Chapter Text
Chapter twenty-eight
Since Emma woke up after surgery, Cora had felt like she was in limbo.
After admitting to August what exactly happened, she was told that she had to wait for a response.
The clearly shocked man was mostly surprised that Emma would date her foster sister, but the situation was apparently not as simple as Cora feared that it could be.
Apparently if Emma was a little younger the he would have had no choice but to remove her from the situation, because naturally teenagers could not be trusted to amicably break up when they lived in the same house (even though Cora was convinced that they were too in love for that anyway).
Cora made it very clear that she had no intention of sending Emma Swan away from Storybrooke and that she was willing to make any compromise necessary, the words ’she has been with us for months now, Mr Booth, we refuse to send her away, especially after she saved my daughter’s life’ may have been uttered.
She also had no interest in trying to force her daughter to break up with her girlfriend and her husband agreed on both accounts during their hallway conversation, but it wasn’t ultimately up to August to decide after the news were once again blasting social services for their failures.
She just hoped that he was able to get an urgent meeting with his boss this morning like he said he was going to and was able to get back to Storybrooke for their 4 pm appointment.
This was why the mayor was currently tapping her pen against the desk staring at the clock that read 3.57pm, very aware that someone else’s eyes were boring into her across the table.
“I’m not one of your patients, Archie, stop looking at me like that,” she said, though she didn’t look away from the clock that just moved to 3.58pm.
The therapist sat back in his chair and replied, “I can offer advice as a friend, Cora, I’m not always a therapist.”
Cora finally looked away from the clock to the red-head with a raised eyebrow, “and what advise would that be?”
“That it is natural to be nervous about a situation that has the ability to radically change your life after you’ve only just adjusted to the last change,” he said.
“That sounds a lot like therapy talk,” she replied, pointing her pen up accusatorially.
Archie laughed and raised his hands in surrender, “I suppose it does, but I won’t charge you for it.”
The mayor dropped her pen and ran her hand over her face as she asked, “what if they do send her away? I promised Emma that I would never let that happen…”
“Emma has enough experience in this system to understand that it isn’t your decision, Cora,” Archie said reassuringly, though Cora was sure that she caught a hint of worry to his tone.
“And Regina?” Cora asked, finally allowing one of her major concerns to spew from her mouth.
Her daughter would probably understand on an intellectual level that it wasn’t her parents fault whatever happened, but she didn’t want her growing up believing that falling in love and finally allowing herself to be herself would result in separation.
Archie tilted his head, there was genuine fear on the mayor’s face and he understood why.
It was precisely why he had made his official recommendation that morning that Emma Swan be allowed to stay in her current placement, that the progress that she had made in this town was too significant to throw away over some PR disaster. He also made it very clear that he believed both Regina and Emma to be mature enough to follow any rule set out that would allow them to stay together whilst living in the same house.
In fact, he was half tempted to offer to foster Emma himself to make absolutely sure that she could stay here, but ultimately decided against it. Their work was too important for her to be reassigned to someone else and he could hardly remain her therapist as he foster father.
No matter how he looked at the situation, he was sure that the mayoral mansion was the best place for Emma Swan.
“It isn’t as though they couldn’t stay in contact, Cora, in the grand scheme of things, two years isn’t really that long,” Archie replied which was clearly not what she wanted to hear as Cora started rubbing her finger tips over her forehead while she closed her eyes.
The clock now read 4.06, but Cora was no longer staring that.
She had instructed her secretary to let August in as soon as he showed up, so her eyes were glued to the door, praying that it would open. She was vaguely aware of her phone lighting up with a text message from her husband, probably asking whether she had heard anything yet, but she stared in silence for the next five minutes until the wooden structure was finally pushed forward.
Her hand fell down to her desk when it revealed August Booth, out of breath, but smiling.
S
“Do you think it will scar?” Killian asked as he chewed some of the masses of candy that he brought to the hospital room, only to be slapped on the arm by the blonde Brit in the plastic chair beside him, “what?! Chicks dig scars!”
Emma frowned, cut off in her pursuit of choosing between Milk Duds and Junior Mints and looked up to Regina next to her who was shaking her head in exasperation.
“I think most people would prefer their girlfriends not be scarred, Jones, you idiot,” Alice replied.
Killian pretended to be physically hurt, he cradled his arm with his other hand and he turned to the patient’s girlfriend, expecting full support.
The former cheerleader shook her head though and said, “I’m with Alice, you’re an idiot.”
Killian fell back into his chair and looked into the candy box, taking inventory of what remained in it as he muttered, “I need more male friends.”
“Would they let you be this dramatic all the time?” Alice asked.
Killian held up a finger and replied, “as I recall, it was my drama that started your relationships, or have you forgotten?”
Alice rolled her eyes though made no response, he had indeed orchestrated her first date with Will.
“I thought that was mostly Lily?” Emma asked as Regina took the Junior Mint from her to steal a few.
“She would tell you that,” Killian scoffed.
As she chewed, and returned the candy to her girlfriend who decided to have the same, Regina said, “she accosted me and organised the date, what did you do?”
“I…provided the equipment…and the location,” Killian replied, deflating with each word further into his chair.
“Well, thank you, it was perfect,” Emma replied and the footballer perked up.
“Thank you, Swan! See Mills, at least your girlfriend appreciates my genius!”
“I think as an actual genius, my girlfriend may be pitying you just a little,” Regina said and held her best friend’s gaze as he narrowed his eyes at her.
Killian held his hand over his heart a second later, but he didn’t get the chance to say his next dramatic statement as the door to the hospital room opened.
Out of habit, Regina’s hand fell off the bed, away from Emma, and she pulled her chair back a little, but she tensed during the action.
They were still in this weird limbo where they weren’t sure how open they should be with their relationship, even though literally everyone knew they were together at this point.
They were both pretty sure it was the right move though when the door gave way to reveal Cora, Henry Sr, Archie and August.
Killian and Alice understood the magnitude of what was about to happen as they both stood before she could open her mouth.
“Glad you’re feeling better, Swan,” Killian said as he pulled his bag over his shoulder a placed a few boxes of candy back into the basket.
“Yeah,” Alice added, “we’ll see you soon, Emma.”
Emma smiled at both of her friends as they left, both awkwardly acknowledging the adults as they went, August holding the door for them.
Regina shot a longing look at Emma before she reluctantly stood and asked, “should I go too?”
August closed the door and her parents shook their heads and the mayor said, “no dear, we think you should be here for this discussion.”
Regina swallowed hard, falling back down to the seat.
She was itching to take her girlfriend’s hand right now to get through news but resisted.
They may have extensively discussed how they would survive the next two years, but that didn’t mean that either of them was actually prepared for what they were sure had to happen.
Maybe the fact that the nearest hospital was quite some distance away would buy them a little more time together while she healed?
Making a conscious effort not to touch Emma, Regina clasped her hands between her knees, while she looked up pleadingly at the adults for any sign that this slight hope was a possibility.
August stepped forward, taking a moment to inspect Emma who was playing with the Junior Mints box that she was staring at.
She was clearly healthier than the last time he’d laid eyes on her, he just couldn’t quite believe that the girl was once again in the hospital.
“Sorry it took so long, Em, I had to talk to the higher ups,” he explained, just as apologetic as he was whenever she was hurt, whether that was emotionally or physically.
Emma nodded and replied, “I know,” fully prepared for the ‘if it were my decision’ speech that preceded a new placement.
“With the media finding out what happened…everything that happened,” he said, his eyes sliding to Regina who cringed at what sounded like a tone of accusation, “they weren’t too…excited about you staying here.”
Emma released the box and sighed as she looked up to him with the same resigned expression she had worn perhaps a hundred times and she asked, “how long?”
Archie smiled at the question and Emma drew her eyebrows together, she had never seen him smile during this particular conversation.
She looked over to Regina to make sure that she was equally as confused and asked, “why ar you smiling?”
“It took some convincing,” he replied, “but with Dr Hopper’s recommendation and Mr and Mrs Mills making it clear that they wanted to keep you here, we got them to agree that you should stay in your current placement.”
Both Regina and Emma’s eyes widened and they looked over to the smiling Mills parents.
“Really?” Regina asked, with an awestruck breath, “Emma just gets to keep living with us?”
“With some clear rules that we will come up with before Emma is discharged,” Cora replied, her grin widening when she saw the genuine surprise on Emma’s face.
Maybe now she would believe that she didn’t break her promises?
“Chief among them will be an open door policy,” Henry Sr piped up only to receive a sharp elbow from his wife.
Regina turned away to share a surprised look with her girlfriend, with whom she was apparently allowed to live with.
Emma finally thought of something to say after taking the fact that she would keep seeing Regina everyday, so she sat up and asked, “am I allowed to say thank you for this?”
Cora laughed and replied, “I’ll make an exception this time, Emma.”