Serendipity

Chapter 17: Mother

Emma and Regina park their car. Hook, Henry, Hope, Mary Margaret, David, and Maleficent come to welcome them. Emma hugs Henry, Hope, and Hook but she refuses to hug her parents."Hey. All right. Maleficent... This is Lily. This is your daughter."

"You're so beautiful..."Maleficent smiled lightly," Sorry. I just... Just... You are, that's all. Now that I see you, I don't wanna waste our time on revenge. I understand why you want it. It's suddenly so clear we should only look forward. We can be happy in the future or we can be angry about the past."

"Let's do both. Look, all these years since I figured out what happened, I-I've been trying to figure out how two humans could get me away from a freakin' dragon. But now I get it. You're a pushover. What'd they do, rub your belly? Give you a dragon treat? Well, I'm grown up now. I don't need grooming advice from Annie hall. I gotta go."

"Wait!"Maleficent said," Wait. Please. If you go, if you leave town, you can't get back in. I can't leave at all. I'll crumble back into the dust that I was before Gold revived me. Can't you just wait a little while longer? Things could look different in a week.

"Hah! As if. Send me a postcard."

Mary Margaret opens her door. It's Maleficent."Calm down. I'm not here to kill you. I just... I just want my daughter. You cast the second curse. Can you... Is there a way for you to seal the borders the way Regina did? I just...I don't know what's wrong. I don't know her.

"Well, she's acting a lot like Emma did when she first came here."David said," She had these... Her walls were always up."

"He's right."Mary Margaret said," She was afraid that if she opened herself up to me, I would let her down as everyone else had. And... Ultimately, I did. David, let's find her."

Lily is waiting for a bus at the bus station."Thought I might find you here. Fair warning... bus service in these parts can be spotty. It's going to be a wait."Regina said.

"Missed the part where that's your problem. Shove off."

"I bet that mouth got you lots of attention back at the group home, but it doesn't work here."Regina went on," Now... Listen up. I've got some talking to do. You know about Snow and Charming getting you banished, putting Emma's potential for darkness into you. Let's not worry about what they deserve. Let's work on what we deserve."

"I deserve them dead."

"Well... You do have some darkness in you, don't you?"Regina asked," Thing is, a lot of that darkness, that actually belongs to Emma. And right now, it's good and riled up. And riled up savior darkness is exactly what I need."

"The only thing you need, lady, is to get out of my way."

"And here I thought we could have a civil conversation... Guess I should just cut to the chase." Regina cuts Lily's hand.

"You're out of your mind! Just like everyone else in this town!"

Regina puts Lily's blood into the ink as Lily's eyes turn yellow. "Welcome to Storybrooke."

Meanwhile, Hook and Emma sit at the harbor."What are we lookin' at?"

"The horizon."Hook answered," I just thought you'd find it calming. Emma, I can tell that your heart is uneasy. And it's my job... Well, I hope it's my job, to protect your heart, even when no one is physically trying to steal it."

"You don't have to stop me from going after Gold. I'm smarter than that. He didn't turn my heart dark, and I'm not gonna fall into one of his traps."

"I'm not worried about him getting to your heart."Hook shook his head," I was talking about your parents."

"Oh, this again. Killian, we talked about this."

"No love."Hook intervened," I talked, you walked away. I just wanna know, is anything gonna be enough? Or are you willing to lose them just to spite them? They've done a lot of good. Turned themselves into heroes. Yes. I know they didn't own up to what they did. But did you ever think maybe they were ashamed? And they wanted you to like them. They were trying to protect you, Swan. Twice. Before you were born, they wanted to make you happy. And when they found you again, they wanted to make you proud. Do you want both those to be failures?"

Emma and Hook arrive near Mary Margaret and David."Mom?! No, stay still." She bends down and uses her magic which heals her mother."It's gonna take time to heal inside."

"I'm sorry I let you down again."Mary Margaret said," I was selfish."

"Yes, you were, but at some point, this has to stop. I need to stop punishing you. You're a hero... If it happened at my expense, it doesn't change anything. It doesn't change the good person you became, and it doesn't change what you are."

"Which is what?"Mary Margaret asked.

"Are you kidding? You're my mom. You wanted to make me proud, so you li... Omitted the truth, which was kind of self-defeating, but human. Cutting you out and trying to hurt you has just made me miserable... Anyway, I miss you and I forgive you." Mary Margaret hugs Emma.