[For Emma] we are children that want to be loved* - Backdated to Nov. 15*

[st_oriedqueen]

In her office, Regina pulled off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. It'd been months and they still hadn't worked out the second stage of Bo's Dawning trials. Molly hadn't said anything, but she didn't need to. Regina knew her well enough to see the strain in her face. She and Sam were getting worn down by Bo's needs, and by having their third involved with someone else. Dyson tried not to put any pressure on her, but he was worried, too. She'd been staying up too late, working too much, and not making enough progress.

Her mind drifted again to the invasion of the undead they'd suffered. They got in somehow, which meant there was a way out. If they could get out, the Fae magic could find Bo the way it was supposed to. And she could get home to Henry. With Dyson and Snow.

Needing a break anyway, she pulled out her journal and sent a message to Sam. I need a map of the spot you chased the golem to. Then she cast her wardrobing spell to dress herself for a ride.

--
* Pink, What About Us?

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[st_oriedqueen]

"We can just grab a booth table in the Copper Cafe. Kitty will bring us drinks," she said as she nodded toward the door.

Her stomach fluttered with nerves over Emma being here, but at least she was from some time past them hating each other. Regina didn't know if she could deal with it. Not again.

[st_artedtheclock]

"Lead the way." Emma motioned for Regina to take the lead, then moved to follow along behind her friend. She was still taking in this whole place--what it all meant. She didn't like the idea that she was going to be kept away from Henry.

"I... I guess I'll get used to this place eventually. I'm still learning the layout."

[st_oriedqueen]

It wasn't like Emma to be tentative, even when she didn't know where she was going. Most of the time Regina had known her, not knowing where she was going had been her cue to charge ahead blindly. What was it she'd heard the kids saying? Leland...Lamar... Lee-something Jenkins... that was her.

Regina slowed her steps to fall even with Emma and slipped an arm through the blonde's. It was more affectionate than she almost ever was, but she supposed if there were an a time for it, it was now. "Like a bunch of drunk fairies puked everywhere, isn't it?" she teased gently as she drew Emma along.

Without stopping for her response, she dropped Emma in a booth in the Cafe across the lobby, and then left her only long enough to beam at Kitty (who looked startled, to see her smiling no doubt) and get them two long pours of good whiskey. It took about three minutes, and then she was back, sliding into the booth and pushing the glass across to Emma.

"The girl at the bar is Kitty. She's in some of Henry's comic books. Don't tell her." That'd do for a start on how weird this place could be.

[st_artedtheclock]

Emma was a little surprised by the affection and friendly nature that Regina was showing her. Not unpleasantly so, just... surprised. She'd have to hear more about what on Earth was going on here.

They moved together through the hotel until they reached the cafe's booth, and then Emma slipped into one side of it. This place was totally ridiculous. Such ornate, wood carvings. What was that? "It... really is." She waited for her friend to get the drinks, completely at a loss for the way this place looked.

"Thanks," she offered, accepting the glass. Then she turned to give the young woman at the bar a look, and a nod, lifting her glass in thanks.

"...wait, she's what?" Emma turned to blink at Regina. She was having a few flashbacks to Henry telling her all the people in Storybrooke were from a book.

[st_oriedqueen]

Regina touched her glass to Emma's over a stifled huff of amusement and then knocked back a good third of the whiskey in a single swallow. She didn't need to get drunk; this was good news, Emma being here, sort of, except Henry not being here and Hook not... okay, maybe she did need a few stiff drinks.

"You heard me. She's like us, from a book. Most of them are, books or tv. Unlike us, they don't know it, and since provoking existential crises is for some reason--" She showed her teeth in a smile that said she was joking, more or less. "Considered rude, don't tell them."

[st_artedtheclock]

"Oh." Emma frowned, then lifted the glass of whiskey to gulp from it. It may have burned a little more than she was used to--some of it hitting her windpipe. She gave a gentle cough.

"No mentioning the books other people are from." She wondered if she would recognize people if they were characters from other stories. People like Mulan and Merida were recognizable, weren't they?

She set the glass back down. "Any other rules I should know about?"

[st_oriedqueen]

"Less rule, more not sticking your thumb in someone's eye," Regina half-muttered under her breath, but never losing her smile. She'd missed Swan.

"Other things to know about the Inn: you can't change rooms. Your stuff will end up back in your own room in 24 hours; any damage to your room or the rest of the inn will fix itself in 24 hours; the cook only makes chicken dishes, so if you want something else, you want to look for Mary, Sunny, or the other Emma to be in the kitchen." She rattled those off by rote and then paused for a swallow of whiskey. "The Inn occasionally throws magical curveballs at us, but it's only been dangerous once." So far.

[st_artedtheclock]

Emma's eyebrows rose slowly until they practically disappeared into her blonde hair. She nodded, thinking she was gonna need about a thousand more drinks to get through all of this.

"Well, that sure sounds like a party." Emma lifted her glass to swallow from it, finding that her hand was shaking just slightly. "And you're absolutely sure there's no hope of finding Henry?"

At least if he wasn't there, it meant he wasn't trapped like they were. But Emma would rather know he was safe, have him there with his mothers. Was that selfish?

[st_oriedqueen]

Regina watched Emma's fingers shake, she watched the wary uncertainty in her eyes, the old fear of trusting (both Regina herself and the people around her) rising up, and it hurt. For Emma as much as for herself.

"It's not that there's no hope," she replied, her voice steady and even and hopefully reassuring. "It's just that we have very little control over whether we find him or not. Finish that drink, and then I'll explain. And, Swan, I think you should know, I've been away from Storybrooke a very long time. More than five years now."

[st_artedtheclock]

Emma lifted the glass to down the last of the liquid in there, but then sputtered and coughed on the alcohol.

"Five years?" She asked, lifting her hand to cover her lips as she coughed again. "How? I just saw you. I just saw you a few days ago."

[st_oriedqueen]

Another round of drinks appeared almost as if by magic, and Regina spared Emma the indignity of a maternal back-patting.

"Time travel, more or less. Maybe we better start with what was happening when you last saw me."


[ooc: please feel free to have her mention Robin's funeral. I said that Emma told her in her thread with Hook.]