Chapter Text
Snow White had been married twice in her life, or perhaps that wasn’t quite right?
There was the traditional marriage to Prince Charming, the man so perfect for her that there were tales written about them in so many cultures. The shepherd turned prince who never allowed his newfound power to get out of hand, who was brave enough to do anything to save their family.
Who had protected their newborn daughter as a curse engulfed their entire land, becoming injured so badly that he was in a coma for over 28 years.
Then there was her other spouse who Mary Margaret Blanchard-Mills married; the woman who had cast the curse that had put them all in this situation. Who had been so intent upon taking away her happy ending that she would do it to everyone in the Enchanted Forest.
The cold, calculating mayor who softened so significantly and jarringly after adopting her son that she would have been more suspicious if she hadn’t been trapped in time. The woman who had broken down because she couldn’t get her son to stop crying, who had been so desperate that she had allowed her greatest enemy to help her sooth him.
Things had escalated from there.
Regina slowly engaged in increasingly longer conversations with the school teacher, learning all she could about child rearing from the professional, but then she got the hang of being Henry’s mother and the conversations didn’t stop.
One day, Mary Margaret, the timid woman, somehow mustered the courage to ask Regina on a date, to admit that she enjoyed her company and to see how things could go. The look on Regina’s face at the time should have tipped her off that there was something more to their relationship that Mary Margaret wouldn’t understand until the curse was broken.
On that day, she was able to consider that the look was one of amusement at being given another way to torture Snow White, but at the time she had thought it was adorable. The date turned into so much more, moving in together, proposals, heartfelt wedding vow; the kind that left little doubt in her mind that Regina Mills loved Mary Margaret.
That was the problem, however, did that also mean that she loved Snow White?
The curse broke and a tearful Regina announced that she loved both her and Henry before she fled the incoming mob, but then the wraith happened and Snow knew that she had to do something to help, whether or not it was because she was in love with the Evil Queen.
This led to weeks in the Enchanted Forest whereby she had to use all of her mental capacity on attempting to bond with her grown up daughter, both of the carefully avoiding the topic of Regina. They didn’t need to discuss that her cursed identity had been willing to side with Regina in some of her tamer attempts to get the saviour to leave town.
Upon their return, she discovered that Regina had absorbed a literal death curse to grant her and her daughter safe passage through the wishing well, but it was David who pulled her into a tight hug before she could acknowledge the mayor’s presence.
Henry was busy hugging Emma to look at Regina slumped against a tree and she disappeared in a cloud of smoke before anyone could even consider asking how she was. At least, that was what it must have looked like to her.
The frown played on Snow’s mind throughout the entire welcome back party at Granny’s which had one conspicuous absence. Apparently her step-son turned grandson had failed to invite his mother after begging her to take in a death curse?
Tactfully, she excused herself, unable to go any longer without knowing for sure that her wife…or should she say her ‘something’, was okay.
Upon reaching the mansion, she didn’t even stop to consider whether she any longer had the right to enter without knocking and came straight inside. It took only a moment to determine that there was no one downstairs and she rushed upstairs, relieved to find a sliver of light peeking out from under their bedroom door.
She was about to push the barrier aside, but thought better of it. There had to be some boundaries now, right?
Feeling almost as surreal as it was to have Charming hugging her again, she closed her fist and knocked to request access to the room that she had slept in for five years.
There was a bloated pause until a voice carried through, “Hello, who’s there?”
The slight scratchiness to the voice clenched at Snow’s heart, remembering the day that Regina had cried almost as hard as Henry. The day that she realised how beautiful the mayor was.
Tentatively, she pushed the door open to reveal Regina sat alert in the bed, but apparently not with enough energy to get out of it. Was there any reason for the Evil Queen to concern herself with tresspassers?
She dropped down with an unregal huff upon seeing who it was, however, and Snow had to work hard to remind herself that she shouldn’t be thinking of the woman who had interrupted her first wedding as adorable.
That was difficult with the clear memories of her second wedding, the images of tiny Henry in a tux staring at his mother like she hung the moon. Just how radiant Regina was when she was happy.
“What do you want, Snow?’ Regina sighed.
“I…just came to see if you were okay? Gold said that you absorbed a death curse?” Snow ventured, stepping over the threshold and ignoring every picture from their little family that Regina had neglected to take down in her solitude.
“Well, I’m not dead,” Regina replied, “I’m sure that your family is missing you at the heroes celebration…”
“Regina…”
“What is it Snow?!” she snapped.
“I know when you have been crying,” she said, her hand itching to wipe the wetness away from her cheeks.
Regina swallowed thickly and looked downward, something that she had stopped doing around the third year of their marriage.
“No, Mary Margaret knew that,” she said quietly.
“Is there a difference?’ Snow ventured, at last taking another step forward. When not fighting ogres, or evading her mother-in-law, she had allowed her mind to drift to how this conversation would go. Regina would admit that this was all an act to torment her should the curse ever break, but surely there were ways to do that which didn’t involve spending everyday with a woman she was supposed to hate?
There was also the undeniable fact that it didn’t appear to be Snow White who was being tormented right now.
“Snow White is married to Prince Charming, she has a daughter and a grandson. A perfect family,” Regina said quietly, “And she should go and be with them rather than concerning herself with the Evil Queen’s wellbeing.”
“I need to know that you’re okay,” Snow insisted, breaching the final distance to the bed so that she was standing over her.
“Why?!” Regina demanded.
“Because…” she trailed off and Regina rolled her eyes so Snow scoffed, “What, like all of this is so simple to you?”
“It is simple for me,” Regina shot back, regaining some fire as she sat up, “Why do you think I didn’t want the curse to break?! Why do you think I wanted your daughter to get the hell out of my town?!”
“Because Henry…”
“No, not just Henry! I love you and I knew that Snow White could never love me back!” Regina said, now close to shouting and no longer hiding her tears, “So give up this act and go and be with your family!”
Snow looked on with wide eyes, her own chest raising and falling as it tried to contain her sudden quickening breath, as her mind tried to deal with the fact that she couldn’t see the difference between Snow White and Mary Margaret right now.
They both loved their wife and wanted her to know that but couldn’t think of a way to express that, not verbally.
With their current proximity and privacy, there was another option.
It happened so quickly that she wouldn’t recall her exact transition from standing to settling her legs either side of Regina’s, but the other woman didn’t seem to mind at all.
They shared bruising kisses until Regina slipped her head down to deliver kisses to Snow’s pulse point and the princess gasped, clutching onto her for all that she was worth. It was exhilarating in a way that her other kisses after the curse broke couldn’t match, not that she had much of a chance to do this with her husband.
She wasn’t thinking of him right now though.
She was enjoying the inescapable knowledge that her wife hadn’t been hurt by the curse she had absorbed, which was made only better the removal of her shirt and the vigour with which Regina flipped them over to begin the most reassuring aspect of their activity.