looks at Mal. "It"s freaking out."
"I thought that might be the case."
"Don"t worry, we"ll help, right Lily?"
"We"ll help keep human mom from losing it?" Lily offers, managing a smile so tentative Regina wants to bottle it. "We can do that. Baby stuff, I know a little. I"ve babysat. Zelena keeps handing me the munchkin."
"I"ve only been allowed to hold Neal once, so I don"t really--"
"You"ll learn."
"We"ll all learn." Mal wraps herself in a towel and shuts her eyes. Magic radiates out, warm and gentle and then she"s dry, even her hair. She reaches for Henry and hugs him gently. "Thank you."
"God, that"s a trick."
"Go outside, get all wet and I"ll teach you," Mal teases.
Lily snorts. "Yeah, that"s not going to happen today."
"Then come here."
Lily hesitates, but allows Mal to hug her. "You okay?"
"Perfectly."
"And happy? You"re both really fucking happy about this sparky baby thing?"
"It"s still early," Regina says, trying to save them all from getting too attached, but Henry"s smiling and Lily hasn"t stormed out. They"re okay.
"Okay, we get it. We won"t let Grumpy run around town shouting about it."
"At least not until after the wedding." Mal sinks into the sofa, still with a towel around her shoulders over her dry pyjamas.
"That"s not actually a thing," Henry insists, sitting down next to her. "I mean if you wanted us to--"
"No." When did her knees get so weak? She sits next to Mal and Henry and yes, Mal"s still too warm but she needs it. "No, that"s all right."
"Come on, that"s the future baby mayor in there."
"The mayorship is not hereditary."
"The Sheriff"s station is," Lily says with a shrug and she flops down across from them. "Guess this means Emma"s going to mock me for having a sibling even younger than hers."
"Snow and Charming might not be done."
Mal kisses her forehead, her voice low and teasing. "We might not be done."
"Hey, one baby at a time, okay?" Lily shakes her head in the candlelight. "I gotta wrap my head around it."
Henry pats the sofa beside him and she looks over before dragging herself off the chair. She slips in beside Henry, pulling in the blanket and Henry"s hand"s on her lap, Lily"s hands on Mal"s shoulder and they"re all curled up.
Family.
Mixed and matched and still trying to find their way, but home.
And together they listen to the rain.