Different Beliefs

Chapter 26

"You really pictured us living together?" Emma asked, with a slight hint of disbelief in her tone.

Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to ask after Regina had confessed all that, begging her for forgiveness, but that was the one sentence that had stuck the most.

Regina sighed softly and closed her eyes. "I don't know.." she muttered. "I just know that I loved you and I wanted you to be part of my life. Maybe things would've changed over the years, but I had never imagined them going like this."

"How do you imagine things now?"

"I guess part of me always hoped that you and I still had a chance," Regina confessed. "I know it's silly," she softly said, almost inaudible for Emma to hear. Almost.

"I mean it, Emma. If I'd known you'd get reported by social services, I'd never talked to you in the first place," Regina said and opened her eyes.

Emma frowned and swallowed. Apparently, Cora Mills hadn't told Regina the entire truth just yet.

The blonde had never been in contact with the actual social services. Just the friend of Cora's, who'd pretended to be a social worker, only to get her away from Regina.

The more Emma had thought about it these past years, the crazier the whole situation became.

"You don't know.." Emma whispered.

Regina looked confused at her former friend and tilted her head. "Know what?"

Emma closed her eyes and shook her head. "Never mind. What's happened, happened and there's no changing that.

"Emma, I can't do anything about what happened many years ago, but at least I can know the truth. What don't I know?" Regina asked, and she sounded almost desperate.

"Ingrid wasn't a social worker," Emma said, not even thinking about it again. The look in Regina's eyes made it impossible to keep anything from her. "It was a friend of your mom's, that Cora had hired because she wanted me out of Storybrooke."

Regina stiffened and Emma saw the color seeping away in her face. The blonde couldn't believe that Regina had never known the real truth.

"Yes, that's right. Your mom was so not fond of what we had that she kicked me out of town. It wasn't because she wanted to help me and give me a better life," Emma said and pursed her lips together.

Did she get a better life once she'd left?

In some ways, yes. She didn't have to fear for lack of money anymore, nor having to take care of a one year old.

Of course, she loved Henry more than anything. Her little brother had been all she had for a long time, but taking care of him was a lot to take.

She knew she shouldn't have just given him to Ruby, and frankly, she had been relieved when Ruby told her the years with Henry had been great.

Elsa and Anna were caring people and they got along quite well, despite their differences in opinion about many things. They did feel like sisters once she'd lived there for a while.

But Emma also remembered not being herself for one and a half year. She remembered going to church and praying, but not feeling at home there at all.

She remembered not being able to talk about her past or who she really was, simply because the family detested lesbians.

Once, Anna had asked her if she'd ever been in love. When Emma had replied with "no", she noticed it was a lie and kept asking, until the blonde made up some story about a guy in High School.