Chapter Text
Kneeling on the grass, Regina was working in the garden in front of the cabin's porch, when the sound of a car approaching made her stop and turn the face towards the gate. She saw Ruby's old truck, who got out of the vehicle accompanied by little Elena.
Regina stood up, clapping her hands together to remove the excess dirt of the hands. She watched the girl, hand in hand with her aunt, as they crossed the gate and walked to where Regina was standing.
"Hello, Regina!" Ruby said, by way of greeting.
Smiling, the beta replied: "How are you, Ruby?"
"I am fine! I came to bring this little brat to spend a few days here with you." The alpha with red locks smiled, looking at her niece, before untangling the child's hair..
"And Belle and the girls, how are they?" Regina remembered to ask.
Ruby and Belle got married shortly before the whole sad episode involving Elsa happened, which culminated in the separation of Emma and Regina, so Regina spent little time with Belle and only met Ruby's daughters by sight.
"They are fine! Belle even asked me to invite you to dinner at home one of these days. All eager to meet Emma's new girlfriend" Ruby said in a relaxed tone, emphasizing the word "new", after all, for all intents, the children were unaware of the past bond between Regina and Emma.
Regina was a little embarrassed, but replied: "Consider the invitation accepted. If it's okay with you, we can go next Friday."
"Perfect!" Ruby agreed.
"Miss Mills" Elena said, drawing the attention of the other two "Isn't Mommy here with you?" the little girl said. She seemed a little shy about this new encounter with her mother's girlfriend.
"Your mother is in the corral, my angel..." Regina bent down and stretched out her hand to caress the little girl's face "taking care of the sheep, do you want me to take you there?"
"Yes, please!"
"Hey, brat, I need to get back to town!" Ruby said, crouching down to be at the same height as her niece "But I leave you in great hands, okay?" looked from the little girl to Regina.
"I know, Aunt Rubs!" Elena hugged the aunt, quickly kissing her face.
Ruby smiled at the girl and stood up, extending her hand to her sister-in-law:
"Good to see you, Regina! Tell Emma that everything is in order in the department. If she needs anything, she can call me."
The beta accepted the greeting: "Right, Ruby! It was good to see you too!”
Ruby said goodbye to the two and returned to the pickup truck. Regina and Elena watched the car make its way back to the city; When the vehicle drove away, the two faced each other.
"So, shall we look for your mother?" Regina offered her hand to the girl who, smiling, accepted the gesture. "Isn’t that backpack of yours very heavy? If you want, we can save it beforehand."
"That would be nice, Miss Mills!"
It was Regina's turn to smile.
"If you prefer, you can call me Regina, Elena!"
"Okay!" the child agreed, remaining silent for a few seconds, with a frown "Would you mind if I called you Gina?" asked gently.
Regina found the child's manner charming.
"No, I would love to! You know, nobody calls me that, so this will be our a own thing." she confessed to the little girl.
"Not even my mother?" The girl was interested.
Regina confirmed with a nod, taking the backpack off Elena's shoulders and putting it in the closet built into the wooden wall of the room.
When Regina turned around again, she saw that the girl was watching everything carefully.
"Miss Rainbow!" Elena exclaimed, walking towards an armchair to pick up the plush lying on a cushion.
"Oh, is that her name?" Regina moved, settling in one of the corners of the sofa, watching the girl hug tightly the plush she left the day before to protect the beta during the exam.
"Yes! I knew Miss Rainbow would take care of you. Mommie says Miss Rainbow is magic. She found her the day I was born, under a rainbow, and ever since, Miss Rainbow has always been with me, protecting me. Yesterday was the first time I spent time without her." Elena told the story with such tenderness that it moved Regina.
"Thank you for letting Miss Rainbow stay with me, Elena. I was very scared and she made me feel safer." the beta was sincere, giving the little girl an affectionate look. She couldn't help it, became more and more enchanted by Emma's daughter.
The alpha entered the cabin and was surprised to find her daughter and wife there. It took them a few seconds to notice Emma's presence and, the moment that happened, Elena went to hug her mother under Regina's gaze.
"Mommy, Gina said you were taking care of the sheep. Can I help you?" the girl spoke hurriedly, overwhelmed by the anxiety of being in a new, unexplored environment.
The women smiled at the same time at the child's display of enthusiasm.
"I miss you too, Elena!" Emma joked, pretending not to have heard what her daughter said before. "Where is your Aunt Ruby?"
"She had to go!"
"Ruby had to go back to the department, but she said you could call if you needed anything!" Regina explained.
Emma looked from her wife to her daughter: "And you? Did you behave in the short time you were alone with Regina?"
"Yes!" the girl stated in a very serious way "I was telling Gina the story of Miss Rainbow"
The two women looked at each other with light expressions on their faces.
"Can we go see the sheep now?" the little girl insisted.
"Yes we can!" Emma said, knowing that the girl wouldn't forget the matter "But first, let me go drink some water."
---
The rest of the day went smoothly. After Elena spent some time playing with the animals at the ranch, they had lunch and, while the girl did her homework with Emma's help, Regina went up to the attic with the intention of discovering some information stored in the boxes left there by her father.
Regina passed hours reading scientific notes without understanding much of the content on those sheets, as everything was described in a very technical way. But she came to the conclusion that, for years, your father had been experimenting with omegas. There was vast material on the physiology of many individuals with this status. Interviews, results regarding the collection of genetic material, notes on behavior during heat cycles. On one of the sheets, Regina found a highlighted note, in which Henry stated that there was a high probability of male omegas generating female omegas in the first pregnancy.
Regina was beginning to believe that her father, despite taking away her right to choose, had a very strong reason for implanting that chip in the back of her neck. She thought about her mother or the other father she never knew. At the same moment, Regina felt a shiver as she imagined the circumstances of your conception.
At the beginning of her adolescence, Regina began to question your father more emphatically, insisting several times to try to find out, at least, whether she was the daughter of a male or female alpha, but Henry always refused to give further details, stating that Regina was the result of a heat cycle that he could not control, not even with the help of strong suppressants and, as it was not claimed, at the time Henry ended up mating with more than a alpha. Therefore, he didn't know who the daughter's mother or the other father was.
The beta stopped insisting on this subject when she saw how to talk about this made the father upset. However, in her naivety, Regina thought that her father didn't like to talk about the subject, because he was ashamed of his own nature, of being an omega seen as promiscuous, because he couldn't control his own libido and had sex with so many strange people in just one heat cycle. But even though he seemed upset and even angry when Regina brought up the subject, Henry always stated how much he loved her and how happy he was to have her as your puppy.
However, now older, knowing about the existence of suppressants that induced heat in both alphas and omegas, Regina began to assume that perhaps your father had also been a victim of a drug similar to the one George administered in Emma in the past.
Perhaps one of the alphas your father mated with decades ago did the same. An alpha may have induced Henry's heat cycle, leaving the omega vulnerable, turning him into a victim of gang rape.
When Regina realized, her tears were already wetting the sheet of paper she was holding in one of the hands.
As she felt her companion's distress, Emma climbed a small staircase and entered the attic.
The women looked at each other and nothing needed to be said. The alpha moved and sat down next to her wife, wrapping your arms around her, giving her comfort.
"What happened, my love?"
Emma asked, stroking Regina's hair, while the beta remained with her face resting on the sheriff's shoulder.
"I don't want to be an omega, Emma!" Regina sobbed "I don't want to remove the chip from the back of my head." said through tears "My father wanted me to be a beta, so that's what I'll be. Forever!"
"Regina, look at me!" Emma pulled away a little, taking her wife's face in her hands. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do " she said in a soft tone, removing a strand that fell on her wife's face, arranging it affectionately behind her ear "The only thing I care about is that you stay well, healthy. .. Therefore, I think we should look for another opinion, besides the Dr. Whale and Miss Blue. Remember of Lily Page, my doctor?"
Regina nodded affirmatively.
"So, if you feel comfortable, we can consult with her. We talk about the chip implanted in the back of your neck. Although Lily is an expert in alpha physiology, I believe she can also examine her and give us some guidance. And if Lily guarantees that this chip isn't affecting your health, we'll leave it where your father puts it, okay?" Emma showed her wife a confident smile.
Regina sniffled.
"Even if it means we can never have children?" the beta recalled Whale's words, linking the miscarriages to the chip.
Emma continued to smile.
"I can't deny that I would love to see you pregnant again, carrying our puppies right here" she placed the hand on the wife's belly" But I love you much more, Regina." Emma looked at her deeply "And nothing is more important than being by your side."
There was so much firmness in Emma's words that Regina felt real relief, falling back into her wife's arms, although she still thought about what probably happened to your father.
A comforting silence lasted in the minutes that followed. This was the time it took for Regina to recover. When they got up to leave, they heard footsteps on the small stairs and a child's voice sounded from the attic:
"Mommy, Miss Rainbow is already hungry. She wants to know what's for dinner!?"
Little green eyes looked with some criticism at the women adults standing in the middle of the attic.
Regina and Emma looked at each other, smiling, before the alpha said:
"Miss Rainbow is a very hungry little wolf" the sheriff walked over to her daughter, placing her in her arms and tickling the little girl, making her laugh "I'm glad I made her favorite dish."
Regina followed they closely, watching the play between them with admiration. Their presence of Emma and Elena in the home, sharing these sweet moments, brought some lightness to the beta's life, especially now that everything seemed so confusing and troubled.