The Pornstar Martini

Chapter 26

Twenty minutes earlier...

"Good evening, Emma." Cora came walking from the living room with the same elegance Regina always carried around. Emma felt the two looked alike in many ways, but this might be the most prominent one.

"Hi. I'm sorry, I'm just here to pick up Regina. How are you?"

Cora smiled and crossed her arms. She was wearing a red cardigan and her chestnut hair was in a loose braid. The way she dressed made her look much younger.

"I feel like we never get the opportunity to talk," Cora said. "Regina has yet to officially introduce us, I believe."

"There's nothing official, yet," Emma said and smiled nervously. "I understand your concerns about me dating Regina, after everything that's happened that's only fair." Emma had noticed the hint of skepticism in Cora's voice and she figured the best way to handle that was to address it.

She hoped Cora would contradict her, though. That she would tell her everything was okay and that since Regina had forgiven her it was only natural for her to do the same, but she realized in this moment that Cora was not easy to convince.

"I have no concerns, per se," Cora replied and squinted her eyes. "Frankly, Emma, I think you're a nice lady, but as you might be able to imagine, I want what is best for my daughter. Now, if you can say with full confidence that that's you, I will welcome you to the family like anyone else, but otherwise, I'll be taking some distance from you."

Emma felt her hands starting to sweat. She really thought she'd done enough work on herself to be in a position where she could ask Regina to be her girlfriend, but Cora was starting to get to her.

"I really like her."

"I believe you do," Cora replied. "You've been dating for a long time, you two still haven't made anything official and both of those things sound familiar to me. I know what happened was a long time ago, but I want you to realize the impact that had on Regina. She's never introduced any of her partners to either of us, even though I know she's had quite a few, and she's never been able to commit herself fully, because of her fear of being rejected."

"Oh."

"Exactly. Oh. Once again, I'm only saying this because I love my daughter with all that I am and I feel the need to protect her from anything that could possibly hurt her and all I need to know is if you're able to tell me you won't harm her like that again. I want you to be certain you're good enough for her."

Emma swallowed and caught Regina descending the stairs from upstairs. She looked magnificent, but Emma felt a knot in her stomach. She hated how her past actions were catching up on her, but she knew that wasn't ever going to end.

All of Regina's friends, especially Kathryn, still eyed her suspiciously and Regina's parents didn't trust her at all. The only one that didn't seem to have a problem with her anymore was Regina, but maybe the brunette was just naive.

Emma knew she'd hurt Regina in the past, but Regina hadn't acted like she was hurt, in the beginning. Maybe the past was just repeating itself and Emma didn't even know.

She didn't think she could live with herself if she hurt Regina again the way she had. Last time, she hadn't been fully aware of the consequences of her actions and she absolutely didn't want that to happen again, but everyone knew she would.

Emma couldn't let them be right. She couldn't harm Regina like that again.

~~~~

Present...

Emma felt numb. She dropped her coat on the floor and didn't bother picking it up. As soon as she'd seen the hurt look on Regina's face, she knew she'd made a mistake.