Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

With a large smile and her long, wispy blonde hair pulled back into a lazy ponytail, Emma Swan happily bounced home. She looked down for the umpteenth time at the paper in her hands and beamed. She'd smiled for so long already, her usually pale cheeks were rosy and her hands had crumpled the sides of the paper with her excited grip.

The paper had a smiley face sticker in the right hand corner with a circled “A+” next to it. Underneath the grade and sticker was a short comment from the teacher: “Perfect!”

That word meant more to Emma than anyone would ever know. Eight years old and she'd been in and out of twelve foster homes, three within the last month, before she'd been given to the Johnson's. No one had ever told her she was good at anything. No one had ever encouraged her to try. No one had ever cared. With the Johnson's, she had started to feel welcome. She felt like she had a chance. The Johnson's had been nice enough to give her a canopy bed like she was some kind of princess. As long as she got good grades, practiced good manners, and remembered to smile, she would always have a place in their home. That's what they had told her when they first took her in and since then, she'd made sure to be smart, polite, and happy.

When she opened the door to the house, she immediately called out for her foster parents only to find them hugging and smiling in the living room. It looked like such a private, intimate moment, but Emma didn't realize how important the moment was until she spoke up.

“Look!”

Emma held up the paper and waved it in front of the couple as she entered the room.

“I got an A! I did perfect!”

The couple slowly broke away from their loving embrace and looked down at the little girl. Their smiles faded and a thick tension invaded the room. Emma remained unaware.

“That's...great, Emma,” her foster mother struggled to say. “Um, listen, we...we have some news of our own.”

“What is it,” Emma asked and widened her eyes in her ever present excitement.

“Sit down, Emma,” her foster father ushered her to the couch behind his wife.

His voice was stern, which left no room for argument, but also gentle as though he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

“Wh-What's going on,” Emma nervously asked as she sunk into the couch.

“Well, we...uh,” her foster mother started. “We found out we're having twins.”

Emma lit up again.

“Really?”

The couple looked at each other and frowned. Their eyes communicated their discomfort. After a moment, they looked back at Emma and sighed.

“We...we thought we could handle a new baby and you, but...for the last couple months it's been...difficult,” her foster mother explained. “And now with another one on the way...”

Emma visibly deflated.

“But...” Emma shyly started. “But I do good in school.”

“You do well,” her foster mother couldn't help herself from correcting the girl.

“I- I'm nice too. You said if I did good-”

“Well,” she corrected again.

“If I did well,” Emma continued. “And if I was nice, that I could stay.”

“And you've done all that we asked from you,” her foster father said. “But...it's too much. In more ways than one.”

Emma furrowed her brow and curiously tilted her head to the side.

“How is it too much?”

“We can't support you and our two children. Do you know what that means,” her foster mother asked.

Emma shook her head.

“We would have two people, plus ourselves, to feed and buy clothes and shoes. We both have jobs so we're not always home, which means we would have to get someone to watch the three of you. That costs money too. We don't have enough time,” her foster mother answered.

“Or energy. And definitely not money,” her foster father finished.

“So...you're sending me back?”

“We're sorry, Emma,” her foster mother said with some sincerity in her voice.

Emma would have believed her by her tone alone, but when her foster mother looked at her foster father she no longer thought they were sorry enough to pick the hard way.

Because she knew all too well that sending her back to the orphanage was the easy way out. The hard thing to do would be to make it work with her and the new babies, which they'd already decided wouldn't be too difficult since they let Emma live with them for the last two months.

Emma hadn't come to live with the Johnson's when it was just the two of them. They'd been looking to adopt for nearly a year before they looked into foster care options. By the time someone passed Emma along to them, they were one month away from having a newborn on their hands. They had thought about giving her back before a social worker had even dropped her off, but after a few days of deliberation they decided to give it a try.

So it made sense when Emma looked at the Johnson's and realized they loved their own children more than they'd ever even care about her. She scowled and pouted and her attitude quickly changed from sweet little girl to angry little girl.

Within five minutes, a social worker arrived at the house and took Emma with her back to the orphanage while the Johnson's prepared to welcome both of their real kids into the world.

She spent the next several weeks in the orphanage before someone else claimed to want her, but it hadn't mattered. No one really wanted her. They thought they did until it all became real for them that there was a girl, a mere child, with needs they hadn't wanted to fill. It was too late anyway. Her nice girl act had been crushed along with her hope of finding a family. She hadn't been broken yet, but she had been damaged.

Angry and lost. That's all she'd ever be from that point on.

When she had been stuck in Neverland, Emma had spent her days and nights not only worried about getting Henry back, but reliving every childhood trauma. She hadn't necessarily pictured each moment in detail like recalling scenes from a movie, but she remembered how it felt. She'd remembered things she hadn't thought about in years and her emotions had gotten the better of her.

Still, she'd worked twice as hard to bury those issues like she had years ago and focused on saving her son. She had been successful and the misfit group that had joined her, had helped her, to get Henry home safely, had all returned to Storybrooke almost eight months ago.

In that near eight months, Henry lived between Emma's apartment and Regina's house and had weekend visits with Neal. Emma and Regina thought the best way for them to share custody would be to each have Henry for a month. Every other weekend, either Regina or Emma would leave him with Neal depending on whose month it was to have him in their guardianship.

It wasn't perfect, but Henry hadn't complained when they came up with the arrangement and after the first two months – one with each mother – he had shared his true feelings about the situation.

On the first night Regina turned Henry over to Emma for the start of the third month, the three of them decided to share dinner per their son's request. He used that dinner to tell them he liked how things were. He said that even if it didn't make things interesting, which it did, that he would still appreciate spending equal time with both of them.

The fact that Emma and Regina had managed to actually get along at that point also made things that much easier to enjoy. Henry had no idea what had happened between them while they were all in Neverland, but he was glad it had happened, whatever it was that had occurred between them.

He'd even said as much before the meal had ended.

It was in the back and forth of shared responsibility of raising Henry that Regina and Emma had reached the certain friendship that they had. They had each other's phone numbers, but they didn't talk much unless it had something to do with Henry, although, they sent texts every so often. But of course it usually had to do with their almost twelve year old son. Some conversations, however, started with Henry and ended with familiar banter unrelated to him. They joked about past events like taking a chainsaw to an apple tree, breaking into the Mayor's office with a lame excuse, using magic together, one or more jealous parties when Tinkerbell or Hook were involved, and Regina sleeping in a bed that Emma caught Snow and Charming having sex in.

Those texts had become more common – more frequent – than not, which was why it hadn't surprised Emma when her phone vibrated with a new text from Regina.

“Why did your mother just invite me to dinner?”

Emma groaned and rolled her eyes after she read the message. She only took a few seconds to process what she'd read before she typed out a response.

“Thanksgiving dinner. She wants everyone together. I think she even used the word 'family' to describe everyone.”

The reply was almost instantaneous.

“Like hell I'm that woman is family. And I will not subject myself to her cooking.”

“Actually, she wants YOU to cook.”

“Of course she does. Well, you can tell her I won't do it. I'm not even going!”

“Is that what you told her?”

“I told her if she wanted to know how I really felt about joining her for dinner, she should consult our long and painful history.”

“You realize she'll probably just guilt you into coming because you owe her for all your attempts to kill her, right?”

“She can try, but I'm not going to a family dinner, especially if SHE'S the one hosting it.”

Emma's response was a little slower that time when the front door to the apartment opened then loudly shut, though it hadn't been slammed out of anger.

“Then don't come for her. Come for Henry.”

“He and I have always had Thanksgiving dinner at my place.”

“Hey, Ma,” Henry said as he walked into the kitchen and dropped his backpack next to the stool beside Emma. “Who are you texting?”

“None of your business,” Emma said as she tried to type out a response to Regina.

“Is it Neal?”

“No. Why would you think that?”

“Because you always get a little cranky when you're talking to him.”

“It's not Neal. And I'm not cranky.”

“Then who is it,” he slowly asked as he leaned in close and tried to read a name or at least some of the previous messages.

“Henry, stop it,” Emma shooed him away.

“Emma? I will not let you keep my son from me. We have a tradition!”

Henry didn't relent. He tried over and over to get a closer to look. He even resorted to sticking his hand in Emma's face to prevent her from reading the new text.

“Henry!”

“I want to see,” Henry exclaimed as he kept one hand in her face and used the other to swipe the phone from Emma.

“Give it back,” Emma yelled.

Henry ran from the kitchen toward the stairs that led to Emma's room and looked over the texts between his blonde mother and...

His eyes widened when he realized Emma had been texting his brunette mother, but the shock wore off once he caught himself up on their conversation. Before Emma reached him at the stairs and tried to take back her phone, Henry sent Regina a response.

“Mom, it's Henry. I want to have dinner with everyone.”

“Henry?”

“Just took Emma's phone. She's angry. Yes or no?”

“Yes or no to what?”

“Are you coming to dinner?”

Regina took more than a few minutes to mull over her answer before she typed it. Her thumb hovered over the 'send' button when a new text came in.

“I reall y eszxdvyp9 ”

Regina questioningly stared at the text over and over again. Each time she read it, it seemed to make less and less sense.

Emma yanked her phone out of Henry's hand and shoved him away from the stairs with her hand on his back after a short wrestle with him.

Henry reluctantly lurched toward the living room due to Emma's force, but didn't fall over. He slowed himself to a normal walking pace and went back to the kitchen for a snack.

Emma growled out of frustration when she saw what wrestling with Henry caused the boy to type and then send to Regina.

“Sorry. Tried to get my phone back. Henry accidentally sent that during our little fight. It's Emma, by the way.”

Regina didn't save the message she was about to send before she received the strange text from Emma's phone. Instead, she deleted it without a second thought and read Emma's apologetic explanation for the previous text then typed out a completely different response.

“Fight? I hope it wasn't physical.”

“Only slightly. Kid's fine.”

Before Regina could scold Emma for her behavior, her phone alerted her with another text.

“Apparently, he was trying to say 'I really want you come'. He wanted me to tell you that.”

Regina relaxed and faintly smiled. She re-typed out her answer to Henry's question when he'd still been in possession of Emma's phone. Though the words were a little different, the message was still the same.

“Tell him I'll be there. What time is the dinner?”

Emma's responses came quicker from that point on, as quick as they first had when the two of them began texting.

“Didn't Mary Margaret tell you when she asked you over?”

“I may not have been paying attention. I have to tune her out most times to control my anger.”

“Dinner starts at 7”

“And she wants me to cook?”

“Not the whole meal. Let me check what she wants...”

Ten minutes later, Emma finally had an answer for Regina and sent a response.

“She wants you to make sweet potatoes and the gravy.”

“Fine. Just tell her I will destroy her if that turkey is dry.”

Emma laughed at the text even as she sent a reply.

“Will do :)”

Brown, red, and yellow-green colored leaves rustled in front of the white house with royal blue shudders. Chilly Maine air slapped Emma in the face and whipped around her long, blonde hair.

Emma stood at the end of the narrow pathway that led from the street to the grand house – though not as grand as Regina's mansion, which the recently re-elected Mayor mentioned every chance she got.

Emma puffed out a sigh and noted how chapped her lips had become from the late fall weather. She figured if her lips hurt with even the slightest of movements, her cheeks were probably partially rosy from the cold.

“Come on, Mom,” Henry said as he sprang from the yellow Bug parked in the driveway, something Emma could never do if they were having dinner at Regina's.

Henry patted Emma's back as he jogged toward the front door, a smile on his face that displayed his happiness as well as his eagerness.

With her hands still stuffed in her coat pockets, Emma hesitantly walked up to the front door. She reached out and rang the doorbell.

Within a minute, the door opened and a surprised but happy Snow White smiled at her daughter then down at her grandson.

“Emma, Henry, come in! You didn't have to ring the bell,” Snow said as she grabbed Emma's arm and gently pulled the blonde into the house while Henry already hurried inside in front of them.

“Sorry, I just...didn't know the protocol. Things are still a little confusing between the Storybrooke personalities and Enchanted Forest ones.”

“Even after Neverland,” Snow asked as she frowned at Emma and closed the door behind them.

Snow forced a smile anyway, however, and linked her arm in Emma's as she led the blonde to the dining room.

“Well, maybe this will clear some things up. You are always welcome here and you don't need to ring the doorbell or knock when you stop by.”

“Yeah, okay,” Emma said as she shrugged out of her mother's lazy embrace. Snow and Emma entered the dining room and Emma looked around at the table. It was extended for the holiday dinner, though it usually only seated four on a normal day, and everything but the turkey had been set out. Cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread adorned the elegant, creamy white tablecloth. They surrounded the two unlit, red tapers that were evenly placed on each end of the table.

The chandelier over the center of the table dimly, lit the room and cast soft shadows on the four off-white, almost beige colored, walls. Though it wasn't big, it was much more than Emma ever got to experience as a kid. Everything seemed so precious and warm and inviting. It seemed...conventional. Though Emma felt she was never one for the big family dinners anyway. But when she saw Snow and Charming's dining room like that it made her tame her wild, mostly unconventional side, and enjoy what that particular dinner appeared to offer.

“Wow. This looks great, Grandma,” Henry smiled at the set up as he stood behind one of the chairs at the table.

He wasn't shocked or in awe of the display like Emma was, but when she had started to question why that was, she remembered he'd spent the last ten Thanksgiving dinners with Regina. She inwardly smiled with the knowledge that her son had been taken care of. All she could have given him if she had decided to keep him didn't come close to everything he did get without her.

“Where can I sit,” Henry asked Snow.

Snow beamed at Henry's joy and placed her hands on his shoulders as she stood behind him.

“Wherever you want.”

“I want to sit next to you,” he said.

“I would love that,” Snow exclaimed. “I'm sitting here.”

Snow pointed to the chair one seat over from the seat Henry stood behind. He didn't hesitate to move to the chair to his right and sit down. Within seconds, he'd made himself comfortable in the seat to Snow's left.

Emma looked around at the empty table, save for the side dishes, fancy red napkins, and fine china, and noticed the vacant seats.

“Are we early,” Emma asked.

“Just barely,” Charming said as he came in from the kitchen with the turkey. “We're actually running a little behind schedule.”

Charming set the turkey down in front of Snow's place setting at what Emma assumed was the head of the table.

“Why's that,” Henry asked.

“I wasn't feeling well,” Snow replied as she rubbed Henry's back just below his neck.

“Are you sick,” Henry persisted.

“I was,” Snow casually nodded. “But I'm feeling much better now. Especially now that you're here, sitting next to me.”

Henry smiled up at her.

“So, Emma hasn't fed me since lunch and I'm getting hungry. When's dinner starting? My mom usually starts at about 5. It's six-thirty.”

“Henry,” Emma warned.

Henry turned to Emma and sighed.

“Sorry, that was kind of rude, wasn't it,” Henry stated.

It wasn't a question because he already knew the answer.

“It's okay,” Charming chuckled, amused. “I'm kind of hungry myself. Your grandmother made sure I didn't ruin my dinner so I haven't eaten since lunch either.”

“We'll eat as soon as everyone else arrives.”

“Everyone? I thought it was just going to be all of us and Regina,” Emma nervously spoke.

Charming ruffled Henry's hair with a smile on his way over to Emma and wordlessly took her black pea coat, something she had started wearing after she'd returned from the Enchanted Forest in place of her worn and currently discolored red leather jacket.

“Well, we also invited Neal,” Snow explained, a little too perky for Emma's liking.

“Why,” Emma practically growled her question.

“Because he's family,” Snow innocently shrugged.

Charming took Emma's coat to the foyer and hung it up on the coat rack next to the front door.

As if on cue, when Charming had finished adjusting Emma's coat on the rack, the doorbell rang. He opened the door and on the other side stood a nervous looking Neal.

Neal, in his defense, looked slightly uncomfortable but held up a wine bottle with one hand as though he was displaying it for a couple at a high-class restaurant.

“Are your ears burning,” Charming asked as he looked Neal over, his smile still present but much less jovial.

“What?”

Neal looked completely lost and the unexpected question caused him to shift from one foot to the other in the doorway.

Charming gave a small laugh.

“Never mind. Come in,” Charming said as he stepped aside and motioned for Neal to enter. “Thanks,” Neal said as he passed through the threshold.

Neal nervously rubbed the back of his neck and turned to Charming as the man closed the door behind him.

“I, uh, figured you already had some wine, but I didn't want to show up empty handed.”

Neal handed the bottle of wine over to Charming.

Charming calmly accepted the wine and inspected the label when it passed from Neal's hands to his.

“Good year,” Charming noted.

“Yeah, I, uh, had some extra cash. Thought made it would help my case if I didn't look cheap.”

Charming questioningly looked up at Neal as the two stood in the foyer, Charming looking right at home – which he was – and Neal looking like a nervous wreck.

“I get the feeling you're expecting me to hit you or something.”

Neal shrugged.

“Guess I'm still waiting for a punch in the face from the infamous Charming. I heard you clocked Hook for double crossing you and I'm sure you already know what happened between me and Emma so...” Neal trailed off, unable to finish his sentence – not that he needed to. Both he and Charming understood the sentence, incomplete or not.

“Well, I probably should do something about you sending her to jail for your mistake, but...I'm not going to do that tonight. It's Thanksgiving and we're finally all together so, for now, the past is irrelevant.”

“Thanks...again,” Neal awkwardly smiled, though he and Charming knew he was sincerely appreciative.

Charming nodded and gave a single pat to Neal's back. He gripped the man's shoulder and led Neal into the dining room to join his family. Once in the dining room, he slid his hand off Neal's shoulder and walked back toward the head of the table to stand beside Snow with the wine.

“Guess that just leaves Regina,” he said.

“Wait, Regina's coming,” Neal asked on his way over to Henry then turned his full attention to the boy. “Hey, bud.”

“Hey,” Henry kindly greeted, though he wasn't as happy to see Neal as he had been to see his grandmother.

Neal ruffled Henry's hair then wrapped his arm around the kid's shoulder and gently squeezed him into a half-hug, which was returned with a loose arm wrapped around Neal's waist. When they separated, he turned to Emma and flashed a nervous smile that disappeared as quickly as it had been formed.

“Hi,” he quietly said.

“Neal,” Emma curtly greeted.

Neal cleared his throat and looked down at the ground as he turned and made his way to the other side of the table. He motioned to the seat across from the empty one on Henry's side of the table as he approached it and looked up at Snow and Charming.

“Is this seat taken,” he asked.

Snow smiled at Neal's shy behavior. She didn't necessarily like the man that had broken her daughter's heart, but she could tell he was trying to be there for both Henry and Emma.

“No,” Snow answered.

Just when all eyes were about to fall on Emma because the blonde remained standing, and tensely so, her phone vibrated in the back pocket of her tight jeans.

Emma grabbed the phone and looked down to see the display alert her with a new text message from Regina. She opened the message and frowned at what she read.

“I don't think I'm going.”

“You don't THINK you're coming? What about Henry?”

“Emma, why don't you sit down,” Charming asked and motioned to the table.

Emma only looked up from her phone to see Charming pull a Vanna White and showcase the dining table. Her phone vibrated in her hands during the start of what Emma predicted to be an awkward silence so she redirected her attention back to her phone.

“I don't want to sit through dinner with your mother.”

“Well, dinner's starting soon and Henry's hungry.”

“Emma?”

Snow curiously called out to the blonde and started to approach her.

“What is it,” Snow asked once she was a step away from being able to touch her daughter.

“Uh, just... I don't know,” Emma admitted as she shook her head and backed away from Snow before the woman could put her motherly hands on her.

Emma avoided eye contact and stared at her phone as if willing it to light up with another text from Regina.

Sure enough, it did. Thankfully before things got any more awkward.

“Come outside.”

Emma glanced up at Snow then quickly acknowledged Charming's presence.

“Hang on. I've to check on something,” Emma said before she flew to the front door and stepped onto the small porch.

Emma immediately felt the chill of the fall weather and decided it was much colder without a coat. She looked down at her phone for another text from Regina, something that maybe explained the brunette's vague demand. No new messages had come through in her short jog out to the porch so Emma wrapped her arms around herself to fight the cold and looked around the front yard.

Emma curiously narrowed her eyes on the unlit section of curb in front of the house and saw a shadow. A shadow shaped like the hood of a car.

The Benz.

Emma cautiously stepped off the porch and headed down the narrow walkway she'd hesitantly come up not more than ten minutes ago. She stopped at the curb and knocked on the passenger's side window.

Emma opened her mouth, but before she could call out to the other woman she suspected remained inside, she heard the door unlock.

Emma pulled the handle and opened the door.

“Get in,” Regina quickly said, again cutting off Emma before the blonde could even manage a single syllable.

Emma sighed and grabbed the plastic wrapped bowl of sweet potatoes and set them on the dashboard before she slid into the passenger's seat then closed the door.

“How long have you been here,” Emma asked as she turned in the seat to face Regina.

“I was just behind your boyfriend when we turned down this street,” Regina bitterly said.

“He's not my boyfriend,” Emma quickly and tiredly insisted before something struck her as odd. “He didn't see you?”

“Of course not,” Regina said as though the answer were obvious. “He turned down the street before I did and I'd recognize Gold's unsightly Cadillac anywhere so I waited a minute or two at the stop sign then turned down the street. I pulled up just as Charming shut the door after letting Neal in.”

“Okay,” Emma slowly said, a little confused by Regina's actions and yet, she didn't push the subject any further. “So are you just going to sit in here like some stalker all night or are you gonna come in?”

“Did you get a look at the turkey?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Was it dry?”

“Oh my god,” Emma resisted the urge to wipe her hands over her face out of frustration. “Are you asking so that if you know it's dry you'll just up and leave? You'd really promise Henry you'd be here just to leave him because Mary Margaret doesn't cook to your standards?”

Regina closed her eyes as she sighed and sat back in her chair. She looked absolutely defeated and so unlike her usually regal, put together self.

“You really don't want to have dinner with them, do you.”

“Why would I,” Regina almost snapped. “It's not like I'm really wanted. Except for Henry, no one else wants me in that house. A house that I got them, by the way!”

“I know.”

“Maybe if I finally told them that then they'd accept my presence more. That house was just out of their price range. If I hadn't paid half the down payment and a quarter of the first mortgage payment, they wouldn't be living here.”

“I know.”

“How you manged to convince me to help them out is beyond me,” Regina added.

Emma smiled.

“It's in the family genes,” Emma teased. “I'm charming, remember?”

Regina rolled her eyes then turned her head to look at Emma.

“Come on, Regina. It's warm inside, there's a bunch of food, the place looks really nice, and Henry's not the only one that could benefit from you being here.”

They sat in silence for a few more seconds before Emma appealed to another side of Regina, the more material side, to sell the woman on the idea of joining them all for dinner.

“And the longer you sit here,” Emma started. “The more likely that gravy is going to stink up your car.”

Emma pointed to the gravy Regina had carefully concealed in two separate on-the-go coffee thermos' that sat in the cup holders between them.

Regina almost rolled her eyes again, but stopped herself as she looked down at the gravy and silently sighed.

“I guess you're right.”

“You know I'm right,” Emma smirked. “Are you ready?”

Regina's eyes flicked up to met Emma's gaze. She looked timid and unsure as she looked at the blonde.

“Not even a little bit,” Regina confessed.

“Well, neither am I,” Emma said as she reached over the center console and took Regina's hand in hers. “But just like in Neverland, our chances are better when we're together.”

“That almost rhymed. And honestly, it's unsettling to have you sound like a pathetic romanticist poet.”

Emma squeezed Regina's hand as her smile spread from hearing Regina's words then let go and grabbed a gravy filled thermos and the bowl of sweet potatoes she'd set on the dashboard.

“Then let's get inside so I can shut up,” Emma said as she opened the passenger's door.

“Are you sure that's all it will take,” Regina teased with a grin as she opened her own door, grabbed the other gravy thermos and exited her Mercedes.

Emma smirked in silent laughter and shut her door just before Regina did the same.

“Only one way to find out.”

Regina and Emma made their way up the walkway together, but Regina frowned down at the thermos in her hand when they were halfway to the front door.

“I really wished I had a better way of transporting the gravy. This is just tacky,” Regina sniffed at her own mistake.

Emma chuckled.

“It's fine. I wouldn't expect you to try and bring the gravy in this really expensive gravy boat knowing you have to drive across town with it with the gravy sloshing around in it. Even with plastic wrap, it's still an accident waiting to happen.”

“I should have done it anyway.”

“Then you'd be crazy,” Emma laughed then lifted the thermos to her nose as she opened it. “This smells really good. Can I have a little taste?”

“No,” Regina firmly said.

“Why not? It's not like I'm gonna get my germs on the rest of it. Just a little on the lid of the thermos.”

“You can have some when we eat.”

“Geez. Now you're just confusing me.”

“What's so confusing about me refusing your juvenile requests? That happens almost daily.”

“Well, with all the parenting going on, I'm not sure who my mom really is. You or Mary Margaret. Is there something you forgot to tell me,” Emma joked with a lopsided smirk.

Regina rolled her eyes.

“I am not your mother.”

Emma laughed at the displeased expression on Regina's face.

“Thank god for that,” Emma said once her laughter subsided.

Regina looked at Emma with a raised eyebrow, not sure how to interpret Emma's response, but she didn't get the chance to question the younger woman. Instead, she was subjected to join Emma inside when Snow opened the front door and let them in.

“Regina. I'm glad you decided to come,” Snow greeted her former stepmother.

Regina only hummed in response and looked around. Her gaze swept across the first floor from left to right and she noticed the study on her right at the front of the house, behind the coat rack. Then she took in the staircase before her that didn't twist and turn like her own staircase at home. As she continued to scan the first floor, she saw the archway that led straight into kitchen from the foyer and archway to the dining room on her left.

Everything seemed pristine and well-furnished. She couldn't complain about the appearance or lay out of the house, though she of course preferred hers over the Charming household.

Someone grabbed the thermos out of her hand and when she turned to see who had dared take something from her, especially when the action had uncomfortably jarred her from her thoughts, she realized it had been Emma.

“I'll take these into the kitchen,” Emma offered with a small smile meant to calm Regina.

Emma could see how on edge the brunette was and for some reason, she felt compelled to ease the other woman's mind. When she first realized her sudden need to help Regina in certain ways she'd never wanted or needed to do before, she blamed it on their time in Neverland. She still blamed it on Neverland even as she took the thermos from Regina.

“Thank you,” Regina warily said as she shrugged out of her coat.

As Emma made her way toward the kitchen, Regina placed her coat on the rack and reluctantly walked into the dining room, several steps behind Snow.

Emma set both thermos' on the counter and rummaged through a few different cupboards before she found a gravy boat, the one and only that her parents owned apparently. She figured she could blame Regina's curse for that since she assumed a Prince and Princess would certainly have more than just one gravy boat.

But information like that didn't matter.

Emma shook her head free of small questions like, “How many gravy boats do royals have in their possession” and just poured the gravy into the boat. She emptied a complete thermos and most of the second one since the gravy boat limited how much gravy it could actually take. When finished, she slid her finger over the lip of each thermos to keep them clean then peeked into the kitchen in case Regina could see her.

Fortunately, she had no one's attention –something she was all too used to – so she licked her finger and had that little taste of the gravy Regina had earlier denied her.

The gravy had still been plenty warm and it went smoothly down Emma's throat. It was just thick enough to satisfy, but not too thick to the point of overcompensating for, oh say: dry turkey?

Emma smiled, her finger still in her mouth, when Charming called for her from the dining room.

“Coming!”

Emma removed her finger from her mouth and quickly but carefully grabbed the gravy boat as she moved toward the other room.

When she rejoined the group, she saw Regina in the seat beside Henry, which only left one other seat available unless she forced Charming out of his chair at one end of the table.

Emma frowned and set down the gravy boat down on the table in the space between Snow and Henry. She then walked behind Snow and Charming as Charming stood beside Snow, who had already sat down at the head of the table, and took the place setting next to Neal. She tried to keep her expression neutral, indifferent. In that moment, she hoped that if she'd learned anything from Regina that it was the trick to hiding emotions. She didn't realize it wouldn't be the only time that night she'd hope for that.

“Oh, Emma,” Snow apologetically started. “Would you light the candles, please?”

Emma resisted the urge to sigh as she wordlessly stood from her seat and took the proffered lighter from Snow. She held the end over the lighter over the taper closest to her and clicked the trigger.

A flame flickered out of the end of the lighter and burned the unused white wick. She waited until a flame ignited the wick, separate from the one that came from the lighter. She let go of the trigger and lighter's flame vanished in an instant. She backed away from the table and walked around Neal's chair and partially reached over him to light the other taper.

The hem of her long sleeve green shirt slid up enough to expose a strip of skin between her belly button and the waistband of her jeans. She felt a minute draft hit her in that spot, but didn't pay much attention to it, though both Neal and Regina paid very close attention. Emma, however, remained oblivious to that fact.

With both tapers lit, Emma moved back toward the head of the table and held out the lighter for Snow to take.

“Thank you,” Snow said as Charming accepted the lighter instead.

Emma sat down again while Charming quickly set it aside on the side table against the wall that separated the dining room from the foyer. Once the lighter was out of the way, Charming sidled up to Snow yet again and rested a hand on her shoulder. The two of them smiled and lovingly gazed at each other.

As Emma looked at them, the couple so lost in their own world at the time, she recognized an ethereal glow to Snow. For the first time that night, she saw that it wasn't just Snow's beaming expression that seemed different about the woman. It was that glow. Emma couldn't put a name on what it was that caused Snow to appear peaceful and carefree, but she didn't think too much about it.

“Um, Grandma?”

Henry snapped both Snow and Charming out of their little moment and the couple turned their attention to the boy.

Henry opened his mouth as if to say something, but his stomach beat him to the punch and growled. Loudly.

“Oh,” Snow said as she came to a realization then chuckled. “Sorry, Henry. We're just about to feed you. I promise.”

“When was the last time you ate,” Regina asked like a concerned mother.

“At one,” Henry answered before he glared at Emma.

Regina followed his gaze and looked at Emma across the table, opposite Henry.

“What did you feed him? One cracker? It sounds like he hasn't eaten all day!”

“Relax. He had a turkey sandwich. Tomatoes, lettuce, light mayo. It's your stupid diet for him that's making him so hungry.”

“Well, you could have given him a snack at four.”

“What kind of snack? You hate it when he eats burgers or fries or heaven forbid he enjoys a chocolate shake every once in a while,” Emma argued.

Regina scoffed.

“Guys,” Henry whined. “I'm really hungry. Can you two fight about this later?”

Emma and Regina regarded their son before they looked at each other.

“Fine,” Regina huffed.

Emma rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair.

Snow cleared her throat and rose from her seat.

Charming slid his arm off her shoulder only to wrap his arm around her waist and keep her close.

“Before we keep Henry any longer from his food, Charming and I have a few things to say,” Snow started with an excited smile.

The couple had everyone's attention.

“In honor of Thanksgiving,” Snow continued. “We'd like to say how thankful we are that Henry is here and he's safe.”

Henry smiled at that.

Emma, Regina, and Neal all warmly smiled at him like three loving and appreciative parents. Because that's what they were. All of them couldn't have been happier that Henry was back home and out of harms way.

“We're also thankful to have all of you here with us tonight,” Snow went on after a moment of pause. “Because we consider all of you family.”

Snow and Charming looked at Regina specifically when Snow said, “all.”

Regina gulped, but otherwise remained stoic.

“And, with that in mind,” Snow beamed as she continued, seemingly unable to contain her enthusiasm for what else she had to say. “We'd like to announce that...”

Snow paused in her speech to gleefully look up at Charming. She was even more joyous to see his large smile when he looked back at her. After a moment, Snow turned back to the four other people in the room and placed her hand on her stomach before she finished.

“We're having a baby.”

Regina and Neal stared at Snow and Charming, their mouths agape and both utterly speechless. Henry responded the same way until a few seconds later, he slowly started to smile.

“Awesome,” Henry said. “This means I'm gonna have an aunt or uncle now, right?”

Charming and Snow laughed.

“Yeah, it does,” Charming confirmed.

“Yes,” Henry victoriously hissed his approval then jumped out of his chair and hugged Charming.

“I mean, it'll be a little weird since they'll be younger than me,” Henry added when he pulled away from Charming. “But I can teach them all about the world and fairy tales. 'Cause, let's face it. I'm probably not gonna get a brother or sister from any of my parents.”

“Henry,” Regina and Neal simultaneously scolded him.

When they each heard the echo, Regina and Neal looked at each other for a few seconds.

Then it dawned on Regina that there was one voice missing from the joint scolding. She looked across the table at Emma and noticed the blonde only stared blankly ahead, her eyes cast down as if she was looking at the table. But Emma's unfocused gaze told Regina she was lost in her thoughts and the younger woman's drained expression let Regina know just how Emma felt.

Emma sat completely still for once in her life. She felt like she'd been punched in the stomach when Snow had announced her pregnancy. She wanted to be happy for them, like she knew she should have been, but all she could do was retreat into her own mind.

Her arms were still crossed over her chest and she still casually leaned back in her chair. She hadn't moved since the end of her argument with Regina about Henry's eating provisions. Even though she wanted to run as far away as she could in that moment, she couldn't even find the strength to sit up straight.

“So...are you already pregnant,” Neal asked, clearly inept at what else to say.

“Yes,” Snow lightly laughed at his expense.

“Right. Uh, cool,” Neal said. “I mean, uh, congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Charming said with smile.

Just as Snow and Charming looked at Emma, Regina cleared her throat and dragged their attention away from the other woman, who was obviously in shock.

“How far along are you,” Regina asked.

Snow smiled, grateful that Regina seemed genuinely interested.

Neal looked to his left and noticed Emma's reaction. It took him several seconds before it hit him that he knew exactly why Emma looked the way she did.

“Twelve weeks,” Snow answered Regina.

“Em-” Neal quietly tried to get Emma's attention and reached for her hand.

Emma jerked away from his touch and finally sat up.

“You hardly look twelve weeks,” Regina feigned surprise and even a hint of envy.

Snow blushed and averted her gaze. Though Regina's diversion tactic worked on the pixie-haired brunette, Charming was evidently immune.

Charming looked over at his daughter and frowned when he saw Emma pout.

“Emma? Is everything okay,” Charming calmly asked, though concern coated his words.

At the sound of her husband's voice and her daughter's name, Snow abandoned her conversation with Regina and looked at Emma. She too frowned when she saw the blonde's less than thrilled expression.

“Emma?”

Emma snapped out of her sad thoughts and looked up at Snow and Charming, her parents. She blinked and licked her lips and suddenly, she appeared normal again. It was as if her actions had rebooted her like a struggling computer.

“That's great,” Emma said with a well-faked happiness.

The only two people that caught on to her real mood were Regina and Neal, but neither said anything.

Snow and Charming smiled at Emma, though they still seemed a little worried that something wasn't right with their daughter's odd behavior. And yet, they gave her the benefit of the doubt and bought her lies.

“Right. Well,” Charming broke the moment with a more princely smile. “I say we eat.”

“Yeah,” Henry exclaimed.

“If you five wouldn't mind, you can start filling up your plates with the sides,” Charming said as he picked up the carving utensils.

Snow sat down and started them off by serving herself two large spoonfuls of stuffing while Charming got to work on the turkey.

To keep herself busy, Emma grabbed Regina's sweet potatoes and uncovered them then dropped a good portion of them on her plate. When Snow tried to pass her the stuffing, she figured they were passing everything to right and handed the sweet potatoes to Neal.

“Thank you for making the sweet potatoes, Regina. And the gravy. I'm sure it's as amazing as I remember,” Snow said as Regina grabbed the cornbread that had already been cut into mostly even squares and placed a single piece on her place then gave the pan to Henry.

“More like orgasmi-” Emma started to say, but cut herself off a little too late and immediately looked up at Henry before her eyes fell on Regina.

Just before she could finish her compliment, she realized she not only just outed herself for tasting the gravy even after Regina told her she couldn't, but she almost said the word “orgasmic” in front of her eleven year old son.

Fortunately when she looked at Henry, he only seemed mildly disturbed by her choice of words. He hardly seemed to know what the word meant, especially since Emma hadn't even finished saying it.

Unfortunately, Regina stared at Emma with a raised eyebrow that silently dared her to confess her disobedience and face the consequences. She had been in the process of buttering her cornbread when, mid-spread, Emma had decided to speak. She immediately stopped to glare at the woman, especially once she heard Emma compare the gravy to a sexual experience.

Emma cleared her throat and shoveled some stuffing on her plate before she passed it to Neal. She kept her eyes down except for when she took food from Snow, careful not to clumsily spill it or drop the plates handed to her.

When Emma decided to stay quiet, Regina resumed buttering her cornbread with a small amount of the fatty substance.

“Apparently, you'll probably be pleased with the gravy,” Regina finally replied to Snow's comment. “If your daughter's recommendation is anything to go by.”

Snow nervously laughed under her breath.

The awkwardness of that particular dinner hadn't ended there. It appeared that Snow and Charming's announcement led to further uncomfortableness and Emma's reaction to it had been the catalyst. Thirty minutes into the dinner, the family had run out of things to say. When everyone had stopped talking and the tension in the room could have been carved like the turkey they'd been enjoying, all anyone heard for the next few minutes was silverware clanking and scraping against plates.

Then, as if it were the best thing to do in such a situation, Snow revisited the topic she hadn't quite realized had started the dinner's downfall.

“So, Regina,” Snow hesitantly started as everyone seemed to finish with their first servings. “I've already talked to Red and she's offering to throw me a baby shower.”

Regina suddenly dropped her fork and it clattered against her plate then looked up at Snow.

At the same time, Emma froze before she could lift her own fork to her mouth and continue to enjoy Regina's homemade gravy. She slowly lowered her fork, but didn't drop it onto her plate like Regina had done. Instead, she zoned out again. Though it wasn't exactly zoning out because she still heard the rest of the conversation.

“It seems strange to ask, but...I don't know. I...I'd like it if you came to the shower,” Snow said.

“You want me to attend your baby shower,” Regina flatly, though incredulously, stated.

“Yes,” Snow smiled in an attempt for her request to be more well-received.

“Ruby already knew you were pregnant,” Emma asked, unable to resist knowing the answer.

“Well, yes. She sensed something was different about me and she's my best friend so I just...told her,” Snow shrugged with a small smile.

The woman hadn't caught on to Emma's discomfort with the subject. Of course, neither had Charming. But not even Regina could deny him credit because he at least narrowed his eyes at Emma and seemed to question her reaction. It was more than Snow could have said in that moment.

“Oh,” was all Emma could say.

She nodded like she understood and started to move her food around her plate instead of eating it.

“Um, how long has she known,” Emma timidly asked, almost afraid to know the answer and yet still curious to find out.

“I think I told her sometime last week? Or maybe it was at the end of the week before last. I'm not sure.”

Emma stopped playing with her food and just sat still for another moment.

Neal worriedly looked at her, as did Regina.

Henry kept his attention on his food and grabbed seconds of certain things like Regina's sweet potatoes and the stuffing.

Charming focused on Emma and struggled to decipher her mood. It started to frustrate him that he hadn't yet been able to understand his own daughter, but any time he thought like that he made the excuse that she hardly talked about how she felt. In a way, he'd placed the blame of their lack of communication on Emma, but he also knew that was wrong. So he kept trying, and failing, to figure Emma out.

“I'm kind of tired,” Emma slowly said as she gently set her fork down on her plate.

Snow frowned.

“I think I'm gonna go,” Emma added as she stood up.

“What,” Snow sadly questioned the blonde's decision.

Henry set down his silverware and looked down, disappointed. After a second, he also stood with a frown that immediately crushed Regina to see.

Emma chose the lesser of two evils and chose to walk behind Neal's chair instead of her mother's. When she started to cross behind Charming, she saw Henry walk past Regina and toward her.

“Bye, Grandma. Grandpa,” Henry quietly and morosely said.

When Henry went to hug Regina, Emma shook her and turned Henry to face herself. He was the only thing between her and Regina.

“No, you're staying,” Emma softly told him.

“But I'm staying with you for another two weeks,” Henry said, confused.

“You can stay with Regina tonight.”

Emma looked to Regina and silently asked if that was okay.

Regina nodded when she saw a glimmer of desperation in the younger woman's eyes.

“Are you okay,” Henry asked.

“Yeah,” Emma forced a smile. “I'll be fine. See ya later.”

Emma bent down and kissed Henry's temple then hugged him against her chest with one hand on the back of his head and the other placed between his shoulder blades on his back. When she let him go, she swiftly turned and grabbed her coat on the way out.

By the time she shut the front door behind herself and threw her coat on as she hurried down the walkway, tears spilled down her cheeks while she choked back soft sobs.

Chapter Text

The workweek started again on the second of December with nothing but gray clouds overhead and the promise of light showers if not the expected winter rain. Three days had passed since Thanksgiving dinner and Emma still hadn't come to Regina's house to pick up Henry.

Despite sending at least three texts a day, Regina had been unsuccessful in reaching Emma. When Sunday night rolled around, Regina assumed she'd have to take Henry to school the next day and her assumptions were right. In that moment, she disliked being right.

Since Regina had been re-elected as Mayor, a fact she used to love but suddenly resented when Emma's questionable mood was involved, she had to get to work. She had given Emma her space over the weekend. Three days seemed like enough time for the blonde to process her feelings so even though she wanted to track down the elusive Emma Swan, she dejectedly drove from Henry's school to City Hall.

She sat through her first appointment of the day a little distracted thanks to Henry's fowl mood after Emma's upsetting exit at Thanksgiving dinner then sighed when she started to review paperwork. With a pen in hand and a few papers scattered in a somewhat organized manner in front of her, Regina couldn't help but envision the low hanging cloud that had followed Henry around all weekend.

Saturday night, when Regina decided to go ahead and make dinner for the both of them after another day of zero responses from the blonde, Henry realized Emma probably wasn't coming back for him. That moment of realization broke Regina's heart, especially after Peter Pan had convinced him that no one was coming for him in Neverland.
That train of thought made Regina remember what Henry had confessed to her during her first month with him back in Storybrooke. He'd had another nightmare, a frequent occurrence since the return from Neverland, and – when asked about it – Henry told her it was about him being left alone on the island. Another frequent occurrence. Regina had dug deeper and asked why he kept dreaming about being left behind. She never forgot his response: “Because she left me once before.”

Suddenly, everything made sense.

Regina knew in that very moment that Henry only believed Pan when the monstrous boy said his family wasn't coming to save him because Emma had already given him up. It had been eleven years ago and last year he didn't seem too upset by it. At least that was how it appeared when he wanted to spend every day with her instead of Regina, the mother who had changed every diaper, soothed every fever, and endured every tantrum.

And yet, there Regina sat. Paperwork forgotten as she understood that Henry, once again, felt abandoned by his birth mother.

Regina threw her pen down on top of the paperwork, thoroughly frustrated. She sighed in an attempt to release some of the tension associated with said frustration, but it was useless. She needed to talk to Emma. She needed to know what Emma had been thinking at the dinner, maybe even still thought three days later.

Some eighteenth birthday.

Emma had absolutely no one. She grabbed her slightly worn leather bag of clothes and the bare minimum of basic need supplies and took off.

Legally an adult as of last week and no longer a ward of the state, Emma had nowhere to go. The only reason she hadn't been tossed out of her most recent foster family's house sooner was only because she still had a purpose with them. She was still her foster father's punching bag.

In fact, she celebrated her eighteenth birthday wishing on every damn star that had yet to appear in the Portland, Oregon sky that she wouldn't end up in the hospital when he finished. It seemed her wish had been granted, which was the only reason she still believed in their possibly ten years later when she'd eventually find herself in Boston.
But for the time being, she'd managed to suffer one of the less aggressive attacks of a man who frequently abused her just to make himself feel better. She came away with a black eye, swollen and split bottom lip, and several bruises on her stomach. Her face healed in record time and within four days after the beating, she'd been able to wear makeup again without the sting of covering up the battery.

Unfortunately, the bruises on her stomach refused to fade as easily. They had only just started to yellow in the healing process when she grabbed her things and fled that day.
In search of a more sufficient escape, Emma scoured the streets for a quick getaway. She'd stolen a slim-Jim from the trunk of her foster father's car just before she left. She'd slipped it up the left sleeve of her black leather jacket to conceal it and spent hours wandering through alleyways.

Late in the overcast day, she found a vintage, yellow Volkswagen Beetle in the middle of an alley filled with graffiti covered buildings and telephone poles, broken and wet crates, and an outdated, orange-brown chair torn in half.

She wore her curled blonde hair in a ponytail and approached the car with her black messenger bag slung over her shoulder in a red, white, and black plaid dress. Her legs were covered in black tights and her feet were kept warm with black boots that came up to mid-calve.

The closer she got to the car, the more she nervously looked around. Even as she dangled keys to make it seem as though the car was actually hers, she feared the worst. She expected to get caught. She paused at the car door and continued to check every direction for any sign of trouble, all the while discretely pulling the slim-Jim out of the sleeve of her jacket.

She slid the tool into the slit between the driver's side window and the car door. She jimmied the door lock within seconds and jostled out the slim-Jim. In one fluid movement, she opened the door and slid into the Beetle. Just as fluidly, she shut the door behind herself and reached into her bag to retrieve a screwdriver and a rock. She forcefully inserted the screwdriver into the ignition then pounded the butt of the tool with the rock. After a few hits, she jiggled the screwdriver a bit before she turned it until the car started.
Emma proudly smiled to herself, a little impressed that she'd managed to pull off such a feat and in such a small amount of time.

She shifted the car in gear and drove out of the alley. When she made it out onto a side street, a man popped up in the backseat.

“Impressive.”

Emma visibly jumped and even emitted a yelp at the sound of the stranger's voice.

“But you could've just asked me for the keys,” the man continued to say and smirked as he looked at her with the keys dangling at eye level.

Emma looked back and forth between him and the road in complete shock. With wide eyes and a tense body, she panicked and speechlessly squirmed in her seat.

After half a mile, the man pushed back his hood and revealed a mussed, full head of dark brown hair. Seconds later, he spoke again when he noticed Emma hadn't relaxed.

“Just drive. It's fine,” he calmly assured her.

“I just stole your car. Your life could be in danger,” Emma replied, a little breathless even as she tried to sound strong.

The man grinned and chuckled under his breath at Emma's response.

“Neal Cassidy,” he introduced himself and held up a hand as if he were answering a question, which Emma clearly hadn't asked him.

“Yeah, I'm not telling you my name,” Emma quickly said.

“Yeah, I don't need it to have you arrested when the robbery's in progress,” he laughed, completely comfortable in their situation.

Emma rolled her eyes, unamused, but withheld a sigh as she recognized defeat.

“Emma,” she softly, but not timidly, said. “Swan.”

“Good name,” Neal said as he kept close to the driver's seat.

Emma rolled her eyes again. Twice within a minute. And she just met the guy. Neal Cassidy must have been going for a record because Emma hadn't known anyone to get on her nerves as quickly and as often as he already had.

“So...do you...just live in here or...are you waiting for the car to be stolen,” Emma asked and let go of the wheel with one hand to carelessly wave her arm as she slowly spoke.

“Why don't I tell you over drinks,” he flirted.

“Excuse me?”

Emma looked over her shoulder and glared at him.

“Hey, eyes on the road,” he talked over her and pointed at the road just as she drove past a stop sign.

A car honked, but she kept going. She glared at him for a second more then decided to turn back and stared ahead, once again focused on driving instead of Neal.

Emma licked her lips and blinked a few times before she answered his earlier question.

“I am not having drinks with you. You might be a pervert.”

“I might be a pervert, but you're definitely a car thief.”

“I said I was sorry,” Emma insisted.

“You didn't, actually.”

Emma dropped her jaw and silently scoffed at the accusation as she looked at him through the rear view mirror. Her accusatory look turned into an eye roll as she realized she in fact had not apologized.

Before she could say anything, though, sirens blared in short, warning bursts less than a mile behind the car.

Neal hung his head and rubbed his hand back and forth through his hair while Emma gaped at the sight of the approaching cop car.

“Damn it,” Emma nervously cursed as she chanced a look over her shoulder at the cop car every few seconds when she wasn't focused on the road ahead.

Neal groaned.

“That's why I said, 'eyes on the road,'” he spoke into the long sleeve of his shirt with his forehead pressed to his forearm.
Emma pulled over and parked at the curb in front of a brick building that had large Chinese symbols painted in white near the rooftop.

She'd been on the streets, finally out of the foster system and in charge of her own shitty life, for less than six minutes and already she'd managed to get herself in trouble with the cops.

Oh, the foreshadowing.

“Screwdriver,” Neal said as he pushed his way between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat.

Emma barred her teeth with a clenched jaw, her face contorted to show her worry, and she quickly handed Neal the screwdriver.

At the same time, Neal leaned over the center console and jammed the car keys into the ignition in place of the screwdriver he quickly pocketed then tried to look casual in the backseat as the cop came up to Emma's window.

“License and registration,” the cop asked in a deep, no-nonsense tone of voice.

“Hi,” Emma sweetly greeted with a large smile as she rested her left forearm on the door, her window rolled down for the cop.

Neal immediately jumped between the front seats of the car and addressed the cop, his face entirely too close to Emma's person. He cut Emma off before she could incriminate them.

“I'm sorry, Officer, this is actually my car.”

Emma showed her disapproval of Neal's proximity, but masked it when she looked at the cop again.

“I'm trying to, uh, uh,” Neal struggled to lie on the spot. “Teach my girlfriend how to drive stick.”

Emma raised both her eyebrows as she tried not to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded to her, only slightly amused with his lie.

“She's got a lot to learn,” the officer responded as he looked from Neal back to the stop sign Emma had passed then back to Neal.

“I know,” Neal said as if he were actually the boyfriend troubled with teaching his stubborn girlfriend how to drive stick, as he'd said he was. “But, you know. Women.”

Neal scrunched up his face to convey his one word excuse for her poor driving was an obvious fact.

Emma stared at him with a little bit of anger, unappreciative of the man speaking of her – as well as the entire female population – in such a demeaning way.

After several long, drawn out seconds of silence, the straight-faced officer bought into the lie.

“Alright, I hear you,” he said with a thumb tucked into his belt and another hand holding a clipboard. “It's a warning. This time.”

“Yeah,” Neal nodded before the officer started to walk away. “Thank you so much.”

The officer had just reached his squad car when Neal quickly pushed the passenger's seat forward, opened the door, and maneuvered himself out of the backseat and into the passenger's seat.

As he did so, Emma asked, “What are you? Some sort of misogynist?”

“You're welcome. Now. Go. We got lucky,” Neal said as he settled into the seat once the door was closed.

Emma frowned and thought about his phrasing.

“We?”

Neal looked at her before he dropped his gaze and looked guilty as hell.

Emma chewed on that look for a few more seconds before she pieced the puzzle together.

“This isn't your car either, is it?”

“Hm?”

Neal played dumb, but Emma saw right through it.

“I stole a stolen car?”

Neal deviously grinned at her, pleased to see she'd done well.

“Now how 'bout that drink,” he asked.

Emma looked him over and saucily smirked before she turned the keys and started the car with a playful scoff. She faced forward and continued to smirk even as she drove away.

For the first time, she allowed someone to finally pay for her instead of them getting paid to “take care” of her. Like anyone took care of her. She was a tax write off, a free paycheck to people that lied when they told social workers Emma Swan was in good hands. The more she bounced around from the orphanage to several misfitted foster families, the more she felt the loss of her parents. Parents that she'd learned early in life had left her on the side of some highway.

So as the aloof Neal Cassidy handed her the bottle of whiskey she'd helped him steal from a local liquor store, she thought about how her own parents didn't even want her. With that in mind, it made sense no one else had wanted her. Once she was ten, she started to think there was something wrong with her, something that made her undesirable in every way.

But there she was, in a car stolen twice over, with a reckless and street smart guy she'd met only ten minutes prior. She hardly knew Neal, but he'd actually asked her questions about her life. With each answer, though they weren't too detailed, he seemed genuinely interested. Once both had started to feel buzzed, they quickly swapped stories about their home life.

Emma only said, “My parents didn't want me so I've been handed off to every single lowlife since I was three after my first and only family threw me away.”

Neal only went so far as to explain, “My dad turned into this man, this coward, that I didn't recognize. I thought he could change, but he abandoned me when I was fourteen.”

Over the next few weeks, they'd grown closer with each heist. They stole food and other things they needed to get by on and along the way, they shared a few more stories. When they'd reached a month together, things got a little more intimate.

“Come on, Em. Let me have the backseat tonight. My back is killin' me from lounging in the passenger's seat,” Neal begged.

“I'm supposed to have the backseat until tomorrow night. That's the arrangement you agreed to.”

“I know,” Neal started, exasperated. “But...I'm dyin' here. I've been chivalrous enough.”

Emma just stared at him.

“I promise I won't try anything,” he raised his hands defensively.

Emma sighed after a moment and slid over to give him room.

“Thank you,” Neal smiled as he climbed over the center console and joined her in the backseat.

“Yeah, yeah,” Emma dismissively said as she made herself comfortable in her new spot.

“So...got anything you want to talk about tonight,” he asked as he tipped his back and stared at the starry night sky through the back window.

Emma furrowed her brow when she saw him extend his neck in a way that looked uncomfortable to her. She leaned back in the seat and followed his example then saw what he saw. Hundreds of stars twinkled in the dark sky above them and she smiled at the sight.

Neal turned his head to see Emma's reaction. He smiled when he noticed the stars caused her to light up like the bright and warming sun.

“Emma,” he asked, still smiling, and pulled her attention away from the stars.

Emma turned her head to look at him and her smile faded.

Neal's expression faltered to match Emma's. If she was in pain, he was there to shoulder it and empathize with the young girl.

A minute ticked by before Emma took a deep breath and opened up to him. She told him about her second family, a family she thought she might actually get to be a part of. The Johnsons.

She explained that for the second time in her life, she felt worthless.

“I found out I had a family until I was three,” Emma confessed. “But I was three. I don't remember that. I mean, there's bits and pieces scattered around in my head. But I never had the chance to really make a home, I guess.

“Anyway, it still hurts. To know that I'd had a family, not just birth parents that gave me up, and even that family didn't want me.”

Completely sober, Emma told her story then gave Neal a chance to tell more stories about his time on the street. They had delved deeper into their pasts and after Emma's heartbroken confession about belittling her self-worth, they shared their first kiss.

Neal had been a perfect gentlemen. It was chaste, though Emma pushed for a stronger connection. Instead, he broke the kiss and decided to hold her while they snuggled in the backseat. In the most innocent way, Emma and Neal slept together that night. His arms wrapped her, Emma laid on top of the guy she'd met that fateful day a month earlier with her head pressed against his chest.

As she'd told Neal, not for the first time, she had constantly been thrown away like trash. She'd felt unwanted for so long. Then, Neal had kissed her and, once the initial shock wore off, she welcomed it. She suddenly had the guy who'd let her stay with him in the stolen car and had helped teach her how to survive the last four weeks show her with just one kiss that someone did want her. And it changed her. Until it crushed her.

Emma leisurely drove through the streets of Storybrooke with her right hand gripped tightly around the steering wheel. She clenched and unclenched her fist around the worn wheel while she pressed her left elbow into the top of the driver's side door and rested her head into her left hand. She drove without purpose and looked out at those that had decided to stand outside when she passed.

She saw a few couples enjoy a stroll through the park, giggling little kids with their parents, and the daily routines of the townspeople. Everything seemed fair and normal and quiet. Except the pace of her frantic and bleeding heart. And the darkness of her thoughts as she dredged up every past event that made her feel worthless and reminded her she'd been abandoned. Not just once, but multiple times.

She stopped at a four-way stop with no other cars around, but when she started to roll into the intersection, her car sputtered and jerked forward then halted. She almost suffered whiplash.

“No. No, no, no, no, no. Come. On!”

After a few cacophonous sounds growled out and shouted their protests – which did everything but reassure Emma her Bug would be okay – she puffed out an irritated sigh and put the beetle in park. She knew it would block traffic if anyone else had actually been out driving there that day.

Her car made a few more unpleasant sounds before she turned off the engine and got out to check under the hood. Smoke didn't billow out of it, which she took as a good sign, and poked around at several parts before she decided that if the problem was really under the hood, she'd need a mechanic. She shut the hood and went back to the driver's seat to check her gauges. Everything seemed fine and yet, everything was wrong.

She closed her eyes and sighed as she threw her head back against the headrest. She started to open her eyes when her phone suddenly vibrated in her coat pocket. Without complaint, Emma pulled out her phone to see she had one new message from Regina.

Emma rolled her eyes and looked at the text.

“We need to talk.”

Emma stared at the four words with a stifled scoff that tickled the back of her throat, but never came. Instead, she typed out a response and pressed 'send'.

“You wanna talk, come get me.”

Emma didn't get a reply for almost a minute. Without any other options, she just sat in the car and waited for Regina to text back.

“Where are you?”

“The all-way stop just before Granny's.”

“On my way.”

Emma furrowed her brow. Though she figured Regina would do everything short of murdering someone – which she wouldn't put past the former Evil Queen at that point – to yell at her for not coming to get Henry, she hadn't expected Regina's urgency.

She decided not to dwell on it seconds before her stomach growled and groaned at her need for food. She begrudgingly exited the yellow bug and sent another text to Regina as she left her car behind and started to walk down the street.

“Walking to the diner. Find me there.”

Emma kept her phone in her hand on the way to Granny's, but slipped it back into her coat pocket before pushed open the door. The bell above the door clanged on her way inside and she scanned the room. There weren't too many people inside, but she froze when she saw Neal and Charming talking with Ruby at the counter. Her eyes slightly widened before her heart fell toward the pit of her stomach.

The three of them were laughing and seemingly getting along, though Emma expected nothing less between Charming and Ruby considering their history.
But Neal. That was something she hadn't expected. Her father and her ex-boyfriend slash baby daddy were smiling and laughing like Neal wasn't the jerk that let her go to jail for him because Pinocchio told him to.

After Neverland, Emma had lost a lot of the anger she harbored for the man, but Pan had picked at some of Emma's nastier scabs before they were all able to return to Storybrooke. Between her parents and Neal, she may not have been angry, but she did resent them. All three of them.
She walked toward one of the booths in the corner near the window and avoided crossing the diner to avoid attention. On her way to the booth, she chanced a few glances at Charming, Ruby, and Neal. None seemed to notice her, which she had wanted, but just before she slid into the booth she realized she resented them all, her parents and Neal, for the same reason. They all left her at some point.

Emma kept her head down and played with the sugar packets for the next few minutes. After she'd made a mess and reached boredom, she pulled out her phone and started to flick it around in her hand. She spun it in circles and let her fingers toy with the edges of the device until the bell clanged and she turned to see Regina walk in.
Regina's eyes fell to Ruby at the counter and Emma swore she saw the Mayor scrunch up her face in distaste. She appeared to like the sight of Charming, Neal, and Ruby looking as thick as thieves as much as Emma did.

It only took Regina a second before she looked to her right and saw Emma staring at her from the booth.

Emma faintly smiled at Regina and Emma wondered if it looked as nervous and as forced as it felt.

Regina kept a straight face, a displeased expression in place that told Emma she was in trouble, and made her way to the booth.

The sound of Regina's heels as they click-clacked against the tile floor never sounded so loud when the brunette approached. She gulped when she looked over Regina from her black, regal heels up to her frowning red lips and strangely felt like a kid stuck in the principal's office – which was the only place Emma spent in school when she actually showed up.

Regina cleared her throat and haughtily looked down at Emma as she slid into the opposite side of the booth across from the blonde. She sat there and let the silence stretch between them.

After a minute, Emma caved and started to speak.

“Okay, I'm sorry I didn't pick up Henry. I meant to, but...I just...” Emma trailed off before she started a new thought. “And I'm sorry I didn't answer any of your texts.”

“Or my calls,” Regina unhappily said.

“Right,” Emma looked down at the table, slightly ashamed.

“Why did I have to come here to talk to you,” Regina asked after a moment, her tone a little lighter.

“Because you agreed to come to me,” Emma joked with a smile.

Her smile disappeared when Regina only stared at her with sharp and disapproving eyes.

Emma nervously cleared her throat and started again.

“My car stalled out. I need to take it to the shop.”

“I'm surprised it's lasted this long.”

“What can I say? It's reliable,” Emma shrugged.

Regina sensed there was way more to that statement then Emma let on and her face fell to a more concerned and sympathetic expression.

“Do you need me to drive you somewhere?”

“The Sheriff's station?”

Regina noticed Emma's hesitance. It appeared the blonde didn't want to push and had even tensed in the chance that Regina might refuse her request.

“I can do that,” Regina said before she stood.

Emma slid out of the booth seconds after her and stood face to face with Regina.

“Thanks.”

“I wouldn't thank me yet. You owe me,” Regina turned and headed toward the door.

“Understandable,” Emma said and followed the other woman.

“Have you eaten yet,” Regina asked as they exited the diner.

“No.”

“I've got a granola bar in my car. You can help yourself to that.”

“I don't do granola bars.”

“Suit yourself.”

Regina led Emma to her Mercedes parked on the curb outside Granny's and got in without sparing even so much as a glance back at the younger woman.

Emma eased herself into the passenger's seat of Regina's Benz and immediately twiddled her thumbs in her lap as the brunette drove them to the Sheriff's station. After the first two minutes, filled only with awkward silence, Emma remembered she hadn't called Michael yet. She pulled out her phone and called for a tow truck. She gave Michael the exact location of her car while Regina turned down the street that would take them straight to the station.

“Okay. Thanks,” Emma said to Michael before she ended the call.

She looked at Regina who remained indifferent about the entire situation and considered the woman. She noticed the way Regina used only one hand to drive and hadn't once gripped the steering wheel hard enough to turn her knuckles white. Even though she seemed unattached to the task at hand, Regina almost looked calm and a little confident. It was like she was a friend lending a helping hand to the other when needed.

But she and Regina weren't friends. They had come a long way in Neverland, but Emma feared if she used that term – even in her head – it would ruin whatever it was they actually had. Emma wasn't sure what that was, but they at least got along by then. That was all she could have asked for since they had to think about Henry and she really didn't want to torture the kid by constantly fighting with his other mom.

“So what do I owe you,” Emma asked as they pulled up outside the station.

Regina parked the car, sat back in her seat, and contemplated her answer.

“Dinner.”

“What?”

Emma stared at Regina, genuinely thrown by her response.

“Come over tonight and have dinner with me.”

“Are you...are you asking me out?”

“No, I'm asking you in.”

“Same thing.”

“It's just dinner.”

“What about Henry?”

“I assume he'll be there since you won't take him with you. By the way, you not coming back for him really hurt him.”

Emma winced.

“I'm really sorry.”

“It's not me you need to apologize to. He's my son. I'm used to having to take care of him so it's no burden to have him for a few extra days. He's the one you hurt so he's the one you need to talk to.”

“You're right. Okay, dinner?”

“Yes.”

“What time?”

“Six.”

“I'll be there.”

“Good.”

“Okay,” Emma awkwardly said and turned to open the passenger door. “Oh, um...”

Emma turned back to Regina.

“I may need a ride to your place.”

“Call me at 5 if your car is still in the shop.”

“Sure,” Emma said as she got out of the car then bent at the waist to look at Regina. “Uh, thanks again.”

Regina flashed her politician's smile and usually it would put Emma on edge, but she saw that Regina was trying to look as sincere as she could without appearing too soft.

Emma warmly smiled back before she shut the door and crossed in front of the Benz to head into the station. When she reached the door, she looked over her shoulder to see Regina still parked at the curb and smiled again.

Right as she smiled, Regina started the Benz and drove off. That made Emma chuckle, since she knew Regina could see her through the windshield, before she opened the door and walked into station in a good mood. Maybe not everything was wrong.

She should have eaten that damn granola bar.

Emma closed the station an hour early, at four o'clock, since it had been a slow day. She'd also skipped out on lunch and couldn't wait until dinner at Regina's before she fed herself so she went back to Granny's.

Big mistake.

She ended her call with Michael Tillman when she opened the door to the diner, sad to hear that the mechanic struggled to find and fix the car's issues just yet.
“Oh, you're having a baby,” a woman gushed as she approached Snow and Charming just when Emma walked in.

The couple stood in front of the entire diner with large smiles on their faces and it reminded Emma of how they looked on Thanksgiving at the head of the table.

“That's fantastic news,” Archie said as he came up and patted Charming's arm with support. “Congratulations.”

Apparently, Emma's parents couldn't wait to announce their pregnancy to the rest of the town any longer since they'd finally decided to share the news with their “family”.

Too enthralled with the baby excitement, no one noticed Emma walk up to the counter even though her eyes never left the merry group of townspeople.

“It's about time something good happened around here,” Emma heard someone say. “It's been a rough year, almost two now, since the curse broke. If we can't go back to the Enchanted Forest, it's nice to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Yes,” someone exclaimed in agreement. “True Love prevails!”

“Here, here!”

Emma sat down when the crowd raised their glasses and toasted to Snow and Charming's happiness.

She frowned with a hurt look on her face as she watched Snow and Charming laugh before they clinked their glasses together with the others then shared a sickeningly sweet kiss. Her eyes skated across the diner and took in all the people in attendance. Her eyes froze on the one person she probably should have expected there, but hadn't.

Neal.

Archie patted Neal's back and Emma stared at the group as they all seemed to accept the man who had broken her heart, the first and only to do so.
Before she took the time to dwell too much on the past, Emma pulled out her phone and sent a short text to Regina.

“Car isn't fixed. Come get me?”

Thankfully, the response came quick enough for Emma to remain blissfully distracted from everything that went on around her.

“Where?”

“Granny's.”

“Hey,” Ruby approached Emma from behind the counter and greeted the blonde with a large smile. “Can I get you something?”

Emma looked up from her phone at the celebration and it took Emma every bit of strength she had to tear her eyes away from it. After a few seconds, she accomplished her goal and looked up at Ruby as she pocketed her phone. She met the waitress' gaze for a split second before she averted her eyes.

“No, I... I'm not hungry,” Emma quietly confessed as she stared down at the counter in front of her.

Ruby frowned.

“Then what's up?”

Just before Ruby finished her question, Emma abruptly stood and spun around to leave. She hurried toward the door, but her parents finally noticed her.

“Emma,” Snow cheerily called out and broke away from the crowd. “Come celebrate with us.”

“No thanks,” Emma faked a smile. “I've got to get going.”

“But we haven't seen you since Thanksgiving,” Snow frowned and looked over her daughter's features. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Emma nodded and forced her smile to widen. “I just don't want to be late.”

“Late for what,” Charming asked as he came to stand behind Snow and placed both hands on his wife's arms.

Snow flashed a quick but peaceful smile at Charming's touch, but allowed it to fade before Emma spoke again.

“I wanted to check on my car.”

It wasn't really a lie, but she didn't have to see Michael to check on his progress. A phone call she'd already made had sufficed.

“There's something wrong with your car,” Snow asked.

“Uh, yeah, it kinda stalled on me earlier today. It's fine. I'm sure when I go to the shop I'll be able to drive it home.”

Snow smiled, her eyes filled with hope as she casually shrugged.

“Then there's no rush,” Snow started and took Emma's hand in hers without permission. “Have a drink for me.”

Snow pulled Emma toward the crowd, but the blonde resisted and tugged her hand back.

“No, really. I'm good,” Emma tried not to get angry.

Just then, Regina opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway the second she looked around and saw the tense situation she'd walked into.

“What's the trouble,” Charming lightheartedly asked with a smile. “You rushed out on us for Thanksgiving and we haven't seen or heard from you in days. Aren't you happy for us?”

As if that question wasn't bad enough, Charming reached out and tried to put a hand on Emma's shoulder.

That did it.

Emma shrugged away from Charming's outstretched hand and lost all patience. The nice and considerate Emma Swan had officially checked out and the furious, outspoken Emma Swan took her place.

“Yeah, I'm happy for you,” Emma refrained from yelling, though she had no idea how. “I'm happy you're getting a second chance at parenthood because everyone should get a second chance, right? Like maybe I should get a second chance at childhood?!”

There it was. The yelling. Too late to turn back, Emma made herself heard and wouldn't bother to lower her voice until she'd said all she needed to say.

“Emma,” Snow shook her head and looked deeply concerned for the blonde while maintaining a confused expression at the same time.

Emma clenched her fists at her sides and she felt a familiar surge inside herself of something she couldn't place.

Neal started to wade through the crowd to get out in front of everyone for a better look at Emma.

“I'm thrilled that you're having a kid,” Emma continued. “Not another kid, just a kid. That's how you and everyone else around here see it, right?”

“Emma, is there something we need to discuss,” Snow calmly and quietly asked as she cautiously approached Emma.

Her almost scolding tone suggested there was something wrong with Emma and that the blonde was misbehaving in public like a six year old throwing a tantrum.

Emma scoffed and took a step back so Snow couldn't get any closer.

“Oh, am I embarrassing you?! Just another reason for you to be more than happy about the baby.”

Neal nudged his way to the front of the crowd and worriedly stared as Emma got worked up. He almost looked sad for her.

Regina took another step inside, just enough to close the diner door, and stared with her mouth agape at the scene that unfolded before her.

“Fuck you,” Emma growled.

“Hey, don't talk to your mother like that,” Charming boldly warned as he pointed a finger at Emma and stepped between her and Snow.

Emma's eyes sparked with gold and everyone that could see it, gasped.

Both Charming and Snow faltered out of shock and backed away from Emma.

“Bite me!”

Dark blue smoke swirled around Emma and hid her from sight for several seconds before it dissipated.

“Emma,” Neal questioned her change in appearance.

Emma's expression matched the crowd's shock, everyone speechless, as she stood before the diner in a red, black, and white plaid dress with black tights and black boots that stopped mid-calve. Her hair, loosely curled like it had been when she first came to Storybrooke, was pulled back into a ponytail. She saw the people in front of her through thick, black rimmed glasses, her lips painted red and parted in confusion. A black leather jacket took the place of her black pea coat. The only thing she didn't have to complete her younger look was a leather messenger bag.

“What...” Emma started to form a question, but trailed off.

“Oh...Emma,” Snow breathed out.

“Who the hell are you,” Emma asked as she looked between Snow and Charming.

“Shit,” Neal said under his breath as his eyes roamed over Emma's body from head to toe a few times in disbelief.

Regina tensed and stood stock still with an even more shocked expression. Not only did Emma's magic surprise her, but what that magic lead to. The way Emma stood in the diner, not at all like her usual self, baffled the brunette beyond words.

Emma looked around and quickly spotted Neal. Lips already parted, she opened her mouth wider as she tried to speak again, but Charming stopped her.
“Emma, how old are you?”

Emma turned her head to acknowledge Charming and furrowed her brow.

“How do you know my name?”

“Emma,” Neal carefully stepped toward the blonde.

Emma's attention fell to Neal once again.

“What did you do,” Neal asked.

“Me? I didn't do anything! Where are we?”

“How old are you,” Neal repeated Charming's question as he stopped in front of Emma.

Emma questioningly stared at Neal and tilted her head to the side.

“Eighteen.”

A few murmurs and other noises emitted out of surprise and incredulity filled Granny's diner.

“Uh, Emma, how long have you known me,” Neal asked.

“A little over two months. Neal, what's going on?”

“Damn,” Neal exhaled and shot Snow and Charming an apologetic look.

Neal turned back to Emma and took both her hands in his.

“Come with me,” he said. “I'll explain everything.”

Emma scoffed and shook free of Neal's loose hold.

“I'm not going anywhere with you.”

Neal blinked, puzzled by Emma's response as she backed away from him and suspiciously looked around at the people in the diner again. She glanced over Regina, but hardly noticed the other woman before she started to yell again.

“You left me,” Emma exclaimed.

“Oh,” was Neal's only reply.

“Oh? Is that all you have to say?”

Snow and Charming questioningly looked at Neal.

“What is she talking about,” Charming asked him.

“I...you know Emma did eleven months in jail for grand larceny, right,” Neal answered the question with another question.

“Yeah,” Charming said.

“And you know that was my fault, right?”

Charming's face lit up with recognition. Snow hadn't quite pieced it together yet so Neal elaborated.

“She remembers being picked up by the cops.”

“Yeah,” Emma quickly cut in, upset. “We agreed to meet at nine and you took off with almost twenty thousand dollars in stolen watches.”

“What's the last thing you remember,” Neal curiously asked.

“A cop asking me if I know my Miranda rights and realizing that you weren't coming back,” Emma bitterly said.

“Okay,” Snow nodded as the information sunk in then looked at Emma. “She should come with us.”

“I agree,” Charming said as he and Snow moved toward Emma. “We're her parents. We'll fill her in.”

“I don't have parents,” Emma casually confessed.

Snow and Charming both grimaced and almost flinched at Emma's words. It seemed they had moved two steps forward with their daughter only fall back one.

Neal scratched the back of his head and grimaced as he looked from Snow and Charming back to Emma. He dropped his hand as he started to speak to the blonde.

“It's okay, Emma. They'll take care of you,” Neal tried to assure her.

“Right. Like you took care of me?”

“Yeah, okay. I deserve that.”

“Damn right you do,” Emma immediately shot back.

“Emma,” Snow tried again as she closed the distance between them. “Come with us. We'll take you home and explain everything.”

“What's there to explain,” Emma asked as she shook her head and skeptically looked at her supposed parents.

“For starters? You're actually twenty-nine,” Snow replied. “Although clearly not at the moment.”

Emma gaped at her.

“And there's a little bit more than that,” Snow added with a wince, nervous about Emma's reaction.

Emma slowly shook her head with wide eyes, speechless.

“Let's get out of here,” Snow slowly suggested. “David and I will walk you through whatever we can.”

“First, I want to know how the hell she's eighteen again,” Charming said as he stared directly at Neal.

“You saw her eyes. That was magic,” Neal said.

“Okay. Why is she eighteen again,” Charming sternly asked as Snow started to lead Emma out of the diner.

Neal shrugged.

“I don't know. Just because I've been around magic doesn't mean I understand it. That's a question for Regina.”

“He's right,” Snow piped up as she stopped on her way to the door and looked over her shoulder at Charming before she turned to the door and stared at Regina. “How could this have happened?”

Regina looked from Emma's doe eyes to Snow's hard, bewildered expression. She hesitantly stepped toward Snow and Emma and tried to focus on the other brunette. The sight of a much younger Emma, however, monopolized most of her attention.

“Magic is,” Regina slowly started with her eyes on Emma. “Tied to emotion.”

Emma blankly stared at Regina as the other woman approached, but she blinked a few times and her expression turned quizzical. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to the side as she considered the woman who stood face-to-face with her.

Regina saw the cogs turn in Emma's head when she looked into those familiar, at that moment more youthful, green eyes. Her breath subtly hitched before she managed to tear her eyes away from the blonde and looked over at Snow.

“It appears her emotions have manifested from a figurative state of being to a literal state,” Regina explained.

“What does that mean,” Neal stepped up and asked out of an obvious and large amount of befuddlement.

Regina tamped down any anger or discontent for Henry's father and remained informative. Pushing negative feelings down became much easier when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Emma shift in place.

Regina cleared her throat and looked at Emma again when she continued to explain.

“Whatever you felt before your...transformation, you must have unknowingly tapped into your magic to physically express those feelings.”
“What were you feeling,” Charming asked as he briskly invaded Emma's personal space and blocked Regina from his daughter's view.
Emma took a few steps back to keep a distance between her and Charming with a piercing, accusatory gaze focused on the overly forward man.
“I don't know,” Emma nervously snapped out of frustration.

Neal stepped between Charming and Emma with his hands outstretched between them to help Emma create the distance she sought.
“You're kind of backing her into a corner,” Neal told Charming. “She doesn't like feeling or being trapped.”

Snow grabbed Charming's arm and pulled her husband away from Neal and Emma. She turned to Regina before she asked her next question.
“It's okay,” Snow calmly said. “Whatever it was she felt, there's not much we can do about it now, right?”

“Well, I'd have to do some research,” Regina started. “But I believe the only way to reverse this spell is to find out what caused her to change back into her eighteen year old self.”

“So, if Emma ever tells us, or even remembers what feelings brought on this magic, the spell can be reversed,” Charming asked while he decided to stay away and give Emma the space she apparently wanted.

“If my suspicions about the spell are right, knowing the feelings that caused her transformation is only half the issue,” Regina said as she looked from Charming to Emma.

“And the other half,” Neal asked.

“Dealing with the cause of those feelings,” Regina answered as she slid her eyes from Emma to Neal.

“Are you suggesting there's something wrong with our daughter,” Snow angrily asked as she aggressively stepped toward Regina.

“Something is obviously wrong if she felt the need to be eighteen again,” Regina argued with a raised voice. “That doesn't mean something's wrong with her.”

Emma smiled at Regina even though the other woman kept her gaze on Snow. Her cheeks warmed with a genuine happiness, grateful to have someone on her side.

Snow huffed at Regina then turned to Charming.

“We should go. The sooner we talk to Emma, the easier this all might be for her,” Snow said as she looked from Charming to Emma and faintly, reassuringly smiled.

Charming sighed with defeat as he looked at Snow then Emma. He nodded and followed the women out.

Emma reluctantly let herself be ushered out of the diner with a scowl. When Snow opened the door to an old, two-seater truck, she withheld a groan and squeezed herself between the seats.

Charming got in the driver's seat while Snow sat in the passenger's seat with Emma unhappily stuck between them.

Once they started driving back to their house, Snow looked over and noticed Emma's discomfort. She rubbed Emma's back and smiled.

“We'll figure this out,” Snow said.

Emma tensed when she felt Snow's hand on her back and concentrated on the road ahead, but her mind wasn't on the road. Deep in thought, the cogs in Emma's brain turned and turned while she zoned out. Before she knew it, Snow had shown her inside the Charming household and sat her down in the dining room.

For the next hour while Charming prepared an impromptu dinner, Emma listened to Snow as she asked Emma what she knew about fairy tales then proceeded to explain the history of Storybrooke. She told her about the dark curse and how Emma broke it, which caused Snow to segue into a conversation about Henry.

Emma had no idea who he was and once she knew he was not only her son but Neal and Regina's son too, she regretted ever asking about the kid. But instead of focusing on the eleven – almost twelve – year old, she asked about Regina when Charming rejoined them with food. The two strangers that claimed to be her parents frantically tried to sum up their involvement with Regina in record time, but it took much longer than anything else they discussed. It also struck up some memories in Emma's mind, but she didn't voice any of them. Her eyes had lit up with recognition, but she quickly slipped back into a neutral expression before either Snow or Charming caught on.

Finally, when Snow and Charming finished their lesson on the where, when, and who's of Emma's conundrum, they asked her if she was okay.

“Yeah. I mean, it's...a lot to take in,” Emma replied.

Snow and Charming nodded their understanding.

“I think I just need a minute,” Emma added.

“Of course,” Snow said. “You can stay in our guest room. I'll show you where it is.”

Emma forced a genial smile and nodded as she stood and followed Snow to the stairs.

“Thanks,” Emma kindly said as she tried to settle into the room.

“If you need anything, David and I are around.”

“Okay,” Emma smiled again as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Snow smiled back, hers more genuine and loving, before she closed the door on her way out.

Emma's smile instantly disappeared and she sighed before she got up and turned her attention to the only window in the room. She opened the window and looked down to see the two story drop and a section of rooftop to the right. She spun around, went straight to the closet, and searched for something for a couple minutes only to come away empty handed.

She sighed and stood still in front of the closet, seemingly out of options, when she heard Snow raise her voice with concern in a conversation with Charming. She went to the closed guest room door and pressed her ear to it.

“She was just so angry,” she heard Snow exclaim.

“I know, but there's not much we can do about until we figure out what happened.”

“Why would she feel the need to resort to magic though? What did she think she couldn't talk to us about that made her do this?

“I'm sure Regina will figure something out,” Charming assured Snow.

Regina.

Emma backed away from the door and grabbed her jacket off of the bed. She reached into the pocket and pulled out her phone. When she lit up the display, it alerted her about two missed calls from Regina. The time stamp on the calls indicated the woman had tried to reach her during her long conversation with Snow and Charming, probably when they were eating.

Emma slipped her jacket on as quickly as possible and went back to the open window. She looked to her right at the section of roof that covered a small back patio. She carefully stretched her legs to touch the roof then nervously slid onto it. She eased herself onto her knees and released the breath she'd been holding. She turned over to sit on the roofing and peeked over the edge then measured the distance between the roof and the ground.

She took a moment to calculate a plan then flipped onto her stomach and lowered herself over the edge. She bent at the waist to leverage herself with her upper body and scraped her stomach on the way down. Once her breasts pressed into the roof just before the edge, she swung her legs out and threw herself backward off the roof. She landed on her feet not too far from the patio concrete, but the force of her fall and the off-centered landing instantly had her on her back in the grass. The air left her lungs, but she only took a few seconds to recover before she rolled onto her front and pushed off the ground.

She scrambled onto her feet and looked over her shoulder as she walked around the side of the house. Happy to see that no one had followed her, she smirked and retraced the streets Charming took to bring the three of them to the house.

There wasn't a single star in the almost pitch black sky that night as she wandered the quiet streets of Storybrooke, though not without purpose. She traveled around town and fought to figure out how to get to where she wanted to go. Twenty minutes later, she stood in front of a closed, steel gate that blocked off the familiar walkway between her and a white door with three distinct, gold-plated numbers on it.

Chapter Text

Regina tossed and turned in bed after she tucked Henry in. She had to assure her son that Emma would come back for him, that she'd come to get him in Neverland, but Henry sadly shrugged it off. It was obvious to Regina that Henry had started to lose hope that Emma actually wanted him.

Regina remembered a few things Emma had confessed while they were in Neverland. She remembered that Emma said she used to count her days in each foster home until she just gave up. Emma had been shuffled between homes and each time, the families had tossed her aside, given her back, left her to find a home somewhere else. She saw what it had done to Emma and she hoped it wouldn't happen to Henry. She refused to let that cycle continue.

She closed her eyes and tried to think of something else, anything else, other than Emma Swan and her reckless aloofness. If there was even the smallest of chances for Regina to get some sleep, it vanished as soon as she heard rustling coming from downstairs.

Her eyes shot open and she sat up before she listened intently to familiar, but out of context sounds, beyond her bedroom door. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and quietly ventured into the hall. She stopped in front of Henry's room and opened the door. She stared into the darkness and made out her son's form as his chest rose and fell with evened out breathing while he slept.

The noises downstairs persisted and Regina snapped into protective mode. She quickly but quietly closed Henry's door with a soft snick and swiftly descended the staircase. She set her bare feet on the hardwood of the first floor and looked around. She spotted a soft light come from the kitchen and faintly spill into the foyer.

Regina crept toward the light and hid behind the separating wall between the kitchen and foyer. She brought an open palm up to her stomach just below her chest and conjured a fireball that gave her face an orange glow in the mostly dark house. She took a deep breath then quickly spun around and barreled into the kitchen with her fireball at the ready.

With the intruder's back to her and their head buried in the refrigerator, Regina only saw the person's silhouette.

“I hope you realize the danger of breaking into my house,” Regina threateningly growled.

The intruder jumped and turned to face Regina. Their ponytail whipped around as they defensively shot their hands in the air by way of surrender.

“Whoa,” a familiar female's voice exclaimed. “What is that? Is that a fireball? Put that thing away!”

“Emma?”

Regina stared at the blonde for a long moment as the light from the refrigerator allowed her to look over the younger woman's odd choice of outfit, glasses included. Though she'd seen it earlier in the day, Regina still hadn't expected it when she saw the blonde.

“Seriously,” Emma said with wide eyes as she extended a hand and motioned toward the fireball still balanced in Regina's palm. “Do you want to kill me? Get rid of it!”

Regina closed her eyes and shook her head before she closed her fist and made the fireball disappear.

“Thank you,” Emma breathed out and dropped her hands to her sides.

Regina disbelievingly stared at Emma while she reached back and turned on the kitchen light. When she turned back to look at Emma again, she nearly gasped at how much younger she looked. Still not used to the woman's new look, or old look considering she looked eighteen again.

“You're still wearing that dress.”

Emma smiled.

“For an Evil Queen, you seem to be focused on all the wrong things.”

“Former Evil Queen,” Regina corrected her.

“Right,” Emma slowly said.

“What are you going here?”

“Getting some food. I didn't really eat much at...Mary Margaret and David's.”

“You went there for dinner?”

“I didn't have much of a choice, did I? They said they'd tell me about, well, me. I figured they were things I needed to know so I went home with them.”

“And why aren't you there now?”

Emma just stared at Regina.

Regina looked into Emma's eyes and saw Emma Swan she knew in them, not the younger version that stood before her.

“How old are you,” Regina asked after a moment.

Emma furrowed her brow and cocked her head to one side. She remembered seeing Regina at the diner when she'd magically transformed herself so she didn't understand why the brunette had asked that question.

“Eighteen.”

“So old enough to know how to close a refrigerator door?”

Regina raised her eyebrows and nodded toward the refrigerator.

Emma's expression changed. She understood then and looked over her shoulder. She saw the door still wide open, reached out, and closed it.

“Sorry,” Emma said as she turned to face Regina again.

“It doesn't seem like you found anything you like,” Regina took notice of the empty counter tops and unoccupied hands.

“No, I didn't. Do you have anything other than yogurt and lettuce? For a mom with an eleven year old son, you sure are depriving the kid of good food.”

“What would you deem good food, dear? A bag of Skittles and a chocolate shake?”

“God, no.”

Regina looked impressed.

“You should never have Skittles with a chocolate shake. The flavors contradict each other,” Emma said. “One overpowers the other and you can't enjoy the chocolate or the fruit. They just...blend.”

Regina rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Look, I know it's kind of last minute, but...can I stay here,” Emma shyly asked before she clarified. “Just for the night. I'll be out of your hair in the morning. Promise.”

Regina critically looked Emma over.

“Why did you come here? You could have just gone to your apartment.”

Emma dipped her head and stared down at the floor, crestfallen as she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket.

“Got it. No need to wait until morning. I'll go now.”

Emma kept her head down as she started to walk past Regina on the way to the front door. Before she could pass the woman, Regina reached out and gently gripped Emma's arm.

“That's not what I meant,” Regina started. “You can stay here.”

Emma innocently smiled, warm and infectious.

It was the only form of a “thank you” Regina received and it was all she needed.

“I'll...prepare the guest room and you can help yourself to a snack,” Regina said.

“I don't consider apples a snack.”

Regina grinned and swayed her hips as she moved past Emma to reach a box of Special K with Strawberries.

“Another helpful hint when it comes to me, dehydrated strawberries aren't a favorite either,” Emma said and pointed at the cereal.

Regina looked over her shoulder at Emma with what appeared to be a salacious grin, which surprised Emma at any age. She opened the cereal box and reached inside like a child digging for the prize inside.

“You forget I know you. Even at twenty-nine you still have a poor appetite.”

Regina pulled a chocolate bar out of the cereal box and walked back to Emma, the cereal forgotten. She held the chocolate bar out to Emma and continued to grin when Emma accepted it.

“Mayor Mills has a secret stash in her cereal. Odd place to keep candy.”

“Henry's found all the other hiding places.”

Emma smirked.

“Maybe I'll teach you a few tricks,” Emma said. “If you ask nicely.”

For a moment, Regina was stunned by what sounded like an eighteen year old girl flirting with her. And not just any girl. Emma Swan, Henry's biological mother, the Savior who broke her curse, the daughter of her arch-nemesis Snow White.

Taken aback, Regina wondered if it was just flirting or if that had actually been a come-on. In any case, Emma was eighteen for the time being and barely knew who the Evil Queen was let alone all the unspeakable things she'd done. Unlike the older version of Emma who knew all of that and seemed to accept, and at times even defend, it; defend her. Once she reminded herself none of that mattered since Emma stood before her as a teenager, she shook herself out of her shocked state and briefly smiled.

“Perhaps,” Regina played along, but her voice held less lust and innuendo than Emma's had.

Regina walked around Emma and headed toward the staircase without so much as a single look over shoulder at the blonde.

Emma smirked as she stared after the other woman who just expected her to follow. Usually she hated people like Regina, people who were entitled and haughty. Yet, with Regina, it put a smile on her face and pulled her in to every mystery about the brunette. The younger version of Emma hadn't known much about Regina and had spent even less time with her than she had knowledge of the woman. But there were things she felt toward the other woman, things like intrigue and allure and possibly something else, but she was unable to name it.

She stuffed the chocolate bar Regina gave her into her jacket pocket, walked the same path Regina had and made her way upstairs. She caught up to the brunette when Regina pushed open the guest room door. It was only then that Regina turned to acknowledge her.

“Are you sure you want to stay here,” Regina asked as she remained poised in the doorway with enough space left for Emma to walk into the room should she choose to do that. “I could always drive you to your apartment.”

“Look, if you don't want me here-”

“I'm asking for you, not me. There's a reason you transformed yourself, which is no small feat by the way, and I don't want to push you.”

“Why,” Emma curiously asked with an incredulously furrowed brow.

Regina quizzically stared at Emma with her head tilted to the side. She turned the rest of her body to face Emma and leaned against the door frame.

“Because something happened at the diner. As far as I could tell, you were angry and I think your mother pushed a little too hard.”

“How could you tell,” Emma sarcastically asked with a hint of laughter in her voice.

Regina grinned, but still questioningly regarded Emma.

“Is there something you're not telling me, Miss Swan?”

Regina's tone was full of teasing, though she did want an answer to her question.

At first, Emma looked nervous about the question, but she quickly adopted a playful smirk and kept up their previous banter.

“Wouldn't you like to know,” Emma said it as a statement, not a question, when she passed by Regina and stepped into the guest room.

Regina slowly followed her inside to ensure she settled in.

Emma felt the other woman's presence as she shrugged out of her black leather jacket and haphazardly tossed it onto one side of the queen size bed. She turned around, her back to the bed, and plopped down on the edge of the mattress. With a devious smile, Emma scanned over every visible inch of Regina.

“Planning on watching me sleep?”

“Not at all, dear. Just making sure you don't sneak out.”

Emma shrugged.

“I'm eighteen, I'm not your kid, and I don't live here,” she casually rattled off facts. “Unless I'm here under contract as your prisoner or something, I can come and go as I please.”

“You make it sound like you plan on staying a while.”

“Can you tell me when my little spell's gonna wear off? Because I sure as hell can't. Hell, I still don't think any of this is real. Magic? I live in the real world, not this delusional town that lives every day like they're characters in Disneyland.”

“That's not what I meant. You seem to be under the impression that you'll be here, in this house, longer than just for tonight.”

“Oh.”

Emma lost a considerable amount of her confidence then.

“If you want to stay longer, we can discuss it in the morning,” Regina calmly said. “And, although I'm sure you wouldn't care if you slept in your dress, I have something I can lend you.”

“Uh, sure.”

Regina flashed her politician smile.

“I'll be back in a minute,” she said as she turned to leave.

After two steps toward the door, Regina stopped herself and spun back around to look at Emma.

“Oh, and if at any time you decide to leave in the middle of the night,” Regina started. “I won't stop you, but a text letting me know you're okay would be appreciated. You already have my number in your phone.”

“I'll let you know,” Emma only slightly contained the surprise in her tone, her eyes a little wider than usual.

Seemingly satisfied with that reply, Regina left the room to retrieve sleepwear for the blonde.

Momentarily alone, Emma slipped out of her boots and looked around the monochromatic color scheme of the room. She pulled herself backward on the bed, toward the headboard, and folded her legs underneath herself as she sat between the foot and head of the bed, a little off-center.

Neither one of them had bothered to turn on the room light so as Emma took everything in, she sat in darkness with the shadows in the room to keep her company. The only light came from the hallway and a slit in the curtains that covered the room window, which allowed moonlight into the room.

Though she'd already seen all there was to see in the room, Emma continued to look around with an obvious nervousness and uncertainty. It only lasted for another couple of minutes before Regina returned with a shirt and running shorts. When she saw Regina, she instantly perked up and hid her uneasiness.

“Even as a teenager you're still a little taller than me,” Regina said as she walked into the room and handed over the clothes. “The shorts stop just above my knees so they'll probably be a little shorter on you.”

“Thanks,” Emma said as she accepted the clothes.

Without thinking about it, Emma set the clothes down beside her on the bed and peeled off her dress.

“Miss Swan,” Regina exclaimed as turned away from the blonde with her hands raised to block Emma's body from view. “You can wait until I leave the room.”

Emma laughed as she pulled the white T-shirt over her head.

“That idea completely slipped my mind,” Emma said then pulled on the shirt to adjust the way it covered her. “We're both women. Besides, I change in the backseat of the Bug all the time and Neal's usually in the front seat, occasionally stealing a glance. So modesty isn't really a thing with me. Street kid, remember?”

Regina guiltily looked down at the floor, her body still turned away from Emma.

“Yes, I remember,” Regina quietly, slowly said.

Emma walked around Regina and stopped in front of her.

“I'm dressed now,” Emma teasingly smiled.

Regina forced her own smile to diminish her embarrassment, but the smile was awkward and Emma saw right through her.

Emma didn't comment on it, however.

“Thank you for not looking though,” Emma said. “It's nice to know someone respects me enough.”

“I take it not many people care about you and how things effect you.”

“No one,” Emma sadly admitted.

“Not even your boyfriend?”

“Neal? I...”

Emma stepped back a few steps and frowned. She looked hurt and Regina immediately wanted to fix it. Though why she felt compelled to do so was beyond her.

“I'm sorry,” Regina swiftly moved closer to Emma. “I shouldn't have mentioned it. You don't have to talk about him.”

Emma's eyes shot up and she instantly met Regina's gaze.

“Why do you care?”

Her tone wasn't entirely harsh, but Emma didn't mask her irritation.

“I...” Regina shook her head, taken aback. “Things...changed because of Neverland.”

Emma furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Neverland?”

Emma realized after a few seconds why Regina had mentioned what she thought was only a make believe world in a Disney movie and relaxed her features in recognition.

“Right. Fairytales are real and it's completely possible I was in Neverland.”

Regina gulped when she saw Emma try to piece together the reality shattering information. She'd seen Emma like that once before after the curse broke. When Emma wasn't pissed about the truth that fairytales existed and that she was a part of them, the blonde was thrown for a loop and greatly overwhelmed.

“This is too much too fast, isn't it,” Regina asked, though it sounded more like a statement. “Get some sleep and we'll talk in the morning.”

Emma awkwardly, almost sheepishly, nodded and allowed Regina to head for the guest room door without any argument.

Once Regina was gone and Emma was alone again, the blonde teen settled into the bed and removed her glasses. She placed them on the nightstand to her left and sank into an uncomfortable sleep.

* * *

A loud thud followed by a groan woke Regina in an instant. She threw off her covers and flew out of bed. She checked Henry's room out of habit and sighed with relief in the doorway when she saw him safely curled up in bed. She frowned when she saw his fists tightly clutching his sheets and pillow and his brow furrowed in what appeared to be deep concentration or unrest.

But the sound of a door opening and rapid footfall alerted Regina to a more pressing issue.

Regina looked at Henry one last time before she quietly left his room, closed the door behind herself, and looked for the one other person in her house. She didn't have to look far because Emma almost collided with her when she tried to turn from Henry's room to the guest room.

“Oh, sorry,” Emma said as she defensively lifted her hands and pulled away from Regina before their bodies could ever touch.

“What are you doing,” Regina asked, shocked but also a little concerned.

“I...had a bad dream,” Emma replied, slightly breathless.

“And that got you rush out of the room because...?”

“I don't... I can't stay here.”

“Why not?”

“I just want to go to my car. I don't...I don't do well in new places,” Emma timidly averted her eyes and pulled at the running shorts when she felt the lack of pockets for her to tuck her hands into.

“You can't go to your car,” Regina apologetically said.

“What? Why?”

Emma looked absolutely panicked.

“It's in the shop.”

Emma looked devastated.

“But what can I do to make you comfortable here,” Regina asked.

“Nothing. It's just...” Emma trailed off.

“Henry...” Regina slowly started as she racked her brain for a solution. “Usually likes hot chocolate after a nightmare.”

Emma shook her head.

“That's not... It won't help.”

“You're sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, well...why don't you go back into the guest room. Just sit and...talk to me about it?”

“I want to go home,” Emma exclaimed with wide eyes.

“To your apartment?”

“No, to my car. I need to get out of here,” Emma panicked and started to hyperventilate.

Emma rushed forward and tried to pass Regina, but the brunette stopped her.

“It's okay,” Regina soothingly assured her. “Whatever it was, it was only a dream.”

Emma shook her head again, her eyes filled with tears that threatened to fall.

“It was real,” Emma said. “They always are.”

“Okay. You can't get to your car so...what else will calm you down?”

Emma gulped and a tear rolled down her cheek.

“Nothing,” Emma quietly said.

“I'm sure that's not true,” Regina said as she gently touched Emma and turned her toward the guest room, careful not to startle the younger woman in any way. “Go back to bed. I promise you're safe here.”

Emma took a few ragged breaths as she tried to collect herself on the way back to the guest room.

“You know, what you're doing now? I think you make a great mom,” Emma confessed with a voice thick with tears. “The kid's lucky to have you.”

Regina smiled when her heart soared at the compliment.

“Thank you.”

Regina guided Emma into the guest room and eased the blonde onto the bed.

Emma slid up to the head of the bed and leaned against the headboard.

Regina sat on the edge of the bed beside Emma and an awkward silence swept over the room. After a moment, she cleared her throat and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Since you're awake,” Regina started. “Will you tell me something about yourself?”

“Don't you already know me? It's me who should learn something about you.”

Regina thought about that for a moment.

“You're right. You're staying here in this town, in this house, and yet you really don't know anything about me. How about I tell you how we met?”

“Or you could tell me your favorite color and a childhood memory,” Emma suggested and forced a teasing smile that looked nothing short of nervous and timid. Regina chuckled.

“Okay. My favorite color is black, although I do like purple and red as well,” Regina appeased the other woman. “As for childhood memories, I don't have many good ones and all of them have references to what you believe to just be fairytales.”

“Tell me anyway,” Emma shrugged.

Regina took a deep breath and began.

“I love horseback riding. It was the only time I felt free. I rode frequently and took lesson after lesson. I didn't start to excel until I was about your age, though when I was fifteen I started to develop an affinity for it. Agility came within the next year, and complete confidence in my skills by the time I was eighteen.”

“Do you still ride,” Emma curiously asked.

“No,” Regina sadly admitted. “Not in many years.”

“Why not?”

“I...loved someone once. He was a stable boy and, when I was eighteen, he and I would use my lesson time to be together in secret. I no longer ride because I lost him that same year.”

“Lost him?”

“He...died,” Regina struggled to say.

“Oh. I'm sorry,” Emma sincerely said.

Emma waited only a few seconds as she looked over Regina's saddened features before she attempted to lighten the mood.

“My favorite color is green, but I kind of like yellow too. Only because of my car. I don't usually wear yellow.”

Regina slowly smiled at Emma's attempt to keep her from her own morose and troubling thoughts.

“What shade of green,” Regina asked.

“More emerald.”

“Like your eyes,” Regina said without thinking. “When the light is just right, usually when you're inside a room, they're green. But if you're out in the sun they almost look blue.” Emma's lips curled into a slow forming smirk.

“You pay that much attention to me? Or...the older me?”

“Of course not,” Regina quickly said and looked away, seemingly upset.

But, after a moment, Regina smiled and looked at Emma again.

“You like me, don't you,” Emma asked with a hint of smugness, a hint of teasing.

“I merely tolerate you, dear,” Regina casually said.

“Right,” Emma sarcastically said. “Not even Neal could tell me what color my eyes are let alone go into detail like you did.”

“That's because Neal is a blind fool. Most men are,” Regina quipped.

Emma chuckled.

“You got me there.”

“Think you're ready to go back to sleep,” Regina said.

“Yeah. ...Thanks,” Emma sweetly smiled.

“You're welcome,” Regina said as she stood up.

Emma removed her glasses for the second time that night and set them down on the nightstand to her left then slid down the bed to lay on her back.

Regina tried to say something else, but a terrified cry caught both Regina and Emma's attention.

“Mom? Mom?!”

“Henry,” Regina called out to him. “Sweetheart, it's okay. I'm here.”

Regina hurried to the door and stepped out into the hall.

The second Henry saw her, he ran straight into her at full speed.

Regina grunted under her breath when he crashed into her and tightly wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I thought you left me,” Henry cried into Regina's chest.

“I would never leave you,” Regina said as she stroked his hair.

“You weren't in your room,” Henry said.

“Emma had a nightmare.”

“Emma's here?”

“Yes, but...something's happened,” Regina warned him as he let go of her and cautiously went into the guest room.

Henry stood stunned halfway into the room when he saw her.

“Mom?”

Emma, the younger Emma, blinked in confusion.

Regina inched closer to Henry as she reentered the room.

“Henry, Emma accidentally cast a spell on herself,” Regina explained, her body rigid as though telling him the truth was equivalent to walk barefoot over broken glass.

“A spell? She used magic?”

“Yes, but I don't think she meant to.”

“Why,” Henry asked Emma.

Emma shrugged.

“You got me, kid. I don't even know what happened. I barely even know where I am right now.”

“So...” Henry slowly, timidly started. “You don't know me?”

Emma looked to Regina for help. The brunette gave a slight nod, a little unsure of her own decision to allow Emma a chance to explain herself. Without anything more to go on, Emma looked at Henry again.

“Henry,” Emma answered.

Henry took a step closer to the bed.

“Regina's son by adoption, mine by birth,” Emma continued.

Henry smiled.

“Yeah. Do you remember Operation Cobra?”

Emma apologetically looked at him.

“Sorry, that I don't remember.”

Henry's face fell and he frowned down at the ground.

Recognizing that sad, almost lost, look in his eyes she'd seen plenty of times in the mirror, Emma sprang into action.

“Hey,” Emma said as she put her glasses back on and threw her legs over the side of the bed. “Regina's gonna help me get back to my normal age, but that doesn't mean you and I can't make a few new memories before then, right?”

Henry smiled again.

“Yeah, we can.”

“Okay, why not start now?”

“Um, it's almost one in the morning. I have school today.”

“And yet you're not in bed,” Emma pointed out. “How come?”

“I had a nightmare.”

“You too, huh?”

“Yeah,” Henry looked down, sheepish and embarrassed.

“What was it about?”

“What was yours about,” Henry asked with a smile that Emma saw for what it was though she knew he hadn't wanted her to.

Henry was avoiding his problems. Emma knew that all too well from experience.

“How about we tell each other at the same time,” Emma asked as she shifted on the edge of the bed to face him.

Henry scrunched up his face in thought and after a moment, he nodded in agreement.

“Okay,” he said.

Emma patted the space next to her on the bed and Henry sat down beside her. He turned to face Emma and tucked his legs under himself. “Ready,” Emma asked.

“Yeah,” Henry replied.

Regina leaned against the door frame with a curious, wondering expression on her face. She watched with rapt attention how Emma dealt with Henry. She'd never heard the blonde say it, but she figured the tough woman she met the night she brought Henry home had been ill-fit as a mother at eighteen. As she watched Emma then, however, she wanted to know why Emma seemed so comfortable around the son she once gave up. More comfortable than Regina had been the first three or four years of Henry's life.

“One, two...” Emma slowly counted.

Emma stared at Henry for a few seconds to gauge the boy's actual readiness then continued.

“Three,” Emma said before she waited a second with baited breath to ensure they spoke at the same time.

Simultaneously, Emma and Henry spoke over each other.

“Being left alone and having to fight for my life,” Henry said.

“Being abandoned by everyone because no one wants me,” Emma confessed at the same time.

Henry's face broke out into a large smile.

“You think about that stuff too,” he asked.

Emma flashed a faint smile in response.

“Yeah,” she quietly admitted before she decided to focus on the only real child in the room. “What about you? Left alone to fight for your life?”

“Yeah,” Henry looked down, ashamed.

“What happened to make you think like that,” Emma asked.

“Um,” Henry said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “In...Neverland I thought I was going to be stuck with the Lost Boys because nobody had come to get me yet. It...it wasn't all bad, but...I really just wanted to go home.”

Emma frowned.

“Hey,” Emma said as she hooked a finger under his chin and lifted his head to make eye contact with him. “You have a mom who loves you and clearly, will do anything for you. And you're home now so it looks like you got what you wanted.”

Henry halfheartedly smiled.

“Yeah,” he shrugged.

“Were you remembering Neverland,” Emma asked. “Or were you just dreaming about a what-if situation?”

“Kinda both?”

“Okay,” Emma nodded as she thought about his answer. “Well, you got scared because you were alone, right?”

Henry sadly nodded.

“I got scared for the same reason so...do you think you'd want to keep me company tonight?”

“You mean, like, stay in here with you,” Henry asked.

“Yeah,” Emma smiled. “I don't...I don't know how to not be alone, but I can try.”

Henry beamed and crawled over to the other side of the bed. He lifted the sheets and slid under them.

Emma watched him with a smile as he moved into the bed and chuckled when he made himself comfortable under the sheets.

Regina smiled as well from her place in the doorway. She knew Emma had given Henry the best gift the boy could have ever asked for because since Neverland, he often worried Emma would leave him again like she had after he'd been born. She was happy to see Henry happy and stood in awe at what Emma had done. Eighteen years old and she hadn't seemed to remember much about her life in Storybrooke, but Emma had done something Regina thought was out-of-character for the younger woman. Apparently, there was more to Emma's story then she initially realized.

“Do you want to ask your mom to stay too,” Emma asked as she situated herself in the bed.

“You mean my other mom,” Henry asked.

Emma cringed.

“Yeah. Sorry, I just... It's all still a little new to me,” Emma explained. “Forgive me?”

“Yeah,” he proudly smiled up at her.

“Cool,” Emma smiled back.

“Um,” Henry nervously said as he looked from Emma to Regina. “I would, but...”

“It's okay,” Regina shook her head and stopped him. “I understand. If either of you need me, I'll be in my room.”

Regina walked toward the bed and bent down. She leaned in and gave Henry a kiss on the forehead.

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Regina said.

“'Night, Mom,” Henry smiled up at her.

“Can I get in on that goodnight kiss thing too,” Emma teased with a smirk.

“Ew,” Henry laughed.

Regina chuckled at Henry's reaction.

“Goodnight, Emma,” Regina grinned as she warningly pointed at the teen, no kiss given.

Emma smiled in a way that made it look like she had suppressed a giggle then removed her glasses yet again. She set them on the nightstand when Regina reached the doorway then turned in bed to face Henry.

Regina looked over her shoulder one last time before she left the room and felt a warmth in her chest she hadn't felt in years. Though she knew Emma had some issues to work out for as long as she remained eighteen, seeing her do for Henry what she hadn't been able to do all grown up made Regina momentarily pleased.

Regina closed the door and smiled her way down the hall into her own bedroom.

Henry watched Emma lay down and a few seconds after she pressed her head on the pillow, he asked a question that had started to eat away at him; one that lead to the real questions he wanted to ask.

“Do you think you could be a mom at your age?”

“At eighteen or at twenty-nine?”

“Eighteen.”

“No. Hell no.”

“Why not?”

“I'm not... I can't give a kid what they need.”

“You're giving me what I need right now.”

“That's different.”

“How?”

“You're older and I'm not providing for you. Regina is.”

“But you're comforting me after a nightmare,” Henry said as though that should change everything.

“Because I understand how you feel,” Emma casually said. “It's not even half of what a mother should do for their kid. Not that I'd really know anything about mothers. All I know is, I'm not it.”

Henry seemed to accept that answer, no fuss and no disappointment.

“Well, so far I think you're doing a great job,” Henry said.

“Thanks, but I'm not doing anything,” Emma said before she yawned. “Now get some sleep, kid. Tomorrow will be hell if you're drop dead tired all day.”

Emma started to drift off and Henry slowly smiled.

“I'm sure you being eighteen again isn't supposed to be a good thing...but I think it will be for us,” Henry confessed.

Emma only hummed in response. Within a matter of minutes, mother and son fell asleep in the same queen sized bed for the first time since his Neverland nightmares had started.

* * *

Regina turned off her alarm clock at six forty-five the next morning, went to her walk-in closet, and dressed herself for the day. She made herself presentable, as she did every day for the last two – almost three – decades with makeup, heels, and tamed hair. She proceeded with her routine and went to wake Henry – because her son had apparently inherited Emma's internal clock and never woke up on time for anything without his mother's help – and checked his room before she remembered last night's events.

When she opened the guest room door, Regina immediately saw Henry curled up against Emma's side with his cheek pressed to the blonde's stomach. He had an arm draped over Emma's waist just above the waistband of the running shorts Regina had lent the younger woman.

Emma just laid on her back, one of her arms casually on the bed behind Henry and the other bent at the elbow with her hand close to her own head. Her face was twisted up in a troubled expression, but for the most part she seemed peaceful, calm.

Regina suddenly felt the need to capture the moment so not only did she commit the sight to memory, but she grabbed her cell phone and snapped a picture. For some reason, she thought Henry might need to see it sometime. For the days he worried Emma didn't love him as much as he loved her, she would have that picture and she'd prove him wrong. At least she hoped that if she showed him the picture it would convince him Emma really did love him.

She slipped the phone back into her blazer pocket, which she'd later transfer into her purse on her way out the door like she normally did, and crossed the room. She leaned over Henry's side of the bed and brushed her fingers through his hair.

“Henry,” Regina whispered, careful not to wake Emma because she honestly had no idea what to do with the blonde. “Henry.”

Regina gently shook him, which also shook Emma due to Henry's position across the woman's stomach, and finally got him to stir.

Henry grumbled and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up in bed.

“Time for school,” Regina said, barely above a whisper.

“Already,” Henry asked with a frowned.

“Yes. Come on. Get dressed, brush your teeth.

“I know the drill,” Henry sleepily groaned as he slid off the bed and walked out of the room.

“Just think, it's your last week before Christmas break. A few more days and I'll finally let you sleep in for a month.”

Regina watched him leave then turned back to look at Emma. The blonde shifted in bed and rolled onto her side.

Emma groaned and then desperately, sadly whimpered.

Regina frowned and intently stared at Emma as the blonde started to tangle herself in the sheets.

So much for peaceful.

Emma balled up a fist and tightly clutched the sheets as she tucked her chin to her chest with a pained expression on her face.

Regina sympathetically looked down at Emma, but struggled to find the right thing to do in that situation. Without a solution to whatever Emma's problem was, Regina sighed and went downstairs to fix a quick breakfast for Henry in the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, she had two pancakes on a plate with toast and a glass of orange juice set out for Henry, who had impeccable timing when it came to food, as he walked into the kitchen seconds after she prepared his plate.

“Good morning,” Regina smiled when she turned to Henry as he grabbed his plate.

“Morning,” he said before he headed into the dining room.

Regina followed him into the dining room with a bowl of oatmeal and a travel mug filled with hot tea.

“Are you tired,” Regina asked.

“A little. But...” Henry paused when he took a seat at the table then smiled up at Regina. “I slept really well after the nightmare.”

“Really,” Regina asked, only partially shocked to hear that.

“I know she's not exactly Emma, our Emma, but for now I kinda like her this way,” Henry confessed. “She seems less distant.”

“Well, she's only been here one night,” Regina said to ensure Henry didn't get his hopes up.

Then Regina realized just what exactly Henry had referred to Emma as.

“And she's not our Emma. She's yours. Saying she's ours implies that we're...” Regina paused as she tried to get the words out. “A family or something to that effect.”

Henry rolled his eyes at Regina's argument about our Emma versus his Emma. When he replied, however, he chose not to comment on that part of their conversation.

“I know she's only been here one night, but last night was better than any night I've spent at her place in the last two or three months.”

“It's been that long since you had a good time at her place,” Regina asked, sad and surprised.

“Yeah,” Henry frowned before he took a bite out of a pancake. “But being eighteen again might be the way we can connect.”

“I hope that's the case,” Regina softly said.

“You're going to look into the spell she cast, right,” Henry asked as he started to devour his pancakes.

“On my lunch break. Storybrooke isn't going to run itself.”

“I'm glad you were re-elected. What would you have done if the town didn't want you to be Mayor again?”

“I think the only reason I am Mayor again is because no one else could handle the job.”

“Still, what would you have done?”

“I'm not sure. I probably would have forced my way back into office.”

Henry laughed.

“Yeah, I can see you doing something like that.”

Regina smiled at him then looked at the time.

“Five minutes,” she warned him.

“Can you drop me off today?”

“You...you want me to take you to school?”

“Yeah. You know, 'cause I didn't let you sleep with Emma and me last night. And I really did want to ask you to, but because Emma–”

“I told you last night I understood. Emma's got a lot of work to do to prove herself to you, doesn't she.”

Regina hadn't even bothered to say that as a question. She and Henry both knew the answer.

“I think you know too much about my Emma problems,” Henry said.

“I'm your mother, I'm supposed to know more than you'd like me to.”

Henry smirked.

“True. It's probably better than you not caring about me or what I do.”

“Have I told you how happy I am to have you back,” Regina asked.

“Only every day.”

“Well, I mean it. I don't want you to think for one second that I don't love you because I do.”

“I know.”

“What about Emma?”

“What about her?”

“You know she loves you too, right,” Regina asked.

Henry shrugged.

“I guess.”

“I know she doesn't always show it, especially lately, but I can assure you she does, Henry.”

“You're defending her,” Henry said like it was the strangest thing to happen.

“And?”

“It's weird.”

“It's not bad, is it?”

Henry shook his head.

“No, I just...I guess a lot really has changed since Neverland.”

Regina looked at the clock again.

“Time to go,” Regina said as she stood, clearly avoiding the topic Henry had seemingly unwittingly brought up.

Henry lifted his plate and carried it back to the kitchen. He scraped the leftovers into the trash then rinsed off the plate. He left the plate in the right side of the sink, which was reserved for dirty dishes, to let it soak then made his way to the front door and grabbed his backpack on the way out.

Regina followed him to the door and looked over her shoulders at the stairs. Thoughts of Emma filled her mind. She hoped, after what she'd read in Emma's public records when she had Sidney Glass look into them, that Emma wouldn't do anything foolish or crazy while the proverbial cat was away.

Chapter Text

Emma woke up alone that morning. It wasn't anything new to her because she usually woke up alone unless Neal had slept in and stayed in the Bug with her. But last night was different. She wasn't with Neal, she didn't have her Bug, and she hadn't fallen asleep alone.

As she looked around the empty guest bedroom, she sighed and threw off the covers. Slowly, Emma made her way downstairs and on the way, she realized how quiet it was in the house. She frowned when she reached the first floor and noticed the emptiness of the living room.

Emma awkwardly inched into the kitchen, which was also empty. Her tense body relaxed as she went from awkward to sad, maybe even a little disappointed when she ran a hand over the barren kitchen counter. No note, no food, not a trace of the inhabitants of the house left to explain their absence.

She walked around the counter and came to a stop in front of the refrigerator. Though she knew it wasn't her place and Regina had been kind enough to let her stay the night, she decided to be her usual self and take what she wanted and what she could.

Thankfully, Regina was one of those people – one of those moms – who kept plenty of leftovers stocked in the fridge.

Emma had choices.

She scanned the shelves and took in the sight of several mixing bowls, casserole dishes, covered dinner plates, and Ziploc containers. She grabbed one of the containers, lifted the lid, and inspected it with her eyes and nose. Satisfied, she set the container down on the counter and searched for clean plates. After she found one, she put the food on the plate and slid it into the microwave. She closed the microwave door and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose to settle them more firmly on her face. She backed away from the microwave and held her hands out at her sides. When her palms hit the counter behind her, she applied pressure and hoisted herself onto the counter top while she waited.

With the sound of the microwave being the only sound in the house, Emma looked around again, a little bored. Her boredom quickly turned to sadness as she took in the neatness of the house and the silence around her. She frowned and looked down at the floor from her spot on the counter.

* * *

When Regina walked into Granny's for her lunch break that day, she realized she liked the atmosphere less and less each day. The fact that Snow White and her beloved Prince were inside had more than a little to do with her new feelings toward the establishment.

“You two are friends, right,” Snow asked, panicked and concerned.

“Yeah,” Ruby quickly confirmed. “But I haven't talked to her since last night before her magic stunt. I thought she left with you.”

“She did, but,” Charming started.

“But she ran off,”Snow cut him of to finish for him. “Climbed out the window, actually.”

“Well, well,” Regina startled all three of them with the sound of her purred words.

In that moment, she sounded every bit like the smug Evil Queen she once reigned as in another life, another realm.

“The two proud parents have lost their daughter. What a great example to set for the one on the way. First, you put Emma in a tree trunk and shipped her to this land. Now, you've been oblivious enough to let her wander off like you didn't hear the same, if not more, things about her adolescence and childhood in Neverland than I did.” Snow flared at her former stepmother.

“None of this would have happened if you hadn't taught her magic in the first place,” Snow growled.

“That was something you two idiots agreed to,” Regina defended herself. “You even watched. Besides, she has magic all on her own. What she did could have happened whether I taught her how to control her magic or not.”

That shut Snow White up. If only Charming had decided to stay quiet.

“What have you done with her,” Charming loudly asked as he rushed toward her in a predatory step forward.

“Nothing.”

“You at least have to know where she is,” Charming said. “Otherwise you wouldn't care to taunt Snow.”

“Oh, I always care to taunt Snow,” Regina grinned as she looked from Charming to Snow then back again before she continued. “It's a bit of a hobby for me. ...But you're right. I do know where Emma is.”

Snow moved around Charming to look straight at Regina.

“Where is she,” Snow angrily asked. “Regina, if you hurt her–”

“I haven't harmed her in the slightest,” Regina immediately shot down the claim with detest. “She's at my house and she came willingly.”

“Like you didn't coerce her in some way,” Snow snarled, her eyes narrows into slits.

“I really didn't. In fact, you're daughter not only came came to me of her own volition, she also broke in last night.”

Snow and Charming looked flabbergasted.

“She broke in,” Snow asked out of shock. “Well, if she damaged anything or jammed your lock, we'll pay for it.”

“No need,” Regina dismissively waved her hand. “She's very skilled at breaking and entering. Nothing is amiss. Although, I believe my grocery expenses will double with her around.”

“We can pay for that too,” Snow offered, sounding more like Mary Margaret.

“I can handle it,” Regina insisted with a haughty purr.

“Why are you being so kind about all of this,” Charming asked.

“I think the real question is, why are you two so blind about all of this?”

“All of what,” Snow asked with a confused expression as she shook her head.

Regina sighed out of irritation and suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

“Thank you for proving I'm right,” Regina slowly growled in the way she normally did when it came to Snow White and her ignorance.

Regina turned to the counter and immediately grabbed Ruby's attention with her sharp, dark eyes.

“I'll take my usual,” Regina said to Ruby as she placed her forearm on the counter and leaned on it.

Ruby looked frightened of Regina's dark eyes, more like her Storybrooke self afraid of the big bad Mayor. Then, she straightened up and looked Regina over before her mouth formed a tight line and her gaze steeled over, more like Red from the Enchanted Forest close to Wolf's Time.

Ruby didn't say anything else before she spun on her heels and headed back to the kitchen, but Regina knew the lean brunette had wanted to.

Regina gently pushed herself away from the counter and looked at Snow and Charming once again.

Somehow, Snow's demeanor had changed from furious with Regina to concerned about Emma.

Regina did roll her eyes that time.

“She'll be fine,” Regina tried to assure her.

“And we're supposed to believe you'll see to that,” Charming asked, apprehensive and still a little angry.

“Oh, you don't have to believe that,” Regina started. “I don't care if you don't trust me, but apparently your daughter does. I won't break that trust.”

“Why not,” Snow asked. “You're not the most trustworthy person and Emma has mistakenly sought you out for whatever reason. Why not just let her figure things out for herself?”

Regina scoffed.

“Is that what you would do if she had stayed with you two?”

“No, but we're her parents. You're just...” Snow trailed off as she visibly struggled to find the right word to describe the other woman.

“I'm just making sure that whatever caused Emma to revert the way she has doesn't destroy Henry,” Regina firmly said. “Besides, I know what it's like to be left to 'figure things out' for yourself at that age. Emma's already done it once. Why should she have to do it again? I sure as hell wouldn't want to relive my past, so I'll give Emma the opportunity to change hers.”

“Are you saying you're going to keep her stuck like this? Reliving her life from eighteen all the way to who she is now,” Charming asked.

“Of course not. She needs to fix something inside herself before she can change back. The only way to do that is figure out the cause of her transformation, as I've already told you yesterday.”

“So...you're going to help her,” Snow skeptically asked.

“Yes, Snow. I'm going to help her. Since you clearly ignore your own daughter, I'm sure you've also blatantly ignored your grandson as well. Whatever is bothering Emma is starting to hurt Henry. I refuse to let their relationship be effected by her fragile, emotional state.”

“Sounds a lot like tough love,” Charming said, displeased and judgmental.

“So far she's given me no reason to be harsh with her,” Regina responded. “In fact, she may be a little rough around the edges, but she's not exactly like her twenty-nine year old self.”

“If you hurt her–” Charming started to threaten her before Regina cut him off.

“Maybe you should be less concerned with what I'm doing and focus on Emma. Something's bothering her and instead of trying to figure it out, like I am, you choose to question my motives and challenge me.”

Ruby walked out to the counter with a carry-out bag in hand and set it on the counter in front of Regina.

“Here,” Ruby flatly said as she let go of the handles to the plastic bag.

Regina grabbed the bag and gave a curt nod to Ruby as a silent thank you before she turned to Snow and Charming once again.

“Congratulations on the baby, by the way,” Regina said as she looked from Snow to the woman's slightly rounded stomach. “Maybe this time you'll get it right.”

Snow gasped and Regina walked away from the couple with a sinister and wickedly proud grin on her face. The grin only lasted two steps before her expression fell and her features showed her disdain for the truth in her statement.

* * *

Emma had gobbled down most of the things in Regina's refrigerator and explored the house. The only room she had yet to take a closer look at was Regina's bedroom. For some reason, she respected the older woman enough to keep out of her private space. She rarely respected anyone given the people she'd come across in her sad and troubled past.

She made a note of the parlor and drink cart as well as the hidden liquor cabinet that shelved a backup stash of drinks for those on display on the cart plus a few extra, harder beverages tucked away.

When she headed into the living room to inspect the DVDs in the shelving unit on the right side of the entertainment system, Emma's phone rang. She scrunched up her face in distaste at the sound of the uneventful trill the phone emitted then pulled it out of her jacket pocket. The caller ID read, “Neal.”

Emma rolled her eyes and pressed “Ignore” before she stuffed the phone back into her pocket and continued toward the DVD collection. She opened the glass windowed cabinet and browsed through the first row of movies when her phone chirped again.

Emma growled and pulled out her cell phone for the second time. The caller ID read the same. Neal. She didn't hesitate to ignore the call then either, but that time she abandoned the DVDs and started to play around with the phone. She quickly found the ring tone options and tapped button after button for a while until a smirk broke out on her face. Once the problem had been corrected, she slipped the phone back into her pocket and returned her attention to the second row of movies.

It took her only a minute or two for her to scan over her choices, but she never picked one. Instead, she nodded and shrugged at the selection set out before her and moved on. She puffed out a sigh on her way out of the living room and wandered toward the front door without purpose. In fact, she hadn't even realized she'd gravitated toward it until she stopped at it with her hand grasped around the handle.

Emma paused for only a short moment before she pulled the handle and left. She spent the better part of an hour aimlessly walking around town until she saw a sign that said, “ Storybrooke Auto Shop.” She smiled and added a little bounce to her step as she sped up her pace and headed straight for the garage.

“Hi,” Emma greeted as she saw a grease coated man dressed in a grayish blue coverall tinkering with a lifted car.

She scanned the garage and spotted her beat up yellow bug parked near the left corner.

The dark haired man known as Michael Tillman for nearly three decades, stepped out from under the raised car and rubbed beads of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. When he saw her, he had to blink a few times before he took a cautious step toward her with curiosity and disbelief written on his face.

“Emma,” Michael asked, his confusion evident in his tone.

His voice regained Emma's attention and she looked at the man before she answered him.

“Yeah. Does everyone in this town know me?”

Michael cracked a small smile that faded after only a few seconds.

“Um, yeah. You're the town hero– heroine,” he quickly corrected himself. “You look...younger.”

“Apparently magic's to blame for that,” Emma casually said with a shrug. “Look, is this the only auto shop in town?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. Then you have my car.”

“The yellow Volkswagen. Yeah, I towed it back here maybe a day ago.”

“Right. Is it ready yet? I really want it back.”

“You called about it yesterday. I told you I still need some time.”

Emma frowned and slumped her shoulders in defeat.

“There's no way you can, I don't know, expedite things?”

Michael apologetically looked at her as he shook his head.

“But I did just get in the part you need,” Michael informed her before he changed the sunject. “I know I shouldn't be surprised about the magic, but...what the hell happened to you?”

“Not really sure. Regina says I felt something and then that feeling caused my magic to turn me eighteen again for some reason.” “Regina. So she's helping you?”

“Yeah. Seriously, is there anything you can do to get my car back to me by today?”

“Actually, I wasn't going to start on it until I assessed this car,” Michael motioned over his shoulder at the car raised on a platform behind him. “But I guess if you need it back that badly–”

“Yes, please! That would be great,” Emma hopefully said, her eyes almost as wide as her smile.

Michael smiled.

“Alright. Give me about forty minutes,” he said as he turned and headed into his office within the garage.

Just as Michael pushed open the office door, a car sputtered and coughed up exhaust as it pulled into the auto shop driveway behind Emma.

She looked over her shoulder and saw a dark red Cadillac crawl to a stop not far from her. Her expression remained neutral until the driver turned the car off and got out. Her features quickly changed to show her dislike for the newly presented situation.

“Emma,” the man greeted with a tone of surprise before he shut the car door. “I've been tryin' to call you.”

“And?”

“And you didn't answer.”

“Neal,” Emma tiredly said. “You leaving me means I don't have to answer when you call.”

Neal sighed.

“You're right. I'm sorry.”

Michael emerged from his office with a car part in hand and came to stand in the doorway of the garage.

“Hey,” Michael said to Neal after he looked up and noticed him with Emma.

“Hey,” Neal replied with a greeting nod directed at Michael as he looked at the mechanic from over Emma's shoulder.

“You need something,” Michael asked.

“Yeah, actually. Could you take a look at my dad's car? I think it needs an oil change or something.”

“Yeah, alright,” Michael slowly said. “How's he doing?”

“My dad?”

“Yeah. Rumpelstiltskin.”

“He's, uh, feeling better. Although, he needs his meds so I'm kinda in a rush.”

“What a shame,” Michael sarcastically said.

“Hey, I know better than anyone how my father is and you have every right to not want to help him, but...he's still my dad, y'know? Think you can look at the car as a favor to me and not him? I'll owe you.”

“We'll see,” Michael replied before he looked at Emma. “Your car is my first priority.”

Emma flashed him a smile.

“Thanks,” she said.

Michael nodded and returned the smile before he turned toward the inside of the garage and disappeared in the direction of Emma's yellow bug.

“How long's it gonna take for him to fix the car,” Neal asked Emma.

Emma reluctantly turned back to face him and sighed.

“About forty minutes. Why?”

Neal grimaced and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

“You think I could take it,” Neal asked.

“What?! No. Hell no,” Emma exclaimed.

“Emma, come on. I need to pick up my dad's prescription at the pharmacy. It'll only be like this for a few more weeks with physical therapy and then he'll be okay enough to get his own refills.”

“I don't care! It's my car.”

Neal made a face before he corrected her.

“Technically it's my car. I stole it first, remember,” Neal teased in an attempt to relieve some of the tension he felt start to rise the longer they talked.

Emma shook her head and swallowed her tears. She fished the car keys out her jacket pocket and looked down at them for a second before she looked back up at him.

“Fine,” Emma bitterly said. “Take it.”

Emma tossed the keys at him and he fumbled them in his hands as he struggled to catch the keys against his chest.

“You've taken everything else. Why not the car too?”

Emma quickly pushed past him and hurried down the driveway of the auto shop.

“Emma,” Neal called out as he started to follow after her.

“Stay away from me,” Emma threw over her shoulder with growl as she tamped down her urge to cry and focused on anger instead.

“Emma!”

Neal called out to her a few more times, but respected her enough to keep his distance and let her go off on her own. The more he called out to her, however, the stronger his concern bled out in his tone of voice.

After his fifth or sixth attempt to call Emma back to the garage, he gave up and turned back to the shop.

Michael was already standing just inside the garage with his eyes focused on Emma's retreating form, but his amazing peripheral vision granted him a glimpse of Neal turning to face him. The instant he knew he had Neal's attention, Michael looked from Emma to Neal and glared at the man in the driveway.

“Yeah,” Neal muttered under his breath. “He's not gonna be doing me any favors.”

* * *

Regina sighed as she walked up to her front door. It had been a long day filled with a headache inducing look into her mother's spell book and an exhausting phone call with a bitter Rumpelstiltskin in desperate need of pain killers. All any of that research did was confirm her suspicions about the spell Emma had accidentally performed on herself.

She rummaged through her purse and dug out her house keys, but as she raised the key to stick it in the lock she heard loud music blasting from inside. She furrowed her brow and hesitated before she slid the key in the lock and twisted.

When she pushed open the door, she didn't know what she'd been expecting. The music instantly became louder once the door no longer served as a barrier between her and the stereo. She had predicted that. What surprised her, however, was Emma on the couch in the living room with three different liquor bottles set out on the coffee table. A bottle of whiskey was among the three, but Emma held it by the neck with only half of the amber colored liquid left for consumption.

Regina quickly noticed that Emma hadn't even bothered with tumblers or shot glasses. Apparently, Emma liked her liquor straight out of the bottle. She also only wore the white t-shirt Regina had lent her the previous night and a pair of lace panties.

Emma bobbed her head to the angst riddled rock music and didn't see Regina in the archway until she took a long swig of whiskey. When she tipped her head back, she saw a slight movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head only to spot Regina staring at her, mouth agape.

“Hey! Regina,” Emma exclaimed with a smile. “You're back!”

“I do live here, Miss Swan,” Regina said as she looked from the coffee table to Emma's glittering green eyes.

“Nobody comes back when they leave me,” Emma sadly and quietly blurted out.

“I didn't leave you,” Regina shook her head as she finally stepped into the living room. “I–”

Regina cut herself off and let out a frustrated sigh before she set her gaze on the stereo.

“Can you turn that off,” Regina asked as she yelled over the unsettling music.

“Ummm,” Emma said as she squirmed on the couch and looked on and around the coffee table for the remote before she inspected the cushions she sat on.

Emma looked behind her on the couch, saw the remote, and grabbed it without a second thought. She pointed it at the stereo on one of three shelves beneath the TV in the entertainment system.

Silence immediately filled the house and Regina relaxed.

“I didn't leave you,” Regina calmly started again. “I went to work. I'm the Mayor.”

“Oh. Right. Well,” Emma perked up again. “Now that you're back, you can sit with me.”

Regina furrowed her brow and tilted her head to the side, puzzled by Emma's behavior.

“Come on,” Emma said as she patted the space beside her on the couch while she tucked her legs under herself and sat cross-legged.

“Henry should be home from Dr. Hopper's office any minute now,” Regina said as she refused to move any further into the living room, which would undoubtedly bring her closer to Emma.

“Dr. Hopper?”

“Yes, he has therapy twice a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays. One day wasn't enough for him after Neverland,” Regina confessed.

“Right,” Emma nodded. “I'm sure that was a mutual decision? To have him go twice a week?”

“Yes,” Regina smiled. “Are you starting to remember anything?”

“Nope,” Emma answered a little too quickly. “Come have a drink with me. Maybe I can get the Mayor drunk enough to do or say something embarrassing.”

Emma grinned at Regina who rolled her eyes.

Regina set her purse down on the end table beside one side of the couch and dropped her keys back inside it before she relented and sat down on the couch with Emma.

“How was your day,” Emma asked before she took another swig of whiskey then held it out to Regina in offering.

Regina put up her hand to stop Emma from nearly pouring the whiskey down her throat and answered the younger woman.

“Unpleasant.”

Emma pulled the whiskey bottle back toward herself and drank a fingers worth of it. The only reason she didn't finish off the bottle right then was because of the other woman on the couch.

“How long have you been drinking,” Regina asked, deeply concerned as she noticed the bottle of tequila, thankfully still three fourths full.

“Mm, since lunchtime? I don't know. Does it matter?”

“Have you eaten anything,” Regina asked as she pulled away from the coffee table and looked over at Emma.

“Not since before I left.”

“Which was when?”

“Before I came back and started drinking. Do you always wear tight skirts and a sharp looking jacket?”

“For work, yes,” Regina answered. “Emma, what happened today?”

“I was left to my own devices.”

“Emma, what's wrong?”

After a silent moment spent staring at Regina, Emma's lips curled into a lazy, lopsided smile.

“Nothing....now that you're here,” the blonde replied.

Emma pushed herself onto her knees and leaned forward on the couch, the bottle of whiskey still in hand. She brought her lips close enough to Regina's for them to graze while she threw one leg over Regina's lap and straddled her.

“What are you doing,” Regina asked, a little nervous, but more startled.

“Trying to kiss the mayor,” Emma flirtatiously said with a smirk.

Regina shot her hands to Emma's hips and squeezed.

“You're drunk,” Regina said as she tried to push Emma off of herself.

Emma covered Regina's hands with her own and slid them off of her hips as she leaned further in to bring her mouth even closer to Regina's lips.

“Maybe,” Emma nearly purred.

Regina's breath hitched when their lips almost touched, but the contact never came because the moment was interrupted by a loud song that erupted from the blonde's cell phone.

“Suckin' on my titties like you're wanting me, callin' me all the time like Blondie. Check out my Chrissie behind. It's fine all of the time.”

Emma puffed out an agitated sigh against Regina's lips and physically deflated as she slummed in Regina's lap, her shoulders hunched and body curved toward the brunette in a “C” shape.

“What is that,” Regina asked, even more shocked about what she heard than about Emma's previous actions.

“Like sex on the beaches. What else is in the teaches of Peaches?”

“Neal,” Emma groaned as she started to slid off Regina's lap and turned to the coffee table filled with empty and near empty liquor bottles. “He's been calling me all afternoon.”

“That does not explain the ringtone,” Regina said just before the song surprised her even further, something she hadn't thought possible.

“Fuck the pain away. Fuck the pain away. Fuck the pain away.”

Regina's eyes widened before she pushed herself off the couch and stood.

“Honestly, what is that,” Regina asked.

Emma picked up her phone and looked from it to Regina and smirked when she saw the stunned expression on the other woman's face.

“It's a song.”

“That is not a song,” Regina insisted. “That is crude noise.”

“It came out a week or two after I met Neal,” Emma said.

“And why is it playing now?”

“It plays every time he calls,” Emma said as she tossed the still ringing phone on the couch and closed the limited space between them again.

“Turn it off,” Regina said as she raised a hand between them at chest level to halt Emma's advance.

Emma looked down at the hand between them and emitted a breathy chuckle. She took a bold step forward and forced Regina's hand to graze one of her breasts. She bit her bottom lip as she grinned and moved as close as possible to the other woman, which caused Regina's hand to trail up to her shoulder.

“Miss Swan–”

“Emma,” the younger woman sweetly corrected, her lips temptingly close to Regina's.

“Em-ma,” Regina started and went back to her slow and awkward two syllable pronunciation of the blonde's first name. “Please turn it off.”

Regina firmly but gently grabbed both of Emma's shoulders and pushed the teen back a step or two.

Emma frowned and looked a little hurt seconds before anger flashed across her features.

“Fine,” Emma bit out as she picked up the phone again and silenced it without answering the call.

Emma kept her eyes down and focused on the phone while she bent down and retrieved her discarded dress from the living room floor. When she took the few steps back to her previous position in front of Regina, she only glanced up at the woman a couple of times as she spoke.

“I'm gonna go for a walk,” Emma said as she peeled off the borrowed white shirt then pulled her dress overhead and slipped into it.

“Where will you be?”

“Around,” Emma replied as she tugged her dress into place.

“Emma–” Regina tried to say something and took a step toward Emma.

Emma immediately took a step back.

Regina tensed up and stood completely still to ensure she didn't push Emma away any further than she felt she already had.

“Bye,” Emma quickly said and spun around to face the front door.

“No, wait. Emma, I'm sorry,” Regina sincerely tried to apologize, which would have been surprising had she not started to care for the blonde during their time in Neverland and the months that followed upon their return to Storybrooke.

Regina tried to follow after Emma, but, as she had told Emma it would happen soon, Henry came home.

Emma was only a few steps away from the door when it swung open and Henry swiftly stepped inside the mansion. Emma pushed right past him and accidentally bumped hips with the growing young man. She didn't speak a single word even during their half-body collision and that caused Henry to scrunch up his face and frown at the blonde. Henry looked over his shoulder and watched Emma continue to brush past him and walk out the door. She didn't even bother to close it on her way out.

Henry waited a moment as he continued to watch Emma leave and went back to the front door just as Emma stepped off the porch. He shut the door behind her as she headed down the walkway and turned to Regina with concern etched onto his face.

“What's with her?”

“I think I did something to upset her, but I'm not sure what,” Regina admitted.

Henry frowned and dropped his shoulders before he slid his backpack straps off his shoulders and left the bag slumped against the side of the end table by the winding staircase.

“You think one of us should follow her,” Henry asked.

Regina shook her head.

“Giving her space might be best.”

Henry nodded his acceptance and understanding then made his way into the kitchen. Regina followed him.

“Got any food,” Henry asked.

Regina smiled.

“Of course.”

* * *

The phone in the Sheriff's station rang every few minutes and went unanswered until David returned from the bathroom. He was still adjusting his shirt inside his pants as he jogged into Emma's office, recently made his until Emma returned to her adult self, and picked up the phone.

“Sheriff's station. David speaking,” he quickly answered.

After a moment, the frantic and panicked voice of a concerned citizen caused David's eyes to widen and his jaw to drop with disbelief. “She what?”

David immediately regretted asking for the person on the other end of the line to repeat themselves because they yelled into the phone and nearly caused David to lose his hearing.

“Okay, I'm on my way,” David said a split second before he hurriedly hung up the phone, grabbed the Sheriff's badge he'd taken from Emma's apartment before opening the station that day, and left with his gun in the holster secured around his hips.

He disregarded any speed limits the small town of Storybrooke had and sped over to the recent epicenter of negative attention. He no longer had to second guess what he'd heard from the person who'd called it in. Charming saw it clearly from about a mile away as he approached the intersection.

Though he knew the call to be a legitimate concern, Charming still hadn't believed what he saw.

Emma, his daughter, held a titanium bat and swung away at fences and windows to businesses and houses alike as if it were a game of softball.

Charming parked the only squad car the town had on the curb not too far from Emma's rage and rushed out of it to stop any further damage. From the angry looks on several people's faces as they all stood around and watched Emma's violent display of misdemeanors, he knew their family would have to pay for the repairs needed.

“Emma,” Charming firmly called out to her just as she pulled back the bat in preparation to hit something else.

Emma didn't even turn to look at him before she smashed through another shop window.

“Oh, come on,” one of the townspeople said loud enough to gain Emma's attention.

Emma rounded on him and glared as she took a few steps toward him, bat threateningly raised.

“Emma!”

Charming ran toward his daughter while the man Emma came at with the bat took several steps back to get away from her, arms protectively raised while he cowered away from the teen.

Emma swiftly turned to the right and started to swing at the other window to the fearful man's shop, but she was stopped mid-swing by Charming.

Charming grabbed her from behind with both hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the shop.

“Let go of me,” Emma yelled as she squirmed in his tight embrace.

Charming managed to drag her back toward the intersection, closer to the squad car, when Emma managed to elbow him in the ribs. He immediately released her with a groan and bent over at the waist.

Emma wrestled away from him then turned to acknowledge the pain she'd inflicted. Her eyes scanned over the area from Charming to the squad car that temptingly sat parked, unharmed.

Emma marched over to the vehicle and pounded down on the windshield with the bat.

“Hey,” a booming female voice called out from up the street perpendicular to the one Charming had parked on.

Emma stopped to find the source of the voice and spotted Granny standing outside her diner with a hand on her hip and a scowl on her face. She looked like a scolding parent ready to rip into their misbehaving child and a part of Emma enjoyed that, even grinned without a care. The other part, the teenager in her that didn't know everyone in town, made the grin disappear and defiantly lifted her chin.

“You better get a hold of yourself, young lady,” Granny said to Emma.

“Oh, yeah? And what are you gonna do if I don't,” Emma asked, ever the moody teenager with authority problems.

“It's not what she'll do,” Charming breathlessly said as he gritted his teeth through the pain of the bruises he knew Emma's elbow to the ribs had caused him. “It's what I'll do.”

As Charming finished his statement, Emma heard a pair of cuffs jingle and felt him tug at one of her wrists.

“Not gonna happen,” Emma insisted as she yanked her wrist out of Charming's grasp.

Her efforts were pointless when Charming, as gently as possible with still enough force to have the proper effect, pushed her against the hood of the squad car.

Charming didn't hesitate to grab Emma's wrists one at a time and seal the metal cuffs around them. It took only a few seconds for him to cuff one wrist behind Emma's back then pull the blonde's hand away from the bat, which rolled off the hood of the car as soon as she was forced to let go. Within a minute, Charming had his daughter handcuffed in front of a cop car. He frowned at that realization, but started to pull her toward the backseat of the car.

Emma instantly started to fight him, something she hadn't done for a couple of reasons when the cop in Portland had arrested her, and refused to be taken to the Sheriff's station. She wriggled her arms behind her back to free herself from his hands clasped around her forearms while she pushed all of her weight against him the closer they got to the backseat.

“Stop struggling. This is for your own good. I promise,” Charming tried to assure her, but Emma hadn't stopped struggling.

“Don't touch me,” Emma yelled, which attracted even more attention. “There's no way you're locking me up!”

“Just get in the car. Please,” Charming pleaded as he held her wrists with one of his hands and opened the back door with the other.

“No!”

Emma stomped down on Charming's foot and spun away from his hold on her like basketball player during a pick-and-roll. She ran for freedom, still cuffed, but out of nowhere Snow White appeared with sadness and worry written all over her face.

“Emma?”

Emma stopped in the middle of the street, trapped by her mother in front of her and her father not too far behind her. She only had two other options, left or right. She looked between her options and saw Granny still standing outside the diner to Emma's right. That only left her with one option if she thought Granny would keep her from her escape plan, which she didn't doubt in that moment at all.

So Emma took off in the only direction that would allow her to disappear from the poorly unfolding scene she'd been stuck in. Her run wasn't as graceful or as efficient as it would have been had she not had her hands cuffed behind her back, but it was all she had to sprint as best she could away from the intersection.

Her run for refuge lasted maybe ten seconds before Charming caught up with her, only a little worse for wear considering the way Emma had attacked him. He grabbed for her forearms and turned her around before he pushed her toward the squad car once again.

Emma frowned and tried a few more moves to injure Charming, but he'd been much quicker that time and avoided every supposed-to-be-hurtful action.

“Let go,” Emma refused to give up the fight as she shouted her protest. “Get away from me! Just let me go!”

Everyone that stood outside witnessed the heartbreaking sight of their Queen and her King nearly fall apart at Emma's sad outburst. They watched Charming place Emma into the backseat of the car and close the door on her. They saw her kick around and try to turn her back to the car door so she could open it with her restrained hands. They didn't turn away when Charming got into the car along with Snow hurrying into the passenger's seat before the doors locked and the family drove to the station. Some of the townspeople even saw Emma look out the window with tears in her eyes as the car passed by.

Emma didn't allow herself to cry, however. Her eyes were watery, tears ready to slip out and stain her cheeks, but as weak as she felt on the drive to the station, she wanted to show only strength. She was tough, or at least she liked to believe that. Being the angry little girl she had, she'd developed a tough skin. That didn't mean it didn't hurt whenever she was rejected or detained or abandoned for the millionth time.

By the time they'd made it to the Sheriff's station, both parents still concerned – though Snow showed it more than Charming – Emma had slipped on her angry mask. Her lips were turned down in a frown while her eyes were hard, steely and determined to express her dislike toward the situation.

Charming opened the door for her and reached out to help Emma onto her feet, but the blonde shrugged away from his touch and removed herself from the car on her own. He shut the door behind her and before Emma could even think about running again, Snow lightly grabbed Emma's bicep and led her toward the station door.

Both Snow and Charming got Emma into one of two cells the station had to offer with minimal struggle from the teen. Neither parent seemed to like what they'd done once Emma was locked away behind the metal bars, but when they looked at each other they understood that neither one of them knew how else to handle the situation. “What should we do,” Snow quietly asked as they walked across the room toward the Sheriff's office.

“I honestly don't know,” Charming said as he shut the office door to keep Emma from overhearing their discussion.

Charming looked at Emma for a moment longer and watched his daughter dejectedly plop down on the cot within the cell before she leaned back against the cement wall and sat with her legs crossed and folded beneath herself. His eyes fell from the blonde to the floor by his feet with a frown on his face before he turned around and faced Snow.

“Was Emma really like this at that age,” Snow asked. “Was she this violent? What could have possibly caused her to react this way?”

“I don't know,” Charming shrugged though his tone suggested he was a little frustrated at that point. “I know as much as you do about our daughter.”

“I know. I'm sorry,” Snow sighed. “I just...I don't know what to do! We tried to keep her at the house, but she ran off before she even gave us a chance. And she ran to Regina of all people. Why did she go to Regina? Why did she trust her and not us with giving her a place to stay? We were nice, right? We explained everything she needed to know, didn't we?”

“Yes, Snow. And Regina's the last person I want Emma to trust with all this, whatever this is, but maybe we should just let Emma decide what she needs.”

“Well, leaving her in Regina's care hasn't exactly helped the situation, has it,” Snow asked.

“I'm sure Regina doesn't even know about this,” Charming casually defended the other woman.

“That's my point! She argued just this afternoon that Emma would be fine with her and yet, she's not even aware of the damage Emma's caused.”

“We can always call her.”

“No,” Snow quickly and sharply turned down the idea. “No, she had her chance to prove Emma was better off with her and she obviously isn't capable of helping our daughter.”

Snow thought over something and after a moment of reflection, she voiced her plan.

“We'll keep Emma here for half an hour so she can calm down then take her back to the house. She'll stay with us until we can figure out a way to change her back into an adult.”

Snow spoke with such finality that Charming sighed in defeat and went along with it. He didn't completely disagree with it, but he still wanted to brainstorm a little more. Though instead of arguing with Snow, he let her have her way.

Parenting was a joint effort with married couples and he intended to keep it that way, especially since anything they did with Emma while she remained in her teenaged body and state of mind would be practice for the baby on the way. But Emma hadn't been gentle with his ribs or foot and he wanted some time to recuperate from the assault as well as having had to arrest his own daughter. He certainly didn't like that weighing on his conscience, but what other option had there been during Emma's destruction?

* * *

Regina had only sat down with Henry for an early dinner when she'd gotten the call. Granny had explained that Emma was on a rampage and the elder woman said she was about to step in herself to ensure nothing else would be smashed in by the furious young blonde.

Regina had looked over at Henry at the dining room table, still on the phone with Granny, and made a decision within seconds before thanking Granny for the heads up and ending the conversation. Once she hung up the home phone, Regina went back to the table and placed a hand on Henry's shoulder.

Henry looked up at his mother and saw everything he needed to know expressed in her eyes.

“It's Emma, isn't it,” he stated.

Regina apologetically looked at him and nodded.

Henry set his fork down on the plate he'd barely eaten from and stood. He wordlessly went toward the front door and grabbed his coat.

Regina was much slower while she watched him with curiosity. The fact that Henry knew Emma had done something that required Regina's attention was enough to make her feel bad about the situation, but add to that the fact that Henry was ready to help and Regina was conflicted. She wanted to be proud of him, and a part of her was, but the other part of her knew his awareness and readiness meant he had more to deal with when it came to his relationship with Emma.

She worried about Henry, but due to Granny's phone call she know worried about Emma as well. It was like she had two children to manage and in a way, considering the fact that Emma was a teenager, she did. Though she had hoped that Emma being older than Henry and at an age where most children had grown up significantly would have meant less work than handling two younger children.

Apparently, Emma's adolescence was anything but easily managed. Regina sensed that something was going to have to change in their arrangement if she expected to help Emma as promised.

* * *

Within ten minutes, Regina had arrived with Henry at the diner. She told Henry to stay in the car and scanned around the streets for Emma on her way into the diner. She saw nothing but broken windows and banged up mailboxes, however. The mess left behind told Regina that Hurricane Emma had already came and went.

The bell clanged above the diner door and signaled everyone to a new presence in the room. Only Ruby looked up from what had her preoccupied and when she saw Regina, she immediately turned and retreated to the back room.

Regina slowly made her way up to the counter and stood somewhat awkwardly in front of it. She had a feeling she wouldn't be there long. While she awaited for Ruby's return, she glanced around the diner and as she did, a few of the townspeople within it turned and acknowledged her. Most of them seemed indifferent while a few others seemed a little perturbed when they saw her. She only observed. She didn't even sneer or glare at any of the people that dared looked displeased just because she stood among them. Her only concern came from the information Granny could provide her as soon as she could talk to the gray haired woman who owned the establishment.

Ruby returned with Granny in tow behind her. She gave Regina a small smile of greeting and acknowledgment before she went back to work and went to check on one of the tables.

“Is she here,” Regina asked as Granny approached the counter.

Granny shook her head.

“You just missed them. Charming and Snow took her in to the station. Cuffed her and everything, although not without a fight. I'll tell you, Emma's more of a handful than I thought,” Granny replied.

Regina frowned.

“They arrested her?”

“If you'd have seen her, you probably would have too. She came at a guy with a bat. One that I'm pretty sure she stole from the sporting goods store down the block.”

“Thank you again,” Regina said before she turned and tried to leave.

Granny stopped her before she got too far.

“I only thought to call you because Ruby told me you came in earlier and said Emma was staying with you.”

Regina turned around again, stepped up to the counter, and nodded.

“Why are you the one looking after her,” Granny asked. “I thought since Snow and Charming are her parents that they'd be better suited for the job. She's not your daughter. You don't have to put up with any of this.”

“She came to me,” Regina explained.

“Yeah. Doesn't mean you can't just hand her over to Snow.”

“I could, but Emma doesn't seem to want that. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to my place.”

Granny flashed a brief smile that Regina missed due to the quickness it appeared then disappeared from the woman's face.

“Well then, if you are going to deal with Emma, she's gonna need someone with a backbone. That girl thinks she can do and say what she pleases and she'll keep acting out like she did today.”

“I'm not sure it's discipline she needs,” Regina said.

Granny cocked her head to the side, confused as she tried to wrap her head around what could have given Regina that impression.

Regina didn't elaborate though.

“Have a good day,” Regina said before she turned and left without any interruption.

When she got back into the car, Henry waited no more than three seconds before he asked Regina about his birth mother.

“Where's Emma?”

“At the station with your grandparents,” Regina answered as she shifted in her seat before she closed the car door and started the Mercedes.

“What did she do,” Henry asked once they started moving.

“Apparently, your mother enjoys breaking things.”

“Cool,” Henry smiled and nodded.

Regina shot Henry a warning look.

“No, not cool. She destroyed city property with a presumably stolen bat.”

“Really,” he excitedly asked.

“You are definitely her son,” Regina muttered as she looked from Henry back to the road ahead.

Henry heard that even though he figured Regina probably hadn't wanted him to and he grinned most of the way over to the Sheriff's station.

Snow and Charming had barely finished their conversation about what to do with Emma when Regina burst through the door with Henry next to her.

Emma perked up in the jail cell, though she seemed more stunned than happy to see Regina there next to the main hall with an arm slung over one of Henry's shoulders. A memory popped into Emma's mind as she remembered a time when Regina had looked just as upset with Henry at her side like that. Her hair had been shorter and she'd worn a black pantsuit then instead of the blazer and pencil skirt she currently wore. She remembered Regina gave her permission to hang out with Henry for ten minutes just to get her to leave the station.

Then Snow and Charming disrupted the memory and emerged from the Sheriff's office.

“Regina,” Snow addressed the other woman with surprise in her tone.

“What are you doing here,” Charming asked as he followed Snow out and the two walked toward Regina and Henry.

“I heard about what happened. I'm here to take Emma home,” Regina answered in a tight voice that should have left no room to argue.

The only problem with that was Snow and her inability to give up so easily to Regina even when everyone else knew it would be better for her if she did.

“You've proven she's not at all better off with you than us,” Snow shook her head as she spoke.

Emma paid no attention to the woman who claimed to be her mother, however. She had stopped listening to anything else after she heard Regina refer to her home as Emma's home. She wanted to smile, but her doubtful conscience told her Regina only meant it as her home with Henry and the title had nothing to do with Emma. Because of that, Emma barely managed a small smile before it faded away fast. She then sat and waited to hear whatever else Regina had to say while she hoped for a way out of the cell, not too happy that she'd already been arrested a second time at eighteen.

“You could have easily made the same mistake,” Regina said when Emma tuned back in to the conversation. “I thought she wanted space. I tried to stop her before she left, but she wasn't interested in staying.”

“And I'm supposed to believe that you decided that with her best interest in mind,” Snow asked.

“You don't have to believe it,” Regina continued to argue. “But I did it because I don't want her to run from me like she's run from you.”

That remark visibly stung Snow. It took the pixie haired woman a moment before she mustered up any further retort.

“Well, clearly giving her everything she seemingly wants isn't what's best for her,” Snow said.

“That has yet to be determined,” Regina said before she walked past Snow and headed toward Emma. “You were angry, right?”

Emma watched Regina approach and knew the question had been directed at her because Regina's gaze stayed solely on herself.

“Yeah.”

“You were hurt,” Regina asked another question, the space dwindled between her and the bars that kept the two of them separated.

“Yeah,” Emma sadly admitted after a moment.

“Do you feel better now?”

Regina stopped right in front of the bars while Emma continued to sit on the cot. Regina placed a hand on the bars and waited for Emma's response.

“Now that you've let it out?”

Emma thought about it as she locked eyes with Regina then replied with a shrug and a nod.

“Yeah,” Emma verbalized her answer.

Regina smiled and turned back to Snow and Charming.

“There. It may not have been what was best for her, but it did her some good,” Regina smugly said with a grin.

Henry looked back and forth from Regina to his grandparents as the three of them argued.

“Now let her out of that cell and leave her to me,” Regina calmly and somewhat casually ordered.

Snow shook her head as she took a step toward Regina and opened her mouth to argue further, but Charming gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Charming looked over at Emma in the cell and even though she didn't look back at him, he saw it in the way she stared at Regina. The expression on Emma's face told him she'd rather be with Regina than them. The fact that she'd talked to Regina, answered her questions, when he and Snow hadn't been able to talk to Emma since Charming placed her in the backseat of the squad car convinced him of that.

“Okay,” Charming agreed as he let go of Snow's arm and stepped forward as he pulled the keys off his belt loop on his way over to the cell.

Charming walked around Regina and unlocked the cell. When he pulled open the door, Emma slid off the cot and cautiously made her way toward Regina.

Emma bitterly and suspiciously eyed Charming on her way out of the cell, but when she turned her head to look at Regina once again, her features softened.

Charming stood behind Emma at that point as he locked up the recently vacated cell so he hadn't seen it, but Snow and Henry certainly had and only one of them seemed okay with it.

Snow appeared floored by the change in Emma's demeanor, though she finally had the mind not to comment out loud on it. She only crossed her arms over her chest and huffed at the sight.

“Are you okay,” Regina asked once she and Emma walked side by side toward Henry.

“I will be,” Emma honestly confessed.

“Are you hungry?”

“A little.”

“There's dinner at the house. Eating should help sober you up a bit,” Regina said when they passed Snow.

“She's drunk?!”

Snow practically shrieked, though she'd only questioned Regina's words loudly in a shrill octave. The small space the family stood in had been the culprit for making it sound more harsh and painful than the woman meant it to come out.

They all cringed at her exclaimed question.

“It's not your concern,” Regina simply said as she started to guide Henry toward the station door.

“She's my daughter! Everything she does is my concern,” Snow said.

“Snow, just let her handle it,” Charming said as he came to stand by his wife.

“What? You're on her side now,” Snow asked him.

“Try to relax. I'm sure all of this yelling and getting worked up isn't good for the baby,” Charming soothingly spoke.

Snow heavily exhaled then took several short breaths in and out, a breathing exercise she remembered from being in labor with Emma.

“You're right. I'm sorry for raising my voice.”

Snow had only directed the apology at Henry and Charming as she rubbed her slightly bigger than usual stomach, about two months too soon to show much protrusion of a baby in the womb.

Regina stopped Emma and Henry just by stopping to turn and look at Charming.

“Thank you,” she calmly and genuinely said him.

Charming blinked through his surprise before he replied.

“You're welcome. Just...take care of her?”

Charming chanced a glance at Emma, who didn't seem too touched by his words or the obvious concern in his voice.

Regina nodded in response, unwilling to vocalize her agreement in case it only upset Emma to think she was being “handled.”

Regina turned back toward Emma and Henry and the three of them left the station without another word.

Chapter Text

The car ride back to the mansion was as silent as their exit from the Sheriff's station and though it had been awkward, it didn't last past the porch. Just as they were all about to step inside the house, the silence was broken by none other than Henry and things carried on as normal as possible from there.

“How come you were locked up,” Henry asked Emma as she, Regina, and himself walked into the dining room.

“I...” Emma almost barreled through the truthful explanation, but stopped herself to look over at Regina for permission on how much information to divulge.

Regina seemed completely taken aback by the similarity between eighteen year old Emma and twenty-nine year old Emma in that moment. It seemed so out of character for the teen, but there the adult seemingly presented. Emma Swan, every bit like the one Regina had gotten to know a little bit more since Neverland – apart from the return of her youth – stood beside her with wide, imploring eyes.

Regina gulped and nodded before she was able to force a small, slightly warm smile.

Emma cleared her throat and turned back to Henry.

“I busted a few windows around town,” Emma casually said.

“Mom said you broke things,” Henry said in agreement with her statement as he sat down at his place at the dining room table. “Sounds like you had a good time.”

“Actually, I didn't,” Emma admitted with a frown.

Emma stopped in front of the dining room table and stared at it from one end to the other, lost at where to sit and if she would even be allowed to sit.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Regina said when Emma remained frozen in place and hadn't said a word.

Emma turned to look at Regina and noticed the brunette halfway between the dining room and kitchen, her feet on either side of the archway between the two rooms. Though she was grateful to know Regina wanted her to feel comfortable, Emma didn't show it. Instead, she awkwardly shifted on her feet and looked from Regina to the table. She physically tensed and that was the last thing Regina saw before she hesitantly resumed her trip into the kitchen to retrieve the dinner she'd put in the refrigerator before she took Henry and went after Emma.

Emma spent a little less time to scan the table after Regina had made it clear she was more than welcome there, but she still seemed awkward when she finally took a step forward and sat in the seat across from Henry.

“So...what did you use to break the windows,” Henry asked while Emma squirmed to find a comfortable position in the chair.

“A bat,” Emma flatly stated, casual and indifferent about what she'd done.

“Where did you get the bat?”

Regina walked back into the dining room with the food right when Emma answered.

“I stole it.”

Regina set Henry's plate down in front of him and glanced across the table at Emma.

Emma saw the slight, almost parental, warning in Regina's eyes and didn't hesitate to add, “But stealing is bad.”

“I'm almost twelve, not five,” Henry started. “I know stealing is bad. But if you know it's bad, why did you do it?”

“I wasn't thinking clearly,” Emma slowly said as she stumbled over her words, a nervous habit of hers. “And I thought it would help.”

“You told Mom it helped,” Henry said as he picked up his fork and started to eat what he hadn't been able to finish earlier.

“Yeah.”

“Were you lying?”

“No.”

“Then why do you sound sad about it?”

“Has anyone told you that you ask a lot of questions,” Emma asked and tilted her head to one side as she looked him over as if to study him and his reaction.

Henry flashed a brief nostalgic smile before it faded and he took a bite of his dinner. He nodded as he chewed and waited until after he swallowed before he elaborated.

“You did once ,” Henry said as Regina set down her own plate of food in front of the seat between Henry Emma at the head of thee table. “I think Mom has a few times too.”

Regina swiftly floated from her place at the table to Emma’s and set an already prepared plate in front of the blonde.

“Thank you,” Emma said as she looked up at Regina, who stood close enough to eliminate most of Emma's personal space while she leaned partially over the younger woman's shoulder.

Regina blinked away the shock and confusion the emotions in Emma's eyes caused her. Within those green eyes, Reign saw sincerity, warmth, surprise, and what resembled awe. Young Emma appeared more open and readable like a book in comparison to the heavily guarded and severely closed off older version of the blonde.

Suddenly, Regina saw a part of Emma that told the story of how everything had changed for the young-again woman in the years that had passed after Henry's birth.

“Mom, why are you looking at Emma like that,” Henry asked with scrunched up eyebrows, confused and curious.

Regina shook her head and snapped out of her silence to look between Emma and Henry.

“No reason,” Regina quickly lied and moved away from Emma to take her seat at the table.

Emma watched Regina pick up her utensils and start on her dinner without another word. Still a little dunk, though her attack on local stores and her short time spent behind bars had sobered her up plenty, she smiled a lopsided smile that read both mischievous and genuinely happy.

* * *

After dinner, Henry got cozy under a blanket on the couch in the living room with his eyes glued to a Christmas movie that played on TV.

Emma had been only slightly tempted to join Henry when he asked if she wanted to watch a movie with him, but she found her place in the kitchen with Regina. She rocked back and forth on her heels and stepped forward just to step back in some kind of awkward dance while the brunette washed dishes and Emma watched from a few feet behind the other woman. As she continued to dance around and remain quiet, she started to rethink the phrase “found her place” because she honestly doubted she belonged in the kitchen let alone in Regina's house.

“You could always help, dear,” Regina said to Emma as she continued to wash dishes, though she kept her back to the younger woman.

“Right,” Emma snapped into action and walked up beside Regina.

Emma grabbed one of the dirty plates and moved it from one hand to the other as though she had no idea what to do with it.

Regina finished cleaning off the dish in hand and set it down in the drying rack to her right. She turned toward the left side of the sink and saw Emma pass the dirty plate from hand to hand before she scanned her eyes up from Emma's hands to the teen's eyes.

“Why don't you dry and I'll wash,” Regina said as she expectantly held out a hand to take the plate from Emma.

Emma looked up from the plate and met Regina's gaze. She sheepishly smiled and handed the plate over to the woman.

During the dish transfer, Regina spotted the flower tattoo on Emma's left wrist. She'd seen it before on the version of Emma she was used to, adult Emma, and had always assumed the blonde hadn't gotten the tattoo until sometime after Henry was born. Why she assumed that, she would never know because she'd known Emma long enough to understand that the younger woman was a bit of a risk taker – not reckless, but bold. She worried that sometimes her eyes gave away the admiration she felt when Emma showed her leadership role, especially during their Neverland journey. Not only did she get to see Emma take action in a more dire situation and impressively rise to the challenge, but she also had a chance to learn more about the woman's past. She specifically remembered what Emma shared about foster care and what Neal had taught her while the two of them lived on the streets together. Somehow, all of that knowledge added up and Regina knew it would help her figure out how to change Emma back to her adult self, but in that moment she recognized there was more to the story of Emma Swan than she'd already learned.

In hopes of uncovering just what she needed to reverse Emma's spell, Regina decided to ask a question that had nothing to do with the ones she knew she should ask first, if only to clear the air about what took place earlier that day.

“When did you get the tattoo,” Regina asked and nodded at the ink flower shaded in with yellow and orange and outlined with thick black.

Emma stood on her right side in front of the drying rack and grabbed a plate and dish towel when Regina had asked the question.

“When I was almost fifteen,” Emma shrugged and dried off the plate in hand. Regina chuckled and set another plate in the drying rack. “What about you? Any tattoos?”

“A former Evil Queen who didn't know about electricity, running water, and other modern facets from this world until the eighties? Definitely not.”

“Right,” Emma slowly drew out the word as she remembered the reality of fairy tales, the moment of realization aging her temporarily to make her appear twenty-nine again. “Wait, so...how old are you?”

Emma stopped drying the plate she had in her possession at that moment and turned her head to look at Regina so she could see the woman when she answered. Her blunt and blurted out question made her look and sound like her currently eighteen year old self once again so when Regina looked at Emma, a little offended by the question, she slowly relaxed into a more calm state.

Emma's magically revisited youth seemed to be the only thing that kept Regina from yelling at the blonde for her age related question like she would have if Emma were technically still twenty-nine.

Instead of biting off Emma's head, something she actually hadn't done in a while, Regina sighed and answered.

“I'm about six years older than your mother so I guess the best answer, one I feel slightly comfortable stating at least, would be 'old enough to be your mother'. Although, since you're currently eighteen, I'm closer to being your...grandmother.”

Regina had paused before she bitterly spoke the title “grandmother” as if that word tasted like spoiled milk in her mouth.

Emma wrinkled her nose, but didn't respond in any other negative way.

“And...I guess you actually are my grandmother,” Emma started as she slowly made the realization. “If Snow White is my mom and you're the Evil Queen that married her dad, that means you're my step-grandmo– ”

“Don't you dare finish that sentence,” Regina warned, though her tone held no anger or forceful command. It was almost a plea when she flicked her eyes from the sink to Emma.

Emma immediately closed her mouth, but her lips quickly curled up in a smirk.

“Looks like someone's sensitive about her age,” Emma teased.

“I am not,” Regina argued. “I have no reason to be.”

“Really,” Emma asked, her smirk still present when she she raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. I'll have you know that biologically I'm still the exact age I was when I enacted the curse plus the amount of time I've lived after you broke the curse.”

“And how old where you then?”

“Early to mid-thirties,” Regina proudly said. “There's still plenty this body can do.”

Unable to restrain herself, Emma looked Regina up and down after she heard the woman's admission. She not-too-subtly checked Regina out. In fact, she was blatantly obvious about it.

“Just because you're proud of that fact doesn't mean you have to tease me like this,” Emma said as her eyes slowly roamed over Regina's breasts up to the woman's chocolate brown eyes.

Regina's heart skipped a beat and her lips parted in shock at Emma's words.

Emma cleared her throat and blushed.

“Sorry, I'm still a little tipsy and kind of...well, I don't want to say, but I will tell you I really liked sitting in your lap today. Also, I want to apologize for that too. You're being nice enough to let me stay here and I sort of attacked you.”

Regina stuttered a bit before she found her voice again.

“You may have taken me by surprise, but I'd hardly call that an attack.”

“Attack, to me, is any unwanted contact. Are you saying you wanted it?”

“All I'm saying,” Regina took her time to correct Emma and ensure she made her point clear. “Is that you weren't rough with me and I'm confident that if I'd specifically told you to stop, you would have.”

“Why didn't you say stop?”

Regina let out a tired sigh.

“I tried to push you off. Was that not enough refusal for you,” Regina somewhat playful asked.

Hurt flashed across Emma's face, but she quickly hid hit with anger.

“No, that was plenty of rejection. Thank you.”

Emma slammed a plate into the drying rack and left the kitchen in a huff.

Regina closed her eyes and heavily leaned on the edge of the sink like it was the only thing that could hold her up at that point.

Emma marched past the living room toward the staircase, but didn't make it past Henry without being stopped.

“Hey, Emma,” Henry called out from this spot on the couch. “Will you watch the rest of this movie with me now?”

Emma tried to take a deep breath and mask her anger before she looked at Henry, but she only achieved half of that goal.

“Not right now, kid,” Emma bit out as she carelessly threw the words over her shoulder before she continued toward the stairs.

Henry frowned and looked more angry than hurt. When he heard Emma slam the guest room door shut, he loudly called out for Regina.

“Mom!”

A few seconds later, Regina appeared in the living room and looked a little disheveled from the speed at which she responded to him.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“What did you do,” Henry asked in a slightly accusatory tone though his voice wavered toward the end of the question.

“What do you mean?”

“Emma.”

“Oh,” Regina physically deflated.

“She won't watch this movie with me and wouldn't even look at me when I asked if would join me!”

And in that moment, Regina got to witness her son break right in front of her over something Emma had done.

“Henry, I'm sorry,” Regina instantly went into soothing mother mode and hurried over to the couch.

Regina lifted his blanket covered legs and laid them across her lap as she sat down beside him.

“Emma's just...she's going through something and I'm trying to figure out what exactly it is. I'm not doing a very good job, am I.''

Henry picked at the blanket and kept his eyes on the royal blue fleece, on the the verge of tears.

“I know you want Emma to watch this with you, but how about I sit with you instead? I'll even watch whatever comes on after it. The whole thing. How does that sound?” Henry looked up and when he met his brunette mother's eyes, he slowly smiled.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Regina warmly smiled back at him.

“I love you,” she said as she leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“I love you too,” he said as she pulled back.

Regina patted Henry's legs over the blanket and sat back.

Henry picked up the remote, which he kept at his side on the couch, and turned up the volume a little.

* * *

Regina had to wake Henry up at the end of the second movie, but that was only after the discomfort of falling asleep on the couch sitting up had awoken her. She helped him up the stairs and into bed, let him tuck himself in, and kissed his forehead before she said, “Goodnight.”

Once she'd turned off the lights and closed his bedroom door, she headed straight for the guest room.

She knocked her knuckles on the door three times, but didn't wait for a response before she went in.

Emma sat on the bed with her knees to her chest and her hands clasped over her wrists around her ankles. She perked up a little and lifted her chin off her knees to stare straight into Regina's eyes. She looked sad. If Regina stared long enough she could compare Emma's look to the heartbroken one Henry had given her before they watched those holiday movies together.

“I know that whatever made you become eighteen again is serious, but between you and Henry, our son comes first. You really don't know how much you keep hurting him, do you?”

Regina didn't hold back, her anger and frustration evident.

Emma dropped her chin onto her knees again and held herself tighter. With every second that passed, the closer Emma seemed to tears.

Regina instantly softened.

“I get the 'Tough Mom' act you're trying,” Emma started. “But I don't need a lecture right now.”

“I've tried to be patient with you,” Regina said, no longer angry as she walked towered the bed. “I've given you space, I've tried to let you work things out on your own. So far all that's done is lead you to more crime and shutting me out.”

Emma's bottom lip started to quiver and she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Will you tell me what happened today,” Regina asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Or at least what I did to upset you...twice?”

A tear fell from Emma's eyes closely followed by another. Emma quickly reached under her glasses and wiped away the tears one by one.

“Did you get your car back,” Regina asked as she leaned forward to try and make eye contact with the blonde.

Emma mirthlessly laughed and more tears fell. After a moment, she shook her head and sobbed.

“No,” Emma shakily said. “I should have, but–”

Emma cut herself off and wiped away more tears before she turned away from Regina on the bed, still curled up.

“I didn't get the car,” Emma finished and tried to sound stronger than she appeared.

“Why?”

Emma sniffled.

“..Neal.”

Regina gritted her teeth, her jaw noticeably tense. The mention of Henry's father always managed to set her on edge for several reasons and that time was no exception. Emma took a deep breath and steeled herself. She forced her tears away again and buried the pain, a bad coping method she relied on throughout the years.

“Did he take the car from you,” Regina asked while she watched Emma change from crying teen to composed adult. Though she remained eighteen, she looked closer to her older self in that moment.

“No, I gave it to him,” Emma quietly confessed.

“Emma,” Regina admonished with disappointment. “You almost had a panic attack because you didn't have your car. Now you have the chance to get it back you just throw it away?”

Emma vehemently shook her head and glared at Regina.

“I didn't throw it away!”

“Then why would you give Neal the car?”

“I just wanted him to go away. He's always there. Everywhere I go. It's not fair!”

“Why isn't it fair?”

“Because he left me. He doesn't get to hang around as a reminder. He made his choice. Why won't he just leave and stay gone?”

Regina looked at Emma with sympathy and understanding.

“Is that why you were drinking earlier,” Regina gently asked.

“Yeah,” Emma said, unable to make eye contact with Regina. “After you left me–”

“I already told you I left, I didn't leave you.”

“I didn't know where you were. People usually don't tell me where they're going, but that's because they never come back. I thought...maybe you took Henry and were trying to get away from me.”

Regina took a deep breath and held it for a moment, tense as she struggled with what to do next.

“Okay,” Regina breathed out. “Would it better if I let you know where I'm going, even if it is just to work?”

“Well, when you put like that I sound so clingy,” Emma frowned just shy of a pout.

“Yes, well, you've proven to be quite a handful.”

Emma cocked her head to the side and stared at Regina, unamused.

“I'll make you a deal,” Regina started after a few seconds. “I'll leave you a note any time I leave before you wake up. That is...if you haven't decided to stay at your apartment. Know that you always have options, Emma.”

“I...I want to stay here.”

“Okay. Then here's the other part of the deal, no drinking while you're staying here.”

Emma mulled it over for a moment.

“Okay. I can do that.”

“Good. Now get some sleep. I'm sure you'll need it considering the headache you'll likely have tomorrow.”

Regina stood and headed toward the door when Emma stopped her.

“Wait, Regina...”

Regina turned and patiently waited for Emma to continue.

“Thanks,” Emma quietly, almost sheepishly, said with a lopsided smile.

Regina returned it with a warm but rare smile of her own.

“You're welcome,” Regina said. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Regina.”

Emma's smile spread into a grin as she watched the brunette leave. Her eyes glittered when the drifted from Regina's dark hair down to the woman's ass. She waited until Regina closed the door before she removed her glasses for bed, determined not to miss a thing.

* * *

Like the morning before, Regina had prepared breakfast and Henry joined her in the kitchen only seconds after she set out his plate. Neither of them spoke a word to each other aside from their usual “good morning” greeting until Henry had shoveled half of his breakfast into his mouth.

“Did you talk to Emma,” Henry asked before he swallowed his food.

“I did,” Regina relied before she brought a small bite of her own breakfast to her mouth.

“There's a lot of stuff happening with her, isn't there.”

Yet again when it came to Henry, he hadn't asked the question. He stated it like a fact.

“Yes,” she slowly said. “She needs...a lot of attention.”

“Attention from you?”

“In general. But...she came here so yes, attention from me. Henry...I really want this to work, but I- I'm not sure I can give you and Emma the same amount of attention,” Regina sadly and apologetically said.

“I get it,” Henry said with a quick nod. “She needs someone, right? Someone to kind of look out for her?”

“I believe so. She's her own person, but she's been hurt a lot.”

“Okay, so how do we fix it?”

“Well, I think it might be better if...I focus on Emma.”

Henry stopped eating and looked up seriously at Regina.

“I agree.”

Regina looked awestruck and was stunned into silence. She took a minute to process what her son had said. He had agreed with her. He had readily agreed that Emma needed more attention than him and even if he had yet to understand what that meant for their living arrangement. He seemed on board with anything that would help Emma.

“Well, in order to do that,” Regina cautiously started, unsure of how Henry would accept her plan. “I think it might be best if you stay with your grandparents.”

Henry seemed to take a minute to think that over.

“Okay,” he agreed again.

“Really? You would be okay with that?”

“Yeah, you just said Emma needs more attention. Give it to her. The sooner we fix whatever problems she has, the better things will be for all of us.”

“You understand that I'm not abandoning you.”

“Mom, I know you'd never leave me.”

“And you know that I'm not choosing Emma over you, right? Not really.”

“Mom,” he chuckled. “Emma needs help, more than I do. You keep telling me I was always difficult growing up, but I'm pretty sure Emma takes the cake when it comes to difficult children.”

Regina cracked a small smile at that.

“You're still difficult at times,” Regina playfully warned him with a pointed finger. “But yes, she's something else.”

“You made a promise to me not to use magic for small stuff, only for good things and if anyone's in danger. Well, now you can promise me that you'll help Emma. Even if that means I have to stay somewhere else.”

Regina smiled at him and reached out to run a hand through his hair.

“I'm so proud of you.”

“Does this mean I earned myself a really big, really cool Christmas present? Maybe a real sword or a puppy?”

Regina chuckled and pulled her hand away from Henry's hair.

“We'll see,” Regina warned in a tone that told Henry not to get his hopes up.

Henry beamed and got up. He went into the kitchen and dropped his plate in the sink. He ran water over it for a few seconds, turned off the tap, and headed back toward Regina.

“Um, I know he's only supposed to see me on weekends, but do you think I could stay with Neal instead of Grandma and Gramps?”

Regina slowly released a tense sigh.

“If that's what you want, I'll drop you off at his apartment after school,” Regina answered.

“Really,” Henry excitedly perked up and smiled, hopeful.

“You're helping Emma as much as I am by letting me take care of her without you here,” Regina said. “The least I can do is let you stay where you want.”

“Awesome!

Regina laughed and stood.

“Time for school. Let's go,” she said.

Regina guided Henry away from the dining room and into the foyer. She stopped at the end table and grabbed a pen and a fancy note card from her personal stationary that she rarely used but still kept in her study. She wrote out a note addressed to Emma while Henry stood beside her and watched. She signed it and quickly left it on the kitchen island before she came back to the end table, grabbed her purse, and gently pushed Henry out the door with her.

“Why'd you leave it in the kitchen,” Henry asked as Regina locked up behind them.

“You know Emma. She can't go five minutes without eating. The kitchen is the first place she'll go.”

Henry smiled and Regina turned away from the door once she had locked it. The two of them went to the Benz and left for the day.

* * *

About an hour after Regina and Henry left, Emma was awake and, as predicted, went straight into the kitchen.

Though her target was the refrigerator, she spotted the off-white note card propped up by a vase occupied by orchids. The card had a message written by a beautiful and elegant hand. Emma had only seen calligraphy look as nice as the writing presented to her and when she realized who the note was from, her shock grew tenfold before she smiled and read it.

Emma,

     Took Henry to school and went to work. If you haven't gone through the entire kitchen yet, there's a plate of food on the counter by the microwave I made for you. I'll be home around five. Try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone. I'll reward you with your favorite meal for dinner if you don't. Hopefully incentives will be enough motivation for you to finally listen to me.

– Regina

Emma's smile only brightened after she read the note, especially when she looked up to see the plate on the counter Regina had mentioned. She set the note down in front of the orchids and went to the plate. She uncovered it to reveal pancakes with a side of two sausage links and three bacon strips.

“Oh, hell yes,” Emma said to the empty house and put the plate in the microwave.

She wasted no time before she heated up the plate. Once she ate it, she cleaned not only her dish but the one Henry had left in the sink and set them in the drying rack.

She turned back to the island and bit her bottom lip as she smiled, her eyes focused solely on the note. She knew Regina had agreed to leave them for her if she wasn't awake to know Regina and Henry had left, but part of her didn't expect her to stay true to her word. Regina owed her absolutely nothing after all and it wasn't like Emma had ever felt she was worth it to be left notes and such. She'd even confessed that to Regina that no one else ever bothered to tell her they were leaving before Emma was on her own again.

At eighteen, the first time around, Emma might not have ever done what she did next even if someone had cared enough to leave a note, but that time around she wanted to keep the reminder that maybe she wasn't so worthless after all. So Emma took the note and went up to the guest room. She opened the only drawer to the bedside table and placed the note inside it with a smile that had yet to fade. She closed the drawer and headed back downstairs with her cell phone in hand with the screen ready for her to type out a text. She started to compose one after she reached the bottom of the stairs and blindly walked into the living room, her eyes cast down on what she typed.

“Thanks for the note and even bigger thanks for breakfast. So good! By the way, do you even know what my favorite meal is?”

After a few minutes, once she'd found a movie she felt like watching, a reply came from “Hot Ass Mayor.” When she'd changed her ringtone, she also updated some of her contacts.

“I'm glad you liked it. Henry only got one sausage link and one bacon strip. Consider yourself lucky, Miss Swan. Unless being eighteen again has changed things, your favorite meal is my lasagna. Has that changed?”

Emma grinned and instantly typed out a reply.

“I've never had your lasagna. 18 again , remember? But I'd be willing to try it. And who's running this town if you're spending your time texting me? Regina, are you shirking your responsibilities for some girl? I foresee a small town scandal in the works.”

“You'd like that, wouldn't you. Headlines reading 'Mayor Mills Seduces Young Girl'. I'm sure they'd leave out the part where that young girl sought after that unsuspecting older woman.”

“Still texting! If there's no work to be done, why not just come home and watch a movie with me? It's boring here.”

“Ah, but there IS work to be done. Another reason you should consider yourself lucky. I've had to read the same paragraph three times now because of your need to distract me.”

“You think I'm distracting? You have to be more interested in the distraction than what you're doing if that distraction is actually distracting you. Just saying.”

“You always have such a way with words, dear.”

“Term of endearment. Another sign that you like me.”

“The longer I spend talking to you, the less I like you.”

“Then why do you keep responding?”

Emma knowingly smirked as she waited for Regina's response, but after five minutes without a single text from Regina she started to feel as worthless as she had before she found the note.

But then her phone started to ring with the default ringtone and when she looked down to check the caller ID, she saw that she was receiving a call from “Hot Ass Mayor”.

Emma quizzically furrowed her brow before her lips curled into a small smile and she answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Why do I have a feeling you can't be left alone for even an hour,” Regina said, only slightly agitated and more playful.

“Maybe because I like getting to you,” Emma replied as her grin from earlier returned.

“Well, I've got a lot to do today,” Regina started. “Fortunately for us both, the morning only consists of paperwork otherwise I wouldn't have sent those texts in the first place.”

“Sure,” Emma sarcastically drew out the word.

Emma could feel Regina roll her eyes on the other end of the line when the brunette hadn't said anything right away.

“There's something I'd like to talk to you about in person,” Regina said after a moment. “If you refrain from sending texts and keeping me from my work, I'll come home for lunch and make you something. Think you can handle that?”

Emma wanted to keep up the banter, but she fell back on her old habit of assuming the worst and frowned.

“Is what you want to talk about bad? Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Regina quickly and calmly assured her. “No, Emma, it's not you.”

“Are you sure? I can just go. I can find my apartment and just leave you and Henry alone, really.”

“Emma, it's fine,” Regina said. “It's actually about Henry. Everything is okay, but I don't want you to be surprised or upset about my decision. Will you agree to have lunch with me? I promise it's nothing bad. At least, I'm hoping you won't mind.”

“You really aren't making me feel any better. Why can't you just tell me now?”

“Because it's not something I want you to have to deal with by yourself or hear over the phone. Can you trust me when I say it's not bad and it's not your fault?”

“I don't trust anyone,” Emma said as she continued to frown.

“I know. Please, Emma. I'll be there around noon. That's the earliest I can leave the office. We'll talk and I won't leave until I know you're okay with everything. Does that seem reasonable?”

Emma sighed and hesitated as she thought about it.

“Okay,” Emma quietly said. “Can you make me meatball sub?”

Regina lightly laughed.

“The meatballs will take too long. I make them myself. I can make it for you later, but not for lunch.”

“Then will you make me a chicken salad sandwich? You already have leftover chicken in the fridge.”

“That I can do.”

Emma smiled.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome. See you at noon.”

“'Kay.”

“See you later, Emma,” Regina said with a teasing smile Emma could hear in the sound of her voice.

“Bye, Regina” Emma smiled in return.

* * *

Three movies later, a key turned in the front door and Regina walked into the house. Ten minutes past noon and Emma realized Regina only made deals and promises she planned, and always seemed, to keep.

“Emma?”

Emma heard Regina call out from the foyer and caused her smile. Instead of making Regina come to her, she got off the couch and went to Regina.

“Hi,” Emma smiled as she took Regina's purse and set it down on the end table before she helped the woman out of her coat.

Regina moved slowly as Emma started to remove her coat, confused as to why Emma would do such a thing. She let it happen nonetheless, but she turned to Emma as the blonde hung the coat on the rack and stared at the teen with confusion and surprise in her brown eyes.

Emma's smile widened and when she spoke, she let Regina know that she had read her mind.

“You're making me lunch and hopefully dinner. The least I can do is make your day a little easier. What better way then to cater to you a little?”

“If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to impress me,” Regina said before her face light up and her lips curled into an alluring grin.

“If I was trying to impress you, would it be working,” Emma asked while her eyes flirtatiously glittered.

“Maybe,” Regina played along with her ever present grin. “If you weren't eighteen.”

Emma rolled her eyes.

“I'll sweep you off your feet sooner or later,” Emma said as she followed Regina into the kitchen.

“You're that confident in yourself, dear?”

“I wouldn't be if you didn't respond so well to my flirting.”

“Mm, but that's all it'll be.”

“I don't mind,” Emma said as she stepped up behind Regina as the brunette stood at the kitchen counter.

Emma pressed her front against Regina's back and smirked as she rested her hands on the counter top on either side of Regina.

“The way I flirt makes things interesting,” Emma purred.

“My dear, you couldn't handle the way I flirt,” Regina warned with a grin as she grabbed Emma's hands and removed them from the counter while she turned to face the blonde.

“I doubt that,” Emma challenged and prevented Regina from walking away from her.

Regina looked over Emma's determined features and, after a moment, grinned with more mischief and lust that resembled more of her Evil Queen side. Her eyes darkened and she slowly walked Emma backward into the edge of another counter.

“That's because I'm holding back,” Regina said in a voice lower than any tone she'd ever used with Young Emma.

Regina's eyes slowly fell from Emma's down to the blonde's stomach as she brought her hand to Emma's right hip. Once she lightly touched Emma there, her eyes followed the path her hand made up Emma's side.

When Regina's hand reached the spot underneath her right breast, Emma's breath hitched.

Regina's eyes flicked up from her own hand to look into Emma's eyes.

“You're too young for me,” Regina quietly said, her lips tantalizingly close to Emma's. “And...”

Regina paused in her speech while her hand traveled up to Emma's hair with a feather-light touch.

Emma's eyes fluttered shut as soon as she felt Regina play with her ponytail in a way that sent tingles down her spine and caused goosebumps to appear all over. It didn't take long before the sensation reached her nipples and hardened them into visible peaks through her shirt.

“You have no idea what I'm capable of,” Regina huskily finished.

Emma's eyes instantly shot open and focused on Regina's. Not long after she looked into Regina's eyes, she grinned at the brunette.

“Better be careful,” Emma playfully warned. “Wouldn't want to send the wrong signals, right?”

Regina's eyes returned to their normal hue and her lips parted in shock.

Emma bit her bottom lip as she grinned and gently pushed past Regina to free herself from her sandwiched position between the other woman and the counter.

“You are impossible,” Regina said as she turned around and faced Emma as the blonde went to the refrigerator.

Emma looked over her shoulder and chuckled.

“And you said you know me,” Emma teased. “I might be a handful, but I'm not helpless. I can manage.”

“That you can,” Regina said more to herself than Emma, though Emma heard every word, before she cleared her throat and smoothed out her pantsuit. “I came here to discuss Henry.”

“You said that on the phone this morning,” Emma said as she spun on her heels, her back to the island.

Emma placed her hands on either side of herself on the island counter top and pulled herself up on it. She slid back a little, but still let her legs dangle over the edge of the counter with the backs of her thighs pressed down on the counter top.

“Yes, well,” Regina started as she walked around the island and went to the refrigerator. “I've talked with him and, due to my struggles to take care of him and watch over you, if he stays here it may just hurt him more than he and I want it to help him.”

“That's my fault, isn't it,” Emma stated with furrowed brows and a frown as she looked over her shoulder at Regina.

“It's nobody's fault, dear,” Regina said as she pulled open the refrigerator and searched for what she needed to make Emma's lunch.

“But I'm a handful.”

“Henry is willing to let you stay. He has places he can go,” Regina said as she reached into the fridge and pulled out the chicken.

“He shouldn't have to go. This is his house,” Emma said, crestfallen and guilty. “I should go.”

“Emma,” Regina seriously said as she placed the chicken on the island counter top behind the blonde, her eyes focused on the teen as she spoke. “You came here for a reason. Henry understands that. He's okay with going somewhere else so I can focus on you.”

“Where's he gonna go?”

“Neal's,” Regina said and never looked away from Emma.

Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Of course he is,” the blonde grumbled.

“It was Henry's choice, not Neal's. I suggested his grandparents' place, but he prefers to spend his time elsewhere right now. I'm not going to deny him what he wants when he's letting himself be tossed aside for his mother. Are you?”

“Like I said,” Emma raised her voice. “I'll go. He shouldn't have to suffer.”

“He'll continue to suffer until you reverse the spell. Only when you fix whatever it is that's bothering you will he be able to feel loved by you!”

Emma looked so wounded, her mouth agape and her eyes wide as she stammered out sounds of unintelligible shock.

Regina took a deep breath and released it in a long sigh to calm herself.

“He's doing this for you,” Regina added in a softer tone.

“I didn't ask him to,” Emma said as though she had a lump in her throat, the words partially choked out.

“You didn't have to. He's a good boy, Emma. He knows you're in pain, as do I. He wants to help and he thinks my idea is just what you need. Let someone take care of you for once. Even if that happens to be your twelve year old son.”

Emma looked down, her chin almost to her chest.

“Besides,” Regina started again. “It's a little ridiculous to expect an eighteen year old to put her son first, especially since you technically haven't even given birth to him yet.”

“He deserves better than me,” Emma quietly admitted, her voice grittier than it had ever been since she'd cast the spell.

“No,” Regina shook her head and walked around the island to stand in front of Emma. “You're a good person, Emma, and a good mother. You do love him and you're more than willing to fight for him. He needs a hero to look up to and that usually isn't me. You're strong, stronger than me because my strength usually comes from revenge and other dark places. He's lucky to have you in his life.”

“But...what good am I doing to prove that right now?”

“It's going to take some work, but I'm willing to put in the time if you are. Let Henry do this for you and show him how thankful you are by reversing the spell.”

Emma looked down and sheepishly nodded before she sniffled.

“God,” Emma choked out. “Spells. I still can't believe this is real.”

“Still,” Regina repeated with a furrowed brow.

Emma snapped her head up and looked at Regina with wide eyes. Within a second, the wide eyed expression turned into Emma's usual demeanor.

“Yeah, I mean, since this happened,” Emma motioned a hand over herself. “It's hard to think this isn't just a normal day in two thousand one.”

Regina narrowed her eyes to consider Emma, suspicious. After a moment, she relaxed and let it go.

“I was thinking of getting a Christmas tree at the end of the week. We can pick Henry up from school, pick one out, and decorate it,” Regina said as she walked back around the counter before she started to cut up the chicken.

“Um, sure?”

“Usually Henry and I get the tree a little earlier, but with everything that's happened our priorities changed.”

“And you want me to help with all of this?”

“Of course,” Regina said when she looked up at Emma.

“I'll just screw everything up. It's your tradition with Henry. I don't want to get in the way,” Emma said.

“Like Henry would let you get out of it,” Regina chuckled. “I'm sure he would have wanted to do this with you last Christmas, but there was always some threat to the town. And at one time that threat was me.”

“You're okay with that? The Christmas tree stuff, I mean?”

“I wasn't okay with it then, but now...we're stuck with each other. Henry binds us together so we're going to have to deal with family holidays and things like co-parenting. Nothing can change that. It is what it is.”

“You don't sound happy about that,” Emma noted.

Regina smiled, but kept her eyes on the task at hand.

“The last eight months have been interesting. I can't say I hate that we're stuck with each other, but I also think it's a little soon to associate 'happy' with the experience. I've never used that word to describe anything.”

“Not even about Henry,” Emma asked, genuinely surprised.

“No,” Regina said. “Not that he doesn't make me ha– ...Anything that made me happy, anything I loved, was always taken from me. I've already admitted that I love Henry and I don't regret that, but it's nearly cost him his life on at least two occasions.”

Emma's eyes slowly showed understanding.

“You're still afraid of losing him.”

Regina stopped what she was doing and looked up. She flashed her fake, politician smile she'd often used when speaking with Adult Emma before she replied.

“Every day.”

“You can't live your life being afraid,” Emma said as she spun on the counter top to face more toward Regina. “That's going to be what keeps you from being truly happy.”

“Don't you know,” Regina asked with a sad smile. “I'm a villain. Villains don't get happy endings.”

Emma reached out and placed her hand over Regina's.

“You stopped being a villain the day you decided other things matter more than vengeance and death and causing others pain,” Emma told her.

Regina's breath caught in her throat when she felt Emma touch her and looked straight into green eyes.

“I see you, Regina,” Emma smiled at her. “The real you.”

Speechless. Regina was speechless. She had no idea if Emma meant what she said from her eighteen year old self's perspective or if there was something Emma hadn't told her, something about the spell. Either way, Emma had robbed her of words. What a thief.

Regina shook her head to break out of her thoughts and cleared her throat. She finished cutting up the chicken and started to add the other ingredients to the chicken salad.

“So, you can accept that Henry will be in Neal's care,” Regina asked.

Emma took a deep breath.

“Yeah, I'll live,” she said and smiled, sincere though it was small. “I trust your decision.”

Regina smiled back.

“Okay then,” Regina said before she checked the time.

“Once I'm done with the chicken salad, I'll leave you to make your sandwich. But I recommend putting in the refrigerator and letting it chill for a while before eating it. It tastes better cold.”

“Noted.”

Emma stepped closer to Regina and grazed her front against the other woman's side. She leaned over the counter a bit and snatched a strip of chicken. She smirked as Regina turned to her and watched her eat it, displeased and unimpressed.

“Thank you,” Emma said with her mouth full of food.

“Mhmm,” Regina playfully hummed her disapproval of Emma's action.

* * *

Though it would have been easier for Neal to pick Henry up from school and take him back to his apartment himself, Regina preferred to hand Henry over in person. She trusted that her son wouldn't run off like he had to find Emma in Boston over a year ago because he wanted to be with Neal, but she still had to know he made it there safely regardless.

When she walked up to the building with Henry, she spotted the dented yellow bug she used to hate seeing around town. As soon as she saw it, she narrowed her eyes at the car and resisted the urge to growl.

Henry looked up at Regina when he felt her grip his shoulder and saw her expression directed at Emma's car in the parking lot. He shrugged it off under the impression that Regina never liked Emma's car and had only recently started to accept Emma herself. Once they were at Neal's apartment, however, Henry soon realized the truth behind Regina's disdain.

Neal opened the door and smiled at Henry.

“Hey, buddy,” Neal greeted and ruffled his hair within seconds.

“Hey,” Henry smiled back and walked into the apartment.

Neal and Regina watched him go inside and make his way to the kitchen.

Just like your birth mother, Regina thought with a small smile.

After a few seconds, Neal turned back to Regina and the woman's smile quickly disappeared.

“So,” Neal drew out the word and awkwardly shifted from foot to foot. “Everything okay?”

“It will be,” Regina replied. “Make sure he's well fed and gets to school on time. I'll pick him up from school on Friday, keep him for the night, then you can have him for the weekend like you usually do.”

“Why are you gonna take him on Friday?”

“Family time,” Regina tersely answered with a sharp stare directed at Neal. “Though it's really none of your business.”

“It is when it's my family.”

Regina clenched her jaw for a moment and straightened out her rigid posture even more before she spoke again.

“Henry may biologically be your son and he made want to get to know you for that reason, but do not mistake him or Emma for your family when you decided to walk away from them.”

“I did that for Emma! Because of your curse! I didn't even know about Henry. If I had I would have–”

“Being there for Henry is being there for Emma,” Regina argued. “You made a decision on her behalf when you chose to listen to some stranger who claimed she needed to fulfill her destiny. Of all the ways to make sure she did that, you chose to set her up for a crime you committed.”

“Like I said, I did that for her. I had her best interest in mind.”

“Oh, right. Carrying your baby for nine months while in prison for your mistake. That's what was in her best interest.”

“...Why are you here, Regina,” Neal growled through gritted teeth.

“I'm here because my son wanted to be here instead of going to his grandparents'.”

“Why? What's going on that he can't stay with you? You think you're so much better than me, especially when it comes to taking care of Henry. Why does he need to go anywhere other than your place?”

“In case your pea brain doesn't remember, Emma isn't exactly in the best state of mind to help care for him.”

Neal's expression softened in realization.

“Right. The spell,” he said. “Is she okay?”

“She'll be fine. She has someone looking out for her,” Regina dismissively answered.

“Wait, she's staying with you, isn't she? You're looking out for her?”

“Yes.”

“What the hell are you getting out of it?”

“You think I'm looking out for her simply because there's something for me to be rewarded with for my time spent?”

“Uh, yeah,” Neal said in a “duh” tone of voice.

“Well, like you and Emma, I also know what it's like to be abandoned. But unlike you, I know how to be there for someone when no one else is.”

“You're staying with her?”

Regina hesitated as she thought about how much to share with the man responsible for some of Emma's issues. After only a couple of seconds, she replied.

“I have no intention to leave her,” Regina said with all seriousness.

Neal stood there with his mouth wide open. He blinked several times throughout his silence, but had yet to form a response. With a furrowed brow, he suspiciously stared at Regina with a clear distrust for the woman.

“Listen, Mr. Cassady, I'll remind you again and again if I have to that Emma is no longer your concern. She is not yours and she doesn't seem to want your help. Now, take care of the one person who actually wants you around. Henry.”

Regina turned and took a step toward the stairs before she remembered something and spun back around to face Neal.

“Oh, and I want Emma's car parked outside of my house by eight AM tomorrow.”

“It's actually my–”

“It actually isn't,” Regina quickly shot back. “As far as I understand it, you gave her that car. She's driven it around for the last eleven years from place to place and she's made hers. That car will be returned to her without any further discussion. If the car isn't at my house tomorrow morning, I'll take my chances with bringing Henry home and dealing with both him and Emma myself.

“It seems you have a decision to make, Mr. Cassady. And I guarantee that if you don't choose Henry, I will come back here and give you a taste of my overprotective personality. Think about that.”

Regina turned again to leave and that time made it all the way down the stairs and out the apartment building door without the need to say anything else to Neal. Neal shut the door and puffed out a sigh, seemingly worn out and frustrated with the situation.

Henry, however, stood out of sight in the kitchen with a smile on his face and a glass of juice in his hand.

Chapter Text

Since Regina didn't have to worry about getting Henry ready for school, her morning routine was a little off. She still showered and got dressed for the day ahead at a fairly early hour, but without Henry around she had more time for breakfast preparation.

Every morning for the last seven years or so had always been a rush. Each day she would show up at City Hall and blink as soon as she sat down at her desk. That blink was the second it took for Regina to realize she had no idea how she got to work, how she managed to put on matching shoes, and even struggle to remember if she had even dropped Henry off at school or if she'd accidentally left him at home in her haste to get to work. Though she went through her routine with precision and accuracy and never had a hair out of place no matter how fast she moved, she had developed the skill of working on autopilot.

That particular day, Regina didn't have to hurry. She had the ability to slow things down. As much as she thought she would like that, she realized very quickly she didn't like it at all. The house was too quiet and it reminded her of the life she had once lived.

Queen of Nothing.

She'd lived in a castle with her husband and his daughter and felt trapped and alone. She knew a life of pain and misery and silent suffering.

The silence in her house gruesomely wore on Regina's nerves. It had been far too long since she'd been in the Enchanted Forest and even though she had no company at that moment in time, she knew where Henry was and she knew where Emma was. There were people around her, people she could go to when she needed some time to remember the darkness no longer surrounded her. She had found a light.

Well, a light had found her.

First, she had adopted Henry and that had changed everything. Then, Henry had brought Emma to Storybrooke. What looked to be her tragic end turned out to be the story that was still being written; one Regina hoped would have a happy ending.

She started to heat up a pan on the stove while she scrambled a few eggs, same as the day before, and set out two plates for the breakfast that had yet to be finished. Once Regina's morning coffee started to brew, she went to the front door and looked out the side window next to it. She smiled when she saw it.

It sat right at the end of the walkway like an early Christmas present that lay in wait, but without the bow.

Without a second thought, Regina headed upstairs and went straight to the guest room. She knocked several times and waited until Emma came to the door, not willing to burst in on the teen when she knew the blonde had been asleep.

A few seconds had passed since her third attempt at knocking when Regina heard feet hit the floor, which was followed by a clumsy stumble toward the closed bedroom door.

“Shit,” Regina heard Emma mutter when something thudded against the door.

A second later, Emma revealed herself and stood before Regina in nothing but a T-shirt and panties. She hadn't even put on her glasses yet, which explained Emma's difficulty in getting to the door. Although, Regina knew it hadn't only been because the blonde had forgotten to wear her glasses. Emma, teen or adult, was as graceful as a stampeding heard of animals.

“Must you always answer the door in your underwear,” Regina asked.

Emma smirked, though she still wasn't fully awake yet.

“This is how I sleep,” Emma feigned innocence.

“Mhmm,” Regina sarcastically hummed as she raised an eyebrow and looked at Emma with skepticism. “Put some pants on. I have something to show you.”

“Mm,” Emma half-moaned, half- hummed. “Am I really going to need pants for what you've got to show me?”

“Yes,” Regina answered, her voice a little raspy from disuse and sleep.

Emma sighed then said, “Okay.”

The blonde turned away from Regina and headed back into the room before she snatched her borrowed running shorts off the floor beside the guest bed.

As Emma slipped into the shorts, Regina allowed her eyes to roam over the girl's body from her bare feet up to her messy blonde curls. Then she wondered just how Emma managed to keep the same well-sculpted body before and after her pregnancy.

Once she put the shorts on, Emma turned back to Regina. Before she took her first step toward the room door, she noticed Regina snap back to attention, her eyes much lower than Emma's own eye line. That caused Emma to knowingly smirk as she headed over to Regina once again, her legs still bare but her previously inspected ass covered, shielded from curious and wandering chocolate brown eyes.

As soon as Emma made it back to the door, Regina took the blonde by the wrist and turned Emma away from herself. She started to push her out of the bedroom with a hand placed between Emma's shoulder blades and guided her through the upstairs hallway.

“Come on,” Regina said as she directed Emma down the stairs and to the front door.

On the way down the stairs, Emma laughed.

“You are one kinky lady, aren't you, Madam Mayor,” Emma joked. “Pushing me around, taking control, having something to 'show me'? Maybe you like a little role playing?”

“I'm starting to fear Henry's teenage years considering how much his birth mother is interested in sex,” Regina said as they made it to the foyer. “He's a boy and his hormones will rage enough as it is. Add to that the fact that he's got your DNA and we're in for a nightmare.”

“Eh, he'll be fine. Like you said, he's got my DNA and look how I turned out,” Emma smirked.

“That's reassuring,” Regina dryly replied.

Emma frowned, but tried not to let the brunette's comment hurt her. She knew Regina hadn't meant to insult her, but Emma was fragile. For some reason, she had yet to build up walls when it came to Regina and all the pain and hurt she felt from the first time she'd lived through her teen years seemed to stay on the surface. She hadn't pushed it all down and tried to move on yet, though before when she'd been eighteen and in prison she had already shut down. Things were definitely different the second time around for her.

Regina felt Emma tense, her hand still on Emma's back, and winced.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. As much as you and Henry are the same, you're different. Do you understand,” Regina asked as she tried to explain herself once she stopped the two of them in front of the front door.

Emma nodded, but didn't say a word.

Regina slowly sighed and immediately felt guilty about her slip up. She reached across Emma, still behind the blonde, and opened the door to reveal a dented and dirty yellow object at the end of the walkway.

Emma gasped, her eyes wide, and bolted down the walkway toward her beloved Volkswagen Beetle. When she reached the car, she looked it over from the taillights to the headlights and spotted the keys nestled against the windshield underneath one of the wipers. She plucked the keys from their resting place and opened the passenger door. Her only focus was the car. Regina didn't even exist to her anymore as the teen slid into the passenger's seat and smiled.

The brunette casually strolled down the walkway toward the car and watched Emma adjust herself in one of the worn leather seats. She made it to the the front gate when Emma propped her feet on the dashboard and reclined in her seat, the passenger door still wide open.

When Emma closed her eyes and settled in, Regina smiled.

“You'll contract pneumonia like that,” Regina said as she stopped in front of the passenger's side, the open door then used as a shield from the chilly wind that threatened to freeze her from the chest down.

“I don't care,” Emma confessed with her eyes still closed. “My baby's back.”

Regina removed her blazer and held onto her long, black coat she'd grabbed on her way out of the house before she had followed after Emma. She carelessly disturbed Emma's relaxed state and wrapped Emma up in her blazer.

“Hey,” Emma whined as Regina jostled her around to slip the coat around her shoulders.

“Oh, hush. You know you like it when I take care of you.”

Emma grinned, which was enough confirmation for Regina that her theory about the girl was correct. She did like it when Regina took care of her.

“Join me,” Emma suggested as she closed her eyes again and readjusted herself in the seat with the blazer around her.

“Breakfast will get cold,” Regina said as she covered Emma's legs with her coat. “And I still have to take you to get clothes from your apartment before work.”

“Just...stay in the car with me for a little bit then we'll have breakfast and you can show me my apartment. After that, you're free to be bored and stressed all day.”

Regina sighed and after a few seconds, she closed the passenger door and walked around the front of the car to the driver's side. She tapped on the window with one of her nails and watched Emma lean over and unlock the door before the blonde returned to her earlier position and closed her eyes again.

Regina opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. She shut the door behind herself and tried to get comfortable.

Emma opened her eyes again and looked over at Regina.

“You'll contract pneumonia like that,” Emma repeated Regina's words with a small smile.

“I don't care,” Regina repeated Emma's previous words back to the blonde. “I'm wearing a lot more than you. I'll be fine.”

Emma took a deep breath and reached over to stick the keys in the ignition. She turned the key and started the engine then turned on the heat. It took several moments, the two of them in silence, before the car warmed up. When it did, Regina finally relaxed. The moment she slumped comfortably in the driver's seat told Emma the brunette had been as cold as she predicted prior to turning on the heater.

Emma snuggled further into the blazer and underneath the coat. Her head rested easily on her own shoulder and she breathed in Regina's scent that lingered on the mayor's coat, her knees to her chest. She faintly smiled, her eyes shut, as she tried to fall back asleep. She almost achieved sleep too, but when Regina shifted in the seat with a sense of discomfort, she opened her eyes and lifted her head just enough to see the emotions that played out on Regina's face.

“You okay,” Emma asked.

“I have a perfectly big and comfortable bed if I want to sleep,” Regina practically huffed as she tried over and over again to find a preferred position in the leather seat.

“It takes some getting used to...Princess,” Emma teased with a wide grin.

“I'm a queen,” Regina played along with Emma and smirked. “You're a princess.”

“Whatever,” Emma said. “I bet your a princess in the bedroom. A pillow princess, that is.”

“I suppose I might be offended if I knew what that was,” Regina replied.

“You don't know what a pillow princess is?”

“I believe that's what I just said.”

“Um, well, how can I explain this without it being awkward?”

Emma shifted in her seat and racked her brain for the right words to say.

“Do I even want to know what a 'pillow princess' is,” Regina stopped Emma's thought process, a little afraid of the explanation she might get from the girl.

“Maybe not,” Emma slowly said.

“Then I don't want to know,” Regina said in a tone that left no room for argument.

Emma looked over Regina from her head to her hands, one which was set in the brunette's lap and the other that was pressed to her stomach. She noticed Regina's nervous habit of holding her stomach, ever regal and seemingly poised even when uncomfortable.

“You're amazing. You know that, right,” Emma asked as she locked eyes with the other woman.

Regina flashed a forced smile that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Emma knew instantly that Regina hadn't believed a word she'd said.

“Why do I have a feeling that even though you're not eighteen again, you still need something no one's given you yet,” Emma asked as she turned in her seat to fully face Regina, much like she had Thanksgiving night when she met the mayor in the Benz outside of the Charming's house.

Regina furrowed her brow as she caught Emma's wording.

“And...what is it you need, dear,” Regina asked as she turned just slightly toward Emma, her attention solely on the blonde.

Emma looked away and took a moment to stare out the windshield before she shrugged.

“How am I supposed to know? I'm just a kid.”

Regina shook her head.

“Even without the spell, you were never really a child, were you.”

It hadn't been a question at all. Regina seemed to know the truth, seemed to understand Emma in ways the blonde never could figure out how.

Emma frowned and tucked her chin in toward her chest before she peered up through her long lashes at Regina. A strand of hair fell in front of her face, but she didn't move. She sat completely still as she continued to face Regina.

Regina kindly smiled at Emma and leaned forward as she slowly reached out to the younger woman. She tucked the fallen strand of hair behind Emma's ear and as she stared into those large and almost shimmering green eyes, a wave of emotion washed over her from head to toe and almost gave her goosebumps.

So she lingered and didn't retract her hand even after she'd pushed back Emma's hair. Instead, she ran her thumb across the blonde's cheekbone and searched through those green eyes for an emotion or a flicker of information she could use to help the teen morph back into her adult self.

She wasn't sure if what she'd found would help Emma, but she had definitely found something.

Emma parted her lips and her gaze fell to Regina's mouth, but she didn't lean in.

“So...” Emma slowly, very slowly, started as she kept her eyes focused on Regina's lips. “How...did my car get here?”

Emma's eyes flicked up to lock onto Regina's and the brunette blinked.

“I,” Regina tried and failed to find words right away. “Had a talk with Mr. Cassidy when I dropped Henry off.”

Regina pulled back and set both her hands back in her lap.

Emma furrowed her brow in confusion as she snuggled further into Regina's coat and blazer.

“Mr.–? Oh. Neal. You talked to him?”

“That's what adults do. They talk.”

“I just...thought that...” Emma shook her head and ditched that thought for a new one. “So you talked to him and he just...gave it back?”

“I may have used a little force.”

“What do you mean,” Emma asked with a slight upward curl to her lips in a barely there smile.

“Verbal force,” Regina clarified. “I gave him an ultimatum.”

“Like a trade?”

“Yes, you could call it that. It just sounds less important.”

“You think getting my car back for me was important?”

“The car is obviously important to you and I'd hate for that...person to have something you value in his possession.”

Emma's lips curled upward a little more.

“Thank you,” Emma said as she nudged the collar of Regina's coat with her nose as she almost burrowed her face into it.

Regina breathed out a little laugh and smiled at the sight of Emma bundled up in her proffered clothes. In that moment, she truly did look like a teenager.

“Think you're ready to go to your apartment and get your own clothes,” Regina asked after she took a few seconds to enjoy the look of Emma's cute and cuddly youth.

“Whatever you say...Your Majesty,” Emma teased with a proud smile.

“You'd do well to remember I'm a queen,” Regina said as she got out of the yellow bug.

Emma stepped out of the car as well and started to put her arms through the sleeves of Regina's coat as she kicked the passenger door shut. Just as the door gave a click-thud once it was shut, Emma realized what she'd done before she could flick her hair out from under the coat.

“Oh. Sorry. Here you go,” Emma said as she started to remove Regina's coat while she also held out the woman's blazer.

“It's alright,” Regina shook her head as she walked around the front of the car toward Emma then accepted her blazer. “Keep it.”

“Really,” Emma asked and her voice almost cracked at the higher octave she spoke in. “I have my jacket in the guest room. I can just–”

“Really, dear. It's fine,” Regina said as she took Emma's wrist and gently pulled her back toward the house. “Although I do expect you to give it back once you're an adult again.”

Emma looked down at the ground as she walked a step or two behind Regina and smiled.

“Okay.”

Once Regina pulled Emma up the pathway and into the house, she went straight to the kitchen and finished readying breakfast.

“Wow. So this breakfast thing is an every day thing,” Emma asked when she looked around the kitchen and saw the cooked eggs in a pan beside the stove, four slices of crisp toast popped up and ready for consumption in the toaster, and two empty plates set out on the island in wait for the meal to be served on them.

“Of course. Why wouldn't it be,” Regina asked as she moved around the kitchen.

Emma shrugged.

“It's been a long time since food was...something to expect,” Emma shyly confessed as she only occasionally glanced up at Regina to meet her eyes, slightly embarrassed.

Regina's lips parted in shock while she tried to control her features enough to not express just how shocked she was to learn that about the blonde. Neverland had been an eye opening experience all in itself, but in that moment she saw further into Emma's turmoil more than ever.

Dependability.

It was something Emma never had after the first three years of her life and Regina figured Emma must have looked back on those three years as a lie. She'd been a small little girl fooled into thinking she could have a normal family life just before the rug was pulled out from under her. She hadn't had anything or anyone to provide something as stable as a simple daily routine for her to count on. Her life had lacked structure and she spent her time after being released from prison moving from one place to the next because of it.

She'd been moved around and bounced back and forth over and over again as a child and when she finally ran away from the system, she met a man that got her wrongfully incarcerated. After that, she did what had been unfortunately and subconsciously instilled in Emma by then. She ran. She moved around and refused to stay in one place too long. It didn't matter anyway, right? She had no friends or family to keep her still in whatever city she found herself in that month.

“So,” Emma broke the long silence between them. “Breakfast?”

Regina snapped out of her thoughts and flashed a quick and slightly forced smile. She nodded and went back to work on their first meal of the day before she kindly served the blonde at the dining room table; something that got Emma to smile and vocalize her appreciation though she didn't dwell on how big a deal it was to have Regina treat her in such a nurturing way.

* * *

“You know,” Henry started as he walked through town along side Neal. “It was really nice of you to give Emma the car back.”

“I didn't have much of a choice, did I,” Neal replied. “Your mom made it pretty clear what I'd be trading for the car if I kept it.”

“It doesn't matter what you would've lost,” Henry said. “It's what you gave Emma when you gave back the car.”

“Oh, yeah? And what's that?”

“Something familiar. Something she likes and has been holding onto for a really long time. Well, the grown up Emma anyway.”

Neal furrowed his brow and looked down at Henry.

“Why would she hold on to it? It's a hunk of junk.”

Henry shrugged.

“I don't know. It's not like she tells me anything.”

Neal chuckled.

“Yeah, she's not much of a talker. You kind of have to feed her beer and hard liquor before she admits to anything,” Neal casually threw out there.

Henry scrunched up his face.

“Are you saying you have to get her drunk to get her to talk? Have you done that?!”

“Uh,” Neal nervously rubbed at the back of his neck then coughed as he struggled to dodge the question. “It was a long time ago. Don't ever do that to a girl, okay? Even if she wants to get drunk. Got it?”

“At least tell me she wanted to drink.”

“Of course! I'm not...Henry, what has she told you about me?”

“Nothing,” Henry honestly answered. “We don't really talk about you. You don't really come up in conversation, you know? I mean, maybe she talks to my mom about you because...I guess they kind of have to talk about you, but you think they tell me anything?”

“You're right. I'm sorry,” Neal said as he threw an arm over Henry's shoulder. “It's not fair of me to ask you about her. I'll try not to do that from now on, okay?”

“Alright,” Henry agreed as he let himself get pulled into a half-hug as they continued to walk down the street.

“So...what's your favorite thing to order at Granny's,” Neal asked after a few seconds.

“Cheeseburger. With extra ketchup and pickles,” Henry confessed with a smile.

Neal laughed.

“You definitely didn't get that from me. And your mom can really put food away. The greasier, the easier.”

Henry smiled.

“Yeah, Emma has no problem with it, but my mom hates it.”

Neal frowned and stopped the two of them before he turned to Henry.

“I can accept both of them are your mothers, but you've got to come up with something else to call them when you talk to me. What do you call them around your grandparents?”

“Mom,” Henry said in a tone that suggested the answer should have been obvious while he shrugged and scrunched up his nose to display his slight confusion. “They know who I'm talking about most of the time.”

“Huh. Well, it's kind of a head-scratcher for me and you might not want to call Emma by her first name anymore at this point. You know her better now, right? And she stuck around for you? Think you can come up with something else to call one of them for me?”

“Mm, I'll have to sleep on it. I'm better at code names.”

“Fair enough,” Neal smiled and affectionately rubbed one of Henry's shoulders. “Let's get you that cheeseburger, bud.”

“Okay,” Henry said as Neal started to walk them both further down the street toward Granny's. “Um...thanks...for picking me over the car.”

Neal beamed down at Henry and wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulder again. He squeezed a few times as they continued toward the diner.

“Of course! You come first every time. Don't ever think otherwise.”

Henry glowed with innocent, childish joy while the two of them hurried and huddled up through the cold until the bell clanged above the diner door upon their entry.

* * *

Once the blonde was fully fed, Regina ushered her into the Mercedes and drove across town to the blonde's apartment. During the drive, Emma played with the passenger's seat as she adjusted and re-adjusted its position a few times. She then put her feet up on the dashboard and tapped a rhythm out on her knees. When that became too much for Regina, Emma moved on to a backseat exploration.

The blonde climbed over the center console and slipped between the front seats until one of her feet connected with the backseat in the process.

“Emma! Can you sit still for two seconds?! Please. I'm driving.”

Emma blushed as she brightly smiled and spun around to plop down on the seat.

“Sorry,” Emma said as she tensed her shoulders then relaxed them in a sort of shrug before she gripped the edges of the two front seats and pulled herself closer to the center console. “This car is nice. Have you ever slept in it?”

“No.”

“Have you ever had sex in it?”

“What?” Regina's knuckles tightened on the steering wheel and turned white due to her death grip. “No!”

Emma chuckled.

“Why would you even ask me that,” Regina asked.

“I'm curious. Plus, it's really hard to think that the Mayor doesn't have a few kinks. I bet you like some really wild stuff when it comes to sex and yet, probably no one has figured out what.”

“Well, you certainly won't be the person to find out what I like,” Regina said.

“Oh, yeah?”

Emma glanced out the windshield before she leaned forward, her eyes focused solely on Regina's neck, and brought her lips to the brunette's ear.

“I bet I could figure you out if you gave me a chance,” Emma purred in the woman's ear.

Regina felt Emma's hot breath on the shell of her ear as well as part of her neck. It was almost enough to startle Regina while she eased her foot on the brake and approached a stop sign.

Then Emma's hand ran up her inner thigh from her knee to dangerously close to the apex of her legs.

The car jerked to a stop as Regina slammed on the brake and Emma wrapped her left arm around the back of the driver's seat to keep herself from falling over the center console and toward the dashboard.

Regina quickly put the car into park as her face turned red out of both anger and embarrassment.

Emma laughed even as Regina reached down and grabbed the teenager's wrist then wrenched it away from her crotch.

“Do not try that again, Miss Swan,” Regina growled as she twisted her body to look right at Emma.

Emma's laughter died in her throat when she saw piercing dark eyes cut into her like daggers with just a single glare.

“I could have gotten us into an accident like that,” Regina raised her voice as she pointed an accusatory finger at the blonde.

Emma gulped and shrank away from the driver's seat as she slid further back into her own seat.

“Just because you're eighteen again and have someone to look out for you doesn't mean you get to be reckless with your life or any other person's life!”

Emma looked down at her lap while she wrung her hands together.

“I'm sorry,” she quietly said as she avoided eye contact with Regina.

Regina continued to furiously stare at Emma as she looked over the blonde's features. When she saw Emma's sincerity and timidness, her fury instantly vanished. She sighed and softened her expression before she looked around the street then got out of the car.

Regina opened the back door and slid in next to Emma. She shut the door behind her and placed a hand over top of both of Emma's.

“I'm sorry, Emma,” Regina calmly and softly said.

“No, it's okay. I shouldn't have done it. For so many reasons.” Emma looked up at Regina and forced a tight-lipped smile. “Really, it's okay. I'm just sorry I pushed my luck with that one.”

Regina took a deep breath and returned Emma's smile, though hers was a little more relaxed.

“Okay.”

When Regina reached the door to Emma's apartment, she realized that teen Emma probably didn't have a key. The young blonde noticed the woman's hesitance and grinned.

“Are you gonna need me to pick the lock?”

Regina turned to Emma and practically scoffed as if offended.

“What? No. As Mayor, I have a set of keys that gets me in anywhere in town,” Regina replied as she retrieved a set of jangling silver keys with skulls on the round handles.

“Whoa. Skeleton keys? That is some seriously Gothic shit. Careful, Regina. You're medieval ways are showing.”

Emma chuckled at her own joke and stepped closer to Regina, which also brought her closer to the door.

Regina smiled and withheld her own laughter as she fiddled with her keys until she found just the right key.

“Have you ever used those keys on this place before? Ever try to use them to check up on my older self,” Emma playfully asked.

“I've used them here before, but not to spy on you,” Regina answered as she pushed the key into the lock.

“Right. Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night,” Emma smirked as she leaned against Regina's side from behind, her chest pressed against Regina's right arm.

Regina rolled her eyes though she smiled as she did it. She turned the key in the lock and opened the door. She took the first step inside and Emma closely followed.

“I believe your room is upstairs,” Regina said as she turned and shut the door behind them.

Emma had started to move toward the kitchen as she looked around the apartment and scoped it out with curious eyes. When Regina pointed Emma in the direction of the loft on the second floor, the blonde sadly frowned and spun around to face the brunette.

“Wait, you're gonna stay down here,” Emma asked.

“Do you honestly need me to hold your hand while you pick out a few outfits,” Regina teasingly and somewhat haughtily asked with a smirk.

Emma shrugged.

“No, but I thought it might be fun,” Emma cutely smiled.

“What would be fun about it?”

“Oh, you know. I'd look through all the clothes and pick the best ones while you make snide comments about them,” Emma smugly smiled.

“I don't see why you would enjoy that.”

“Guess it's just one of my kinks,” Emma suggestively said before she winked at the brunette.

Regina lightly laughed in her mayoral-like way.

“Is there ever a moment you aren't thinking about sex?”

Emma chuckled.

“Not around you, no.”

“And now I really hope we turn you back into your less sexual, adult self before Henry starts developing those kinds of feelings.”

“Yeah, I think you've mentioned that before. Now, come help me pick out my clothes.”

Emma grabbed Regina's hand and dragged the woman up the steep, black stairs.

“How exactly do you expect me to help you pick out your clothes, dear?”

“Everything you scoff at is a keeper.”

They reached the top of the stairs and Emma released the brunette's hand. She stepped around the room and inspected the bland looking living space.

Emma walked over to the short dresser and picked up the picture of adult Emma with Mary Margaret. She rubbed her thumb over the frame and flashed a small, almost non-

“Are you alright?”

Emma looked over her shoulder at Regina.

“Yeah, just...looking around.”

Emma turned back to the dresser and pulled open the first drawer. She reached in and snatched four pairs of panties that immediately caught her attention. Once she had the panties she wanted, she closed the top drawer and opened the one beneath it.

Regina awkwardly walked through the room. She slowly made her way over to the bed, the only place to sit in the room, and rigidly took a seat on the mattress. She sat with perfect posture, her back ramrod straight as she crossed one leg over the other and picked at her slacks to keep her ankles covered.

After Emma rifled through two more drawers, she had a few outfits that didn't make her feel old, especially since she wasn't twenty-nine at that moment. Satisfied with her selections, Emma abandoned the dresser and went over to the bed to join Regina. She took one deliberate step after the other as she stalled. She appeared to be in deliberation with herself as she bit her bottom lip and nervously looked around the room again.

“So, what do you think the baby is? A boy or a girl,” Emma finally asked as she stood in front of the bed, but didn't sit.

Regina looked up at Emma and tilted her head to the side as she considered the blonde.

“Does that really matter,” Regina asked.

“Just tell me what you think,” Emma avoided her question.

Regina narrowed her eyes at Emma as she looked the blonde over.

Emma steeled her features, but shifted from foot to foot under Regina's scrutiny.

“What is this about, dear,” Regina asked with nothing but compassion in her big, brown eyes.

Emma sighed.

“Nothing. I just want your opinion.”

“Well, I couldn't care less what sex their baby is. I may have congratulated your mother on Thanksgiving, but she's unnaturally happy about her pregnancy and I don't like anything that makes Snow White happy.”

A pleased and absolutely cute smile broke out on Emma's face while Regina picked at lint on her clothes that the blonde hadn't at all seen. When Regina looked up to catch the teen's eyes, Emma's smile disappeared and apparently so did her good feelings. Her previous worry had returned.

“Well, if it's a boy, that wouldn't be so bad, right? He'd kinda be like Henry.”

“Not in the slightest,” Regina laughed as she shook her head.

“But it can't be a girl,” Emma blurted out.

Regina furrowed her brow and looked up at Emma, confused and surprised by the sudden confession.

Emma's eyes widened, shocked by her own admission, before they transformed into the eyes of a lost puppy. After a few seconds, her bottom lip popped out in a pout. Regina was instantly reminded of the Shrek movies Henry had loved the moment he'd seen them. To her, Emma looked like Puss in Boots with the big eyes and big pout.

“Emma?”

The blonde looked down at the floor and gulped as though to swallow a lump in her throat caused by unseen tears.

“Because if it's a girl, they don't need me,” Emma quietly explained then spoke more to herself. “No one wants the older kids.”

“Oh, Emma,” Regina sympathetically said.

“It doesn't matter. I ran away from the foster system and it's not like I've ever had parents anyway,” Emma said as she started to back away from the brunette.

“No, you don't get to run away,” Regina said as she reached out and grabbed Emma's wrist.

She pulled the blonde teen back toward herself and sat Emma down beside her on the bed. Regina turned to face Emma while she kept her hand on the girl's wrist.

“Is that what this is about,” Regina seriously asked.

Emma hesitated then nodded, her gaze averted.

“Henry wants you,” Regina said.

“That's not the same and you know it,” Emma angrily mumbled, though it was less of a mumble and more of a biting remark.

Regina felt so much emotion behind that one statement. And for a moment, she looked hurt by Emma's partially accusatory tone, maybe even offended. It wasn't that the blonde had said anything personal about her. But that raw emotion and the knowing tone, the one that suggested Emma was no longer a teen anymore aside from her appearance, caught Regina off guard. It made her wonder what exactly young Emma could have been referring to because she and that version of Emma hadn't gotten close enough to throw barbs like that.

“It's different. You're right,” Regina agreed after a moment. “But that doesn't mean it's worth less than if someone else wants you. He's still someone. In fact, him needing you should be worth more than if anyone else wanted you. He's our son.”

“I get that! But... Just...never mind,” Emma gave up, flustered.

Emma shot off the bed and moved toward the door, but turned back at the last minute before she started to pace in front of Regina.

“No, Emma. Tell me,” Regina seriously demanded as she continued to sit and waited for the teen to admit to something the blonde hadn't planned to reveal.

It was a tactic she had often used with Henry when he was younger. Any time he had done something he wasn't supposed to, she had forced it out of him with a stern tone and a few well-placed words. And of course, her raised eyebrow and cold stare that threatened future punishment always helped.

Emma frowned and appeared almost on the verge of tears. A kicked puppy might not have looked as wounded as the teen.

“Henry can't be the only one that wants me,” Emma blurted.

“Why not,” Regina carefully implored with obvious concern and gentleness.

“Because I can't be what he wants...or needs,” Emma stated almost like a question.

Regina cocked her head to the side and gave Emma a somewhat pitying look.

“We haven't had this conversation yet, have we,” Regina said, knowing it to be the truth.

“What conversation,” Emma asked as she shook her head with a confused look on her face.

“Sit down,” Regina said as she patted the spot next to her on the mattress.

Emma sighed and slowly trudged over to the bed then plopped down with defeat beside the woman.

Regina reached over and grabbed the clothes out of Emma's hands. She placed them on the bed behind the two of them before she turned back to Emma and smiled

“You were the one who made the visitation schedule for Henry when we got back from Neverland. I merely approved it after I asked you to do it again. And again. And again.”

A smile started to tug at Emma's lips.

“He's always going on about what he does when he's with you and I always ask him what you feed him. So far, you definitely don't like to stick to the healthiest of things. But it's not like you feed him junk food every meal.”

And then Emma smiled as a blush crept across her cheeks. She looked down at her lap while she picked at her nails.

“He kept having nightmares about Pan stealing his heart and every time he would wake up at your apartment, you would do what any mother should. You did exactly what I do, dear. You allowed him to sleep in your bed with you for a night or two and then if it happened again, you would stay with him in his own bed until he fell asleep.”

Emma slowly looked up at that, but hesitated to make eye contact.

“Lately, he's been a little upset with the distance you've put between you two, but that's what I'm here for. I made a promise to him. We're going to fix whatever's broken.”

“...Me,” Emma sadly confessed.

“Pardon?”

“I'm broken.”

Regina forced a smile that looked more sad than reassuring.

“No, you're not. You're the strongest person I know.”

Emma's eyes immediately found Regina's and she looked at the other woman with so much hope.

“Is this all you want to take with you,” Regina asked as she looked over at the pile of clothes behind them.

Emma followed her gaze and nodded with a smile.

“Okay,” Regina said as she picked up the clothes once more. “Then it's time to move this into the guest room for you and it's off to work for me.”

Emma smiled and the two of them stood.

“Now, do you want me to come home for lunch today or do you think you can handle having the house to yourself for the entire day?”

Emma pursed her lips and moved her jaw left and right as she thought over her choices.

“You should probably stop by for lunch. Who knows what I'll do if left alone for too long,” Emma smirked.

“You're a handful at any age,” Regina said as she shook her head in response to Emma's words.

Emma only beamed at that before she gave a slight nod and the two of them carried on with the day as planned.

* * *

For the next few days, Regina had left a note on the kitchen counter every morning before she left for work. And every morning, Emma stashed the notes in the bedside table after she read them.

Regina had come to an agreement with Emma to continue to come back to the house for lunch with the blonde. Regina always made something for both of them.

Although, on Thursday, Emma had hovered over Regina for a good ten minutes before the brunette offered to show the young blonde how to help her cook.

Emma managed not to break anything or start a fire or make a terrible mess of anything until she asked Regina to taste the sauce she'd been in charge of stirring and adding a few of Regina Mills' secret ingredients.

She'd been overeager to get the brunette's opinion on her efforts and also feared the worst about what Regina might think. Nervous and unsure of herself, Emma moved too quickly and spilled the sauce not only on the stove top and the kitchen floor, but also all over Regina's outfit.

“I'm so sorry, Regina,” Emma said with wide eyes as she continued to hold the wooden spoon used to spill the sauce everywhere.

Regina looked down at her ruined clothes, shocked, but shook it off after a moment and smiled at the teen when she met Emma's eyes.

“It's okay, dear. I'll just take care of it and make a quick change before I go back to work,” Regina said.

Emma still appeared tense as her eyes refused to focus solely on Regina's face. Her wide, green eyes darted all over Regina's sauce covered blouse before she momentarily looked up into Regina's eyes for a quick moment. That was when her eyes darted elsewhere because Emma just couldn't look the woman in the eyes.

“If it stains, I'll totally pay for a new one....somehow,” Emma offered as she finally set the wooden spoon aside then returned her attention to Regina.

“It was an accident,” Regina chuckled. “I can't tell you how many of my clothes Henry ruined when he was younger.”

“Sorry. Really, I'm–”

“Emma,” Regina stopped the blonde before she could worry anymore. “It's okay. I'm not upset.”

“You're not? That shirt costs more than my car.”

“Yes, well, you did steal it. I imagine most the things you own cost more than your car,” Regina joked.

“Okay,” Emma started to laugh with Regina. “That's a fair point.”

“Although,” Regina drew out the word as she stepped closer to Emma with a predatory gleam in her eyes. “There's a way to make this even.”

Emma's eyes started to widen again, though less out of shock that time and more out of curiosity.

Regina grabbed the wooden spoon Emma had set down and dipped it into the sauce. She rubbed her thumb along the spot just under her bottom lip to wipe clean the sauce that had marred her face and then did something Emma could not have predicted at eighteen or even twenty-nine.

Regina licked the sauce off her thumb just as she flicked the sauce on the spoon directly at Emma.

Sauce splattered onto Emma's face and shirt and caused the blonde to gasp.

Regina laughed and swiped a finger over the remaining sauce on the spoon before she reached out and ran it down Emma's sternum. She slid her entire hand across Emma's chest just under the teen's collarbone and smeared around more sauce.

“There,” Regina said as she pulled her hand away and inspected her work. “We're even. Feel better?”

Emma stared at Regina with determination for a moment and hadn't once blinked. But soon enough, Emma's lips slowly spread into a devious grin.

“Not yet,” Emma said before she threw herself at Regina.

Emma wrapped her arms around the brunette and tightly embraced her.

Regina made a grunted sound of disapproval and protest the instant Emma tackled her into a hug.

Emma almost knocked the woman off her feet when she pushed herself against Regina. She squeezed the brunette and felt the sauce squish between their joined bodies while she backed Regina against one of the far counter tops near the sink.

“So much sauce,” Regina complained as she tried to break out of Emma's hold.

Emma giggled.

“You didn't mind before,” Emma said with a smile.

Regina tried to step aside and walk away from the hug, but Emma followed every little movement with a counter-action to keep the woman trapped. When that attempt and her continuous squirming failed to work, Regina rested a sauce covered hand against one of Emma's biceps and gently pushed the teen away.

“Well, you're sure to stain my blouse this way, dear,” Regina casually said as she too smiled.

Emma loosened her grip on Regina, but didn't given up the fight. She kept one hand wrapped around Regina's waist while she let go with the other and used it to collect sauce on her index finger. She made sure to have Regina's attention as she stared into familiar brown eyes and swiped her finger against the tip of the woman's nose. She then stuck the finger in her own mouth and licked off the small amount of sauce that remained on her finger afterward.

Regina watched Emma suck her finger clean and noticed how the blonde's lips curled into a victorious smirk. She smiled at Emma's playfulness and actually seemed to genuinely enjoy the teen's amusement, even if it meant being drenched in sauce.

“Now I feel better,” Emma said as she released Regina from her grasp and took a step back to give Regina some space. “Wait.”

Emma looked over Regina's mostly red blouse that had been plain white before lunch. She then made a last minute decision when she moved forward and coated her hand with some of the sauce on Regina's blouse.

She ran her hand up the brunette's blouse from the hem to Regina's chest, careful not to graze the woman's breasts. With her newly sauce painted hand, she grinned and pressed it against the mostly unmarred skin exposed between the unbuttoned section of her blouse. Emma held it there for several seconds before she pulled it away and looked over the hand print she'd left behind.

“That should do it,” Emma said as she once again took a step back.

Regina looked down at Emma's hand print and chuckled.

“Now I'm wondering if the spell you cast is making you relive Henry's childhood,” Regina said with a smile as she looked up at Emma.

“Oh, great. The kid beat me to that too,” Emma teasingly asked, not at all hurt by the implied information.

“Indeed he did. When he was four, he wanted to help me make the sauce for his favorite meal at the time. Spaghetti. Of course, he always made a mess and put little hand prints on my chest and the bottom of my shirt as well as my pants.”

Emma proudly smiled as she imagined it.

“Definitely my kid,” Emma said.

“Mm,” Regina hummed in agreement. “Do you know what he said to me every time he got me dirty with another hand print?”

“What,” Emma asked with a hint of laughter in her voice.

“'Uh oh',” Regina said in her impression of a young Henry.

Emma smiled and Regina continued.

“He was never sorry though. I could always tell because he would smile at me when it said it.”

Then Emma laughed and her smile widened.

“Just like that,” Regina said as she pointed at Emma. “That's the smile.”

Emma's cheeks turned pink as she started to blush and her laughter subsided.

“He sounds like a cute kid,” Emma said after a minute.

“He still is,” Regina confessed. “Of course, I'll always see my little prince when I look at him.”

“Your little prince?”

“I used to call him that when I would tell him a bedtime story about a Queen in search for her prince.”

“Got it,” Emma nodded. “I'm...I'm glad he ended up here.”

“Yes,” Regina slowly said with a bittersweet smile. “I'm glad he did too.”

After that, Regina and Emma both cleaned themselves up before Regina went back to work a little later than planned. The rest of the day, including dinner, had gone well. Emma hadn't done anything to injure herself or anyone else and hadn't raged against the town with any kind of weapon, stolen or otherwise. Regina hadn't been distracted and managed to finish the rest of her paperwork and sit through a few boring meetings she'd had to reschedule earlier in the week.

Things had been good if not a little quiet without Henry, but Emma had kept her hands to herself and Regina had made it through a conversation with the blonde that hadn't revolved around spells or Henry or Emma's parents.

Emma had filled in a few gaps for Regina about Neal and some of her childhood. Nothing had been too detailed, but the blonde made sure to give the woman enough information to earn herself a few empathetic touches to the wrist, forearm, and shoulder at the dinner table. She hadn't shared any of her stories to receive those touches, but she appreciated and enjoyed every one of them all the same.

After dinner, Regina cleared the plates and Emma went to find a movie on TV. After ten minutes of searching the digital guide, Regina went into the living room to join Emma who hadn't found a single thing to watch.

“I love Christmas movies, but do they always have to show the same ones,” Emma asked as she looked away from the TV and focused on the brunette.

Regina took a seat at the end of the couch while Emma was curled up on the other end.

Emma laid on her back with her knees bent and in the air, pointed at the ceiling. She took up a cushion and a half out of the three available on the couch while Regina reclined against the back of the couch and took up only one cushion.

“Would you like to watch one of Henry's favorites,” Regina asked. “We have a few on DVD.”

“Eh. I don't care if it's a Christmas movie or not. I guess I don't really care what we watch. I just don't want to go to sleep yet.”

“Why not?”

“I'm not tired. And it's way too early for sleep unless you're like...sixty. Oh, wait,” Emma said as she parted her legs to look between them at Regina and smiled.

Regina grinned and grabbed Emma's ankles before she yanked them toward herself and straightened out Emma's legs. She pulled Emma just a little closer to her by the ankles with the blonde laughing and kicking the entire time.

“Hey,” Emma laughed as she slid across the couch. “It was a joke!”

“Relax,” Regina assured the teen as she stopped pulling at Emma's ankles. “This isn't a punishment.”

Regina dropped one of Emma's socked feet into her lap but continued to hold the other one in both of her hands.

“Then if this is some way of seducing me into your bed, all you have to do is invite me upstairs,” Emma joked as she looked up at Regina with a tired, lopsided smile. “I have no intention of inviting you upstairs for sex, Miss Swan,” Regina said as she started to pressure on Emma's foot with both of her thumbs.

Emma feigned a shocked gasp.

“I meant, invite me to sleep in your bed. Get your mind out of the gutter, Regina. And you think Henry will get all his hormonal, sex-crazed tendencies from me,” Emma teased.

Regina knowingly applied pressure to just the right spot on Emma's foot and the girl immediately moaned in response as she shifted on the couch.

Emma didn't say another word as she let Regina's thumbs push and slide all over her foot.

When Regina switched feet, Emma finally spoke up again, her voice a little raspy and thick from her blissful state and lack of vocalization.

“Are you using magic on me right now?”

Regina chuckled as she continued to slowly massage Emma's other foot.

“No. This kind of magic is all in the hands and finding the right pressure points.”

“Show me your ways, Dark Sorceress,” Emma said as she released her hair from her typical ponytail and rolled the hairband onto her right wrist.

Regina laughed.

“Not a chance,” Regina smiled, but kept her eyes on Emma's foot.

“One day, I'll get you to share all your secrets,” Emma said as she closed her eyes and sighed out with relief. “God, that feels good.”

Regina wickedly and proudly grinned as she looked from Emma's socked foot to the blonde's serene expression. She pressed a little harder on the arch of Emma's foot and the blonde wiggled her toes and slowly started to relax her calve fully onto Regina's lap. She then slipped Emma's sock halfway off the girl's foot then lightly raked her nails up the sole of the blonde's foot. Her nails ran up from Emma's heel to where the sock had bunched up and the blonde wiggled her toes then slowly started to relax her calve fully onto Regina's lap.

Emma whimpered as she relaxed most of her body and Regina chuckled under her breath at the teen's reaction.

“So, are you ready to pick out a tree tomorrow,” Regina asked as she turned her attention back to the blonde's foot.

“Oh,” Emma said as her eyes popped open and focused on Regina. “That's tomorrow?”

“Mhmm. I said we'd get the tree at the end of the week and it's the end of the week.”

“Oh, well. Yeah,” Emma hesitantly answered.

“Is something wrong,” Regina asked, her brows furrowed.

Emma shook her head against the couch cushion and casually rested her hands on her stomach as she maintained eye contact with Regina for once during a seemingly intimate moment.

“It just seems sudden.”

“Do you not want to come with us?”

“No! I do. It's just...different,” Emma reluctantly admitted though she was quick to correct the brunette.

“Different,” Regina repeated.

“Yeah.”

Emma briefly looked away from Regina to stare up at the living room ceiling and gulped before she looked at Regina again.

“I've...never...done the whole Christmas tree shopping before,” Emma explained.

“Oh,” Regina said as her eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. “I didn't even think about that.”

Emma nervously pursed her lips and slowly nodded in response, awkward and vulnerable.

“It's not like I had a family to do that with,” Emma shrugged as she looked down at her hands on her stomach.

Regina slowed her hands as she finished completely removing Emma's sock, her eyes solely set on the blonde.

“I've spent about three Christmases in my lifetime with families. Every couple wants a kid for the holidays. Until they have me and then it's back to the orphanage before New Year,” Emma added then looked up into Regina's eyes.

Emma's eyes widened when she realized what she had confessed. She had only mentioned spending most of her time being tossed back to the orphanage and a few ugly, but vaguely described, moments with foster parents at dinner. She hadn't mentioned what holidays were like, what loneliness felt like to her all those years. But one foot rub changed that and Emma had almost bared her soul to the woman responsible for the alleviation in her worn out feet.

“But it doesn't matter because tomorrow we're looking at trees,” Emma said as she forced and entirely too convincing smile at Regina.

It saddened the brunette to think how much practice Emma had within only eighteen years of life to smile as though she were truly happy when she either felt nothing or felt hurt.

“Hey, why'd you stop rubbing my foot,” Emma asked and slightly pouted as she changed the subject.

Regina shook her head and blinked before she noticed she had completely stopped massaging Emma's foot.

“Sorry,” Regina said as she resumed with the foot rub then smiled before she continued. “I didn't realize how much you like it.”

Emma smirked, satisfied with the banter and glad Regina hadn't pushed the topic she herself had raised.

“We're picking up Henry after school and then going to a find a tree, right,” Emma asked after a moment.

“Yes. I'll come home early from work to get you then head over to the school for Henry. Sound like a plan?”

“Yeah,” Emma smiled, a sincere smile that time. “A good plan.”

Regina emitted a short, breathy laugh.

“Alright,” Regina said after a few more tentative rubs to Emma's foot, heel included. “What do you say we either watch a movie or go to bed early?”

Emma scrunched up her nose.

“Yeah, you'll never convince me you're as young as you look instead of how old you apparently are if you keep suggesting an early bedtime,” Emma teased.

Regina swatted the top of Emma's foot.

“Ah-how,” Emma laughed out with a smile. “Easy, Grandma. I'm just telling you things you should already know.”

“Call me Grandma again and you'll never get another foot rub from me,” Regina said with an arched eyebrow that dared Emma to test her.

Emma mischievously grinned.

“Sensitive,” Emma sang.

Regina rolled her eyes, but smiled as she did and she pushed Emma's feet off her lap.

“Alright,” Regina drew out the word as she started to get off the couch.

Emma really pouted then when Regina pushed her feet away and forced her into an awkward position half on the couch and half off.

“Since you couldn't do it, I'll pick a movie. Whatever I say we'll watch, we'll watch,” Regina said as she crossed the living room and went up to the movie selection near the television.

“Sensitive and bossy,” Emma muttered loud enough for Regina to hear.

Regina whipped around to face Emma and the girl grinned at her while the brunette glared back though they both knew the look held no venom or bite to it. It was playful.

“At the risk of possibly repeating myself, you're cute when you're frustrated and when you dominate,” Emma said before Regina had the chance to turn back to the movies.

“Glad I can entertain you, dear,” Regina sarcastically replied then looked back at the movies in front of her.

“Glad I can still manage to distract you, Madam Mayor,” Emma said as her grin spread further across her face.

“Why do I have a feeling you're going to make tomorrow interesting,” Regina asked after she looked over her shoulder at the young blonde.

“Because I make everything interesting,” Emma said as she smiled without missing a beat.

“That you do,” Regina said to herself after a moment while she returned her attention to the DVD collection a minute before she decided on one and pressed play.

Chapter Text

Though Emma, Regina, and Henry would be searching for the perfect Christmas tree as soon as Regina came home from work in less than twenty minutes, it had yet to snow in Storybrooke, Maine. The sky was gray and overcast with a promise for rain at the least and the temperature could almost chill the former Evil Queen’s fireballs into ice.

Emma, with nothing better to do, threw on one of the outfits she’d grabbed from her apartment and went to grab her black leather jacket when she noticed a much warmer and suddenly more desirable black coat slung over the vanity. Regina had lent it to her after she spent time with the brunette in her recently returned and beloved VW Bug. The woman told Emma she didn’t expect it back until they found a way to reverse the spell, which Emma didn’t think would happen for a while. So, she smiled and abandoned her own leather jacket for the borrowed coat she liked a lot more than she preferred to admit for reasons she refused to divulge.

She picked up the coat and ran her fingers over the fabric for several seconds before she slipped into it and looked herself over in the mirror. She fluffed, tugged, flipped, and smoothed out whatever needed adjustments between her outfit and her hair. Due to the low temperatures that continued to drop throughout the week, Emma kept her hair down to shield her neck from the brisk and biting air. She had failed to find a scarf in her apartment, at least where she and Regina had been looking for clothes, and refrained from asking Regina for one since the brunette had already given her so much.

Satisfied with her appearance, strange as it seemed for her younger self to dress in such mature clothing, Emma grabbed her phone and headed downstairs. She had just reached the foyer when the door opened and Regina walked in with an exhausted sigh.

“Oh, you’re already ready,” Regina noted with a bit of shock as she removed her key from the door and raked her eyes up and down the blonde’s attire. “Without your glasses, you almost look like your older self.”

“What else besides the glasses make me look younger?”

Regina hesitated before she risked sounding cruel or accidentally upsetting the blonde.

“Your weight,” Regina answered. “You seem thinner now than you are at twenty-nine.”

“I only eat what I can steal,” Emma casually said as she stuffed her hands in the coat pockets. “Which was more than I got from several foster homes. Before I ran away.”

Regina had nothing to say in response to that. Her lips twitched into a small, forced smile for a brief moment before she cleared her throat then proceeded with another characteristic.

“Well, you’re also much freer with your hands and mouth,” Regina said with an arched brow.

Emma’s eyes widened before she erupted into a fit of laughter.

“You really just said that, didn’t you,” Emma said between laughs as she tried to calm down.

Regina’s mouth hung open when she realized what she had said before she closed her eyes and shook her head as if the physical action would mentally shake away the embarrassment of her unintentionally suggestive statement.

“Oh, yeah,” Emma said with a smug grin. “You definitely want me.”

Emma winked and turned around to stick her butt out as if just for the brunette.

“Would you like me to spank you,” Regina asked as she looked Emma over from the back of her head down to proffered ass. “Because I would consider doing that if you won’t actually enjoy it.”

Regina grabbed Emma’s shoulders and forced the girl upright before she ushered the teen toward the front door.

“Just because I’d totally enjoy it shouldn’t keep you from doing it,” Emma grinned as she allowed Regina to push her out to the Benz.

“Yes. It should.”

Regina led Emma all the way around the front of the car to the passenger seat because she didn’t trust the blonde to make it there herself. The teen hadn’t done anything to prove she would.

Emma got in without a hassle or another remark even as she continued to grin about their conversation.

Regina slid into the driver’s seat and silently thanked the blonde when she chose to keep her hands to herself during the drive to the school.

Henry sat on his usual bench just outside of the school. He might have noticed Regina’s car pull up to the curb, but his brunette mother couldn’t tell since he kept his focus on his video game for a little while longer. That meant he hopefully missed the indecent move Emma tried to pull on Regina, which Regina might have counted as a positive because Henry certainly need to be scarred by the teen’s persistent advances.

Emma had waited until Regina put the car in park before she bit her bottom lip and mischievously smirked at the woman.

“So, I just thought of something,” Emma said, her tone bordering on suggestive before she jumped that border and spoke with no room for misinterpretation. “If I’ve been good all year, does that mean I get a great Christmas present or does being naughty count for something more?”

Emma reached over and tantalizingly slowly tucked Regina’s hair behind her ear as she leaned closer to the other woman. She slid her free hand over the center console and rested it on Regina’s inner thigh a bit above the knee.

Regina’s eyes snapped to Emma in an instant and once their eyes locked, Emma’s hand began its ascent toward the apex of the woman’s legs.

“Henry is right there,” Regina protested as she clamped her legs shut and grabbed Emma’s wrist to ensure she halted the teen’s movements.

“He’s not looking,” Emma insisted, though she didn’t fight Regina as the woman refused to be inappropriately touched.

“You were doing so well this week,” Regina said as she looked from Emma to Henry in case he had finally seen them and started to make his way over to the car. He hadn’t.

“Yeah, I spent an entire week not touching you. That’s enough torture, don’t you think?”

Since Henry had yet to get off the bench, Regina looked over at Emma.

“I thought I made it clear that doing these sorts of things would be inappropriate.”

“You keep saying things like ‘inappropriate’ and ‘I was driving’, but I’ve never heard you say, ‘I don’t want to do this.’”

“Is that what you need to hear so you’ll stop?”

Emma closed her mouth and slowly turned to face forward in her seat before she sank a little in it.

“No,” she quietly said.

“I’ve upset you,” Regina stated, a little sad about that fact.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to say anything.”

“Emma–”

“This is supposed to be a fun day, right? Getting a tree together? So let’s not make this difficult for the kid. Pretend this never happened and we’ll just enjoy picking out the perfect tree.”

“Emma,” Regina tried again, a little sterner but still gentle. “I’m trying to work with you. If I’ve said or done something to upset you, you should tell me. And this isn’t something you should do just because of the spell. If you really want to make sure Henry doesn’t suffer, you’ll let me in.”

Emma turned her head and looked at Regina, her head pressed against the seat.

“I was just teasing,” Emma confessed after a minute. “I thought…I could say something like that and you would just look shocked or would be speechless or whatever. I didn’t think you’d tell me that you’d say…”

Emma swallowed as though to help her get through what she wanted to say next, but no other words came out.

Regina pinched and pulled a small section of Emma’s pants to playfully get the girl’s attention. When green eyes locked on her, Regina already had a warm smile in place.

“For the record, I wouldn’t have said it,” Regina said.

Emma’s lips twitched into the sweetest and most contagious smile Regina had ever seen from someone other than Henry.

“That doesn’t mean you should continue to hit on me,” Regina added.

“But it’s not like you don’t sort of like it when I do,” Emma finished for the brunette.

“I find it entertaining, flattering, and very intriguing,” Regina corrected.

“If you felt that way, does that mean we can get a really expensive tree?”

Regina laughed.

“I always get a really expensive tree.”

“Best Mom ever! Henry’s a really lucky kid,” Emma said.

“Thank you, but I keep telling you he’s just as lucky to have you too.”

Emma shrugged and Regina would have pressed the girl’s self-esteem issues further had Henry not chosen that exact moment to open the back door and get in the car.

“Hey, Moms,” Henry greeted.

“Hello, Henry.”

“Hey, kid.”

“How has it been at Neal’s,” Regina asked right off the bat.

Emma cringed at the man’s name. Regina hadn’t noticed as she put the car in gear and occasionally looked back at Henry through the rearview mirror.

“It’s been good.”

“Is he letting you stay up late or feeding you too much junk food?”

“Yeah, he even lets me watch those special shows for men that come out on the subscription channels late at night,” Henry answered.

“What,” Regina asked, her eyes wider than they had ever been as she continued to drive toward the tree lot near the woods.

He smiled and laughed.

“I was kidding,” he said. “Man, I got you good.”

Regina exhaled with immense relief.

Emma grinned a little at Henry’s cleverness and Regina’s hilarious moment of shock.

“Good one,” Emma complimented.

“That. Is not funny,” Regina argued.

Emma’s grin spread.

“You should have seen your face,” Henry continued to laugh.

“What is with you two wanting to surprise me with these ridiculous jokes,” Regina asked as she tightened then loosened and tightened again her grip on the steering wheel.

Emma and Henry looked at each other and shrugged before they looked at Regina again.

“It’s fun,” Emma replied.

“For you two maybe. Not for me.”

“That’s the point,” Henry said Regina should have figured that out sooner.

Emma snickered at his explanation.

“One day I’ll repay you both for stunts like this,” Regina claimed.

For the next eight minutes, Emma played music on her phone and coerced Henry to at least join in on the chorus if he didn’t know that particular song just to entertain themselves on the short but boring trip.

Regina tried to tune them out, but she couldn’t when she heard Henry start to hum and sing along. The two of them weren’t the greatest singers, but the moment was cute and it made her feel like she was a part of a normal family for once.

When those eight minutes passed, they pulled into a parking spot Regina made for herself on the dirt path between the paved road and the sectioned off part of the woods used specifically for the purchase of Christmas trees.

Henry excitedly bolted out of the car. He didn’t wait for Emma or Regina before he ventured past the flagged entrance to the sectioned off area and started to weave through the different rows of trees.

Emma and Regina followed after him, but didn’t rush to catch up. Regina walked side-by-side with Emma as the blonde inspected her options carefully while she kept a casual pace.

“We can have any tree we want,” Emma asked as she inspected the third tree she’d walked past within the first minute of their arrival.

“As long as it’s inside the colored tape outlining the boundary for tree selections,” Regina replied. “And you and Henry have to agree on one.”

“You’re not gonna help pick the tree?”

“I usually let Henry pick. He’s never picked a bad tree and I’ve always wanted him to have as much control over little things like this as possible. It seemed to make him happy and it’s not like I really cared about the trees. I hadn’t celebrated Christmas at all until Henry came along.”

“Really?”

“His first Christmas was when he was four years old. I drove him past the woods one day and he pointed at the trees and asked if we could ever have one.”

“And…was Christmas a holiday celebrated in the…other world?”

“By some. As I said, I never did until Henry. Though I suppose why he and I celebrate it doesn’t have much to do with religion. I honestly just use it as an excuse to get him a tree and buy him nice things he’s been asking for. That’s really only so I can spend time with him though.

“The older he got, the more I realized I wanted to hold on a little tighter because he was just slipping away from me. I thought if I kept up the tradition, at least he’d have to spend the holiday with me and I could try my hardest just to make him smile like he always did when he unwrapped all his presents with delight every year before.”

“That’s… Wow, Regina,” Emma smiled. “That’s really cool.”

“You’re the only one that thinks so.”

“You don’t agree?”

“For the last two years, Henry’s been less satisfied with the holiday. I suppose that had something to do with him finding out he was adopted and then getting the book that convinced him I was the Evil Queen. You don’t think my efforts were…sad or desperate?”

“You’re just trying to give him everything he wants, at least the stuff that you’re capable of giving him. Not every kid is that fortunate.”

“Well, this will be a holiday that hopefully doesn’t just make Henry happy,” Regina said as she smiled at Emma.

Emma looked away from the tree her eyes were focused on and met Regina’s gaze. Her eyes shined with hope and appreciation while her lips parted ever so slightly.

“Thanks,” Emma said.

“I believe this is long overdue for you, dear. Don’t thank me for you finally getting what you’ve always deserved.”

Emma smiled again and stared at Regina for a moment longer before she went back to looking at trees.

A few minutes later, Henry ran back to the two women and enthusiastically called out to the blonde.

“Emma! Emma, you’ve got to take a look at this one tree. It’s awesome!”

“And what about the woman who’s going to be paying for this ‘awesome’ tree,” Regina asked with an arched brow and a smile.

“Oh. Yeah. You can look at it too, Mom,” Henry said as an afterthought while he started to tug on Emma’s hand.

Emma glanced at Regina over her shoulder for a few seconds as she hesitantly followed Henry. It seemed as though she had looked to Regina for permission to follow him or possibly looking for some kind of insight into what exactly was happening in that moment.

Regina just smiled, amused by not only Henry’s actions but by Emma’s expression. Her green eyes looked a little bigger than usual and partially unsure of the situation. If Regina didn’t know any better, she would have worried Emma felt lost even in hers and Henry’s presence.

Henry led the women to a full bodied tree that appeared to be in perfect health even though Christmas was fast approaching, the trees had been on sale for weeks, and the temperature was less and less comforting each day.

The tree was a deep, forest green and at least twice Henry’s size. It looked far too heavy to be strapped to the top of Regina’s car and would easily take up a little more than the corner in the family room that was reserved for the Christmas trees every year.

“Whoa,” Emma breathed out as her eyes explored the tree from its trunk up to the very tip.

“Awesome, right,” Henry asked with an amazed smile.

“Yeah, pretty awesome,” Emma agreed.

Regina circled around the tree and did a thorough inspection. She felt the branches and pulled some of them aside far enough to look at the thick stem of the tree.

“Is this the one then,” Regina asked as she stepped away from the tree and went back over to Emma and Henry.

Henry expectantly looked at Emma and waited for the verdict.

“You’re gonna buy it,” Emma asked.

“I approve of it, but if you’d rather keep looking–”

“No, this one is perfect,” Emma stopped Regina before the brunette went out of her way to do something for her that she really didn’t need to do.

Regina stared at Emma for a few more seconds than necessary as if to see if the girl was lying. When Emma smiled at her, she smiled back then nodded.

“Okay. We have a tree,” she said as she called over the man in charge of the trees.

Michael Tillman didn’t have much work at the car shop and in the Enchanted Forest he’d been a woodsman. As part of the curse, Regina figured he would be the best man to be put in charge of the trees. He seemed to have retained the job even after the curse had been broken and that posed a challenge for Regina.

“Is there something I can help you with, Your Majesty,” Michael asked with a scowl and tight jaw.

“We’ll take this tree, please,” Regina politely responded and pointed to the tree beside her.

“I don’t sell to the Evil Queen,” he almost growled.

Emma looked at Regina and saw two emotions cross the woman’s face. The first was a flash of hurt and the second was a more permanent expression of anger.

Regina took a step forward that looked closer to a lunge than a single step, but Emma stepped in front of her and turned to Michael with a civil smile.

“Look, we really don’t want any trouble,” Emma started. “We just want a tree. This tree. Can you just drop the ‘Evil Queen’ crap and just help us out?”

Michael looked from Emma to Regina then to Henry. He almost looked at Regina again, but when Emma continued to talk he directed his attention at the blonde.

“Sell us the tree and we’ll get out of your hair, okay?” Michael still didn’t say anything. “If it helps, you can just think of it as me and Henry getting the tree and Regina’s just supplying the money.”

Michael sighed and relaxed a little.

“Fine. For you and Henry. Not for you,” he pointed at Regina when he said ‘you’ a second time.

He headed back toward the table used to accept payments set up under a party tent and the family of three followed him.

“Thank you,” Regina quietly said as she tried her best to ensure only Emma heard then spoke louder for both hers and Henry’s sake. “I’m sorry my past almost cost us this tree.”

“It’s okay,” Henry was the first to say. “It’s in the past. People need to start seeing that.”

“Yeah, what the kid said,” Emma conceded.

Regina smiled, first at Emma and then at Henry.

“That’ll be one-twenty,” Michael said as he wrote down the order and opened his collection box.

“Holy shit,” Emma exclaimed.

“Emma,” Regina scolded reprimanded.

“Sorry,” Emma quickly said. “But that’s a lot for a tree.”

“It’s a good tree,” Michael told her.

“But it’s a tree,” Emma repeated.

“It’s okay, Emma,” Regina calmly said as she touched the teen’s shoulder then pulled out a handful of cash from her wallet. “I told you I would get whichever tree you two agreed on. Besides, I thought you wanted a really expensive tree.”

“That’s when I thought expensive was maybe fifty or even seventy dollars, not a hundred and twenty!”

“It’s not a big deal,” Regina said. “I usually spend about ninety to a hundred dollars on a tree each year.”

“Do you know how many pairs of shoes I could get for that kind of money?”

“Maybe three depending on what brand,” Regina casually answered as she handed Michael the money. “Although I’m only basing that off of your taste in clothes. My closet costs about five times your apartment rent.”

“Wh—You know what? I’m not even gonna start. That’s insane, Regina. You know it. I know it. Henry probably knows it. But as long as you’ve got the money and are willing to do this then by all means, lets get this freakishly expensive thing that will be thrown away December twenty-sixth.”

“Mom keeps the tree up until after New Years Eve,” Henry said.

Emma didn’t say another word. She raised her hands in the air as a sign of surrender and walked away from the table. She walked around the nearest corner of the tent and looked across the way at the corner on the very edge of the marked off section of woods.

“Emma?”

The teen ignored Regina’s call and went straight toward the thing that suddenly held all of her attention.

Regina and Henry frowned at the odd sight and after they exchanged a look, they followed after her while Michael went to retrieve the tree the three of them had chosen.

When they caught up to Emma, they saw a small tree that only reached up to Emma’s waist and had very thin branches. It wasn’t too green and looked like a tree on its death bed, so to speak, as it sat in a reservoir and was tied up to a few small posts to keep the tree upright.

“Emma,” Regina tried to get her attention again.

“How come this is the only tree that looks like this,” Emma asked.

Michael perched the tree of choice against the table with a grunt then went to see what had grabbed Emma, Henry, and Regina’s attention.

“It’s so small and sick looking,” Emma added.

“Yeah,” Michael interrupted their little moment. “It didn’t last the first significant temperature drop of the season. There had been some particularly strong winds I didn’t account for because it’s the smallest tree I’ve got.”

“And you’re still trying to sell it like this,” Regina asked, not impressed.

Michael unappreciatively glared at her before he replied.

“Yeah, but I cut down the price a whole hell of a lot. It used to be forty and now I’m trying to see if anyone will take it for eighteen.”

“Nobody’s going to want a dying tree,” Regina said without considering her word choice.

“Hey, if no one wants it I’m just gonna throw it in the wood chipper. It’s not like it’s a total loss. It’s just one tree.”

Henry tensed and his eyes widened a little as he listened to the conversation.

And then Emma held back her tears as she got in Michael’s face.

“It’s one tree that’s been through hell and you can’t just throw it away because it’s not perfect,” Emma said as she warningly pointed at Michael then spun around and directed her pointed finger at Regina. “And it’s been a few weeks since the first big temperature drop and this little guy is still sticking in there.”

“It’s a Charlie Brown tree,” Michael said like a man who clearly hadn’t realized he had an upset and hormonal teen on his hands with some very strong opinions.

Emma whipped around again.

“A Charlie Brow–” Emma almost unleashed herself on a man who had seemed to have been on her side when Neal asked to take her precious Bug, but she stopped herself short and continued with a new line of thinking that involved a little less anger and a little more problem solving logic. “If it doesn’t matter if someone actually pays for this tree then give it to us for free.”

“What,” he asked, taken aback.

“What,” Regina echoed Michael’s question, confused.

Emma turned back to face Regina and softened her expression.

“I want this tree,” Emma firmly stated.

“We just bought a tree, Emma.”

“Then un-buy it if it means you won’t get this one.”

“I’m not going to return the tree we all chose as a family.”

“I want this one,” Emma flatly said, two seconds away from a tantrum.

“Why do you want this one,” Regina just had to ask.

“If no one else wants it and it’s just going to get shredded, why does it matter why I want it? The real question should be, why not just take it if that’s what’s going to happen to it?”

Regina looked between Emma and the tree and deciphered why Emma felt so compelled to take the proverbial black sheep of all the trees in the lot. Her eyebrows jumped up for a split second as realization dawned on her before she looked at Michael.

“Original asking price was forty dollars, correct?”

Michael looked surprised as he watched Regina take two twenty dollar bills out of her wallet.

“Yeah,” he answered, unable to say much more than that.

Regina handed over the cash.

“How much will it cost for you to deliver these two trees to my house without a scratch on either one of them,” she asked.

Henry stared, baffled, at Regina as he watched her give Emma what she wanted at full price without blinking as soon as she understood the importance of the request.

“I usually don’t do deliveries,” Michael said.

“Name your price and I’ll give it to you,” Regina said. “I want both of these trees and only one of them can fit in my car. Unfortunately, the one that would fit needs extra care and I’d hate to hurt it or mess anything up so I trust you’ll help ensure that doesn’t happen.”

As Regina finished explaining her need for delivery service, she produced another twenty dollars from her wallet and offered the collective total of sixty dollars to Michael.

“Um, yeah. Yes, I’ll make sure to get them there safely. I can follow you in my truck,” Michael said as he accepted the money.

“Thank you,” Regina said and gave her best politician smile before she looked at Emma.

Teary green eyes locked onto Regina’s dark brown eyes and a hint of a smile showed on Emma’s face.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you the tree as soon as you asked for it.”

“That’s okay. I never actually asked,” Emma replied and let out a quick laugh when she realized she’d sort of demanded the tree.

Regina laughed with her.

Michael pocketed the money and stepped around the others to get the tree before he carried it over to the table next to the other one.

“If I said I wanted a puppy, would I get it,” Henry asked with a tilt of his head as he looked up at his mothers.

“A tree is nothing like a puppy,” Regina said. “It won’t pee on the carpet or bark at the neighbors early in the morning or chew on everyone’s shoes.”

“So that’s a no?”

“Nice try,” Regina appraised as she affectionately ran her hand through his hair.

“If Emma wanted a puppy, would you give her one?”

“Do you want a puppy, Emma,” Regina asked.

“Nope,” she answered.

“Problem solved,” Regina proudly smiled.

“I’m gonna add ‘puppy’ to my Christmas list,” Henry said. “Then, Christmas morning, when we see which one of us gets the most stuff from our list we’ll know who you love more.”

Henry walked over toward Michael and made his comment with a teasing tone that sounded more like a joke, but that didn’t stop Regina from freezing in place and staring right at Emma, speechless.

“That’s the look,” Emma exclaimed as her brows shot up toward her hairline. “That’s what I expect you to do when I get into your personal space.”

“Come on, Moms,” Henry yelled from the other corner of the tent, closer to the trees. “Michael’s loading up the trees and we’ve got some decorating to do.”

“Don’t worry,” Emma said to the woman next to her as she gently elbowed Regina’s side. “He knows you love him and he doesn’t think you could love anyone else more than him.”

Regina relaxed a little.

“Oh, and I already know you love me,” Emma smirked.

“What?!”

Regina whipped her head to the side to look at Emma so fast she could have strained a few muscles in the process if not cracked a few bones.

“How could you not,” Emma started. “I’m adorable.”

Regina sighed then rolled her eyes before she swatted at Emma’s arm.

“Ow,” Emma laughed. “I hope you’ll make up for slapping me by giving me another massage.”

“Not a chance.”

Emma still smiled all the way back to where Michael loaded the trees up in the bed of his truck even if she believed Regina truly wouldn’t give her another massage of any kind.

Henry waved his mothers over to him and the three of them waited until Michael gave them the thumbs up before they got into the Benz and headed home.

*          *          *

Henry was surprised. Usually, Regina had Graham set up the tree because she wasn’t strong enough to lift it herself. Though Graham was gone, Henry didn’t think Regina would have dismissed Michael Tillman once he brought the tree into the family room so the three of them could stick the tree in the reservoir themselves.

Henry hadn’t expected it, but he did enjoy it.

Emma stuck herself under the bottom branches of the tree and did most of the work as she complained about the prickly needles while Regina tried to even out the tree so it stood straight. Ever the crazed perfectionist, Regina made Emma kneel beneath the tree for several minutes while she shouted complaints of her own about Emma’s skills to hold a tree upright.

“It’s like you don’t even know the definition of straight,” Regina said as she fought to keep the tree in the position she had put it in.

“I knew it well enough to have Henry, didn’t I,” Emma shot back as she wiggled under the tree.

Regina scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Henry chuckled as he watched the two of them struggle to pick a position for the tree to stand.

“Tighten the screws,” Regina commanded. “It’s perfect.”

“Ah,” Emma groaned. “Regina, you’re assaulting me with the branches.”

“It’s not my fault you didn’t listen to me the first time I told you the tree was just right.”

As she argued, Regina accidentally shifted the tree and Emma’s complaints grew louder.

“Damn it! Regina.”

“What is it now?”

“You just tilted the tree right into my face!”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Um, guys?”

Regina looked at Henry while Emma stilled herself under the tree and attempted to look over her shoulder at him, but only managed to scratch her face with more branches.

“Yes, Henry,” Regina asked.

“It’s a little slanted,” he said.

“What,” Regina asked, shocked and possibly even disappointed.

“Kid,” Emma whined. “Why’d you tell her that? Now I’m gonna have to stay under here for at least another five minutes.”

“Well, if I didn’t tell her,” Henry started to explain, “she would have lectured me about not speaking up sooner.”

“He’s right, dear,” Regina said. “Thank you, Henry.”

“You’re welcome,” he shrugged and smiled.

“Fine. Just fix the tree so I can get out of here. I think the branches are trying to feel up my ass right now.”

Henry laughed while Regina just smiled. She seemed amused by Emma’s comment, but a laugh never left her lips.

The two women worked for another minute or two before Henry approved the tree’s position, which was as straight as it could get and certainly wasn’t obvious if It in fact favored one side a little more than the other. Henry claimed that wasn’t the case and when Regina got off the step stool to stand by Henry and take a final look, she agreed.

“Alright, Emma,” Regina said. “You can come out of there now.”

“Oh, boy. Can I,” Emma feigned enthusiasm as she slowly backward crawled her way out from under the tree.

Henry watched Emma back out toward them for a few seconds before his attention went to Regina. He frowned and looked suspiciously at her when he noticed she was staring at Emma a little too long and a little too intently. He shook it off, however, when Emma stood and turned to them because that’s when Regina’s focus on Emma changed from kind of weird to sort of normal.

And then she looked concerned.

“Oh, dear,” Regina said as she stepped toward Emma and reached out to gently touch the teen’s face. “Those branches really did get you.”

Emma shrugged.

“It’s just a couple of scratches.”

“Don’t shrug. It’s unbecoming,” Regina effortlessly said like the response to Emma’s behavior was second nature, drilled into her head.

“How many times have I shrugged since you’ve known me? I think it’s a little late for the ‘unbecoming’ lectures. Plus, I’m technically almost thirty years old. Unbecoming is for girls turning into women. The better word would be ‘unladylike’.”

“Technically, you are almost thirty, but right now you’re eighteen. Unbecoming is the right word.”

“Whatever,” Emma mumbled.

Regina victoriously grinned for a second or two and then her soft and motherly expression returned.

“You should really wash your face. Maybe even apply some Neosporin to prevent possible infection.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Emma bowed.

Henry smiled.

“You can clean up in the bathroom down here. I keep Neosporin in the guest bathroom on this floor and in my bathroom upstairs. I learned quickly that Henry liked to get hurt often and the trip to my bathroom always seemed to take too long.”

Emma beamed.

“Yep. That’s my boy,” she said as she pulled Henry into a loose headlock and ruffled his hair.

Henry laughed and pushed away from Emma.

“Go clean your face,” Henry said. “You look like you got attacked by a scared cat trying to defend itself.”

Emma stuck her tongue out at Henry then went to the bathroom to take care of the thin and shallow red marks.

Henry turned to Regina and smiled up at her, one hundred percent happy.

Regina smiled back at him and smoothed out the hair Emma had just messed up.

“I told you she loves you,” Regina told him.

“She’s not doing as bad as I thought,” he admitted. “I guess it’s only when she gets in her moods.”

“Mm, that certainly seems to be a pattern.”

“So, when she comes back out here, we’re gonna decorate the tree, right?”

“Of course.”

“Awesome. I’m gonna go make some hot chocolate. Do we still have that Christmas CD to play while we hang the ornaments?”

Regina nodded.

“It’s with the box of decorations in the attic, which I should go get. Please be careful using the stove.”

“I will,” Henry called back to her as they went their separate ways, Henry to the kitchen and Regina to the stairs.

A few minutes later, Regina returned to the family room with the Christmas box, but Henry hadn’t seemed to have left the kitchen. She heard a few cabinets close and silverware clanging as it was, she assumed, rearranged.

“Henry? Is everything alright,” Regina asked as she set the box down in front of the coffee table then headed toward the kitchen.

“I can’t find the chocolate mix,” Henry said as he buried his head in cabinet after cabinet.

“Well, that’s not where I keep it,” Regina explained in a tone that suggested Henry should have known better.

“Yeah, I know, but there’s none in the cupboard above the coffee maker.”

“That’s where I keep it,” Regina informed him.

“And it’s not there.”

“Then we don’t have any.”

“What? There’s got to be hot chocolate in this house,” Henry said as he turned to Regina with a sad pout.

Regina sighed.

“I don’t have a backup supply of cocoa mix. But I suppose I could run out and get some more.”

“You’re going somewhere,” Emma asked as she joined Regina and Henry in the kitchen.

“There’s no cocoa and Henry wants some. I figured you might like some too. Would you?”

“Sure, but you don’t have to go. I’ll get it. I haven’t driven my car around yet and I don’t want it to get so cold that the Bug stalls out the next time I try to use it.”

“And just how are you going to pay for the cocoa?”

“With your debit card?”

Emma contorted her face into a nervous smile as she looked a little guilty for suggesting the idea of taking Regina’s card. She looked every bit like a teen asking their parents for money, knowing they probably wouldn’t get it unless they begged or pouted or promised to do something in exchange.

“I don’t even trust Henry to take my card. What makes you think I’ll allow you to run around town with it?”

“Just because I’m a thief doesn’t mean I’m going to rob you of your riches.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about you being a thief, but now that you’ve mentioned it that’s a very good point. Why should I trust you to not buy up the store?”

“Because I’m not some overly privileged princess and this town probably has nothing worth depleting someone’s bank account for.”

Regina considered that for a moment.

“Besides, why would I steal from the one person who’s done everything for me since the spell,” Emma added.

Regina thought it over for a minute longer.

“Alright,” she said as she went to her wallet and opened it. “But if you so much as spend more than fifteen dollars–”

“Hot chocolate mix doesn’t cost fifteen dollars,” Emma scrunched up her face in confusion.

“You may get something for yourself as long as you get the cocoa and don’t go over fifteen dollars. I have to budget for Christmas gifts.”

“What,” Henry practically shrieked.

“Cool!”

“She gets to buy herself some stuff? Why don’t you let me get extra stuff when we’re at the store? That’s not fair.”

Henry didn’t sound too upset or jealous about Emma’s special privileges, but he still wasn’t too pleased about it either.

“You have plenty of things here, Henry,” Regina said. “I think Emma deserves at least a snack or something just for herself. Besides, she offered to go out to get the cocoa so it only seems fair to let her get something for making the trip.”

“I can’t wait to get my license. I’ll offer to go to the store every day if it gets me something extra,” Henry said.

Emma laughed.

“Don’t be in a rush to grow up too fast, kid. You know that you’re still her favorite.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Henry changed the topic. “Hurry up and get the hot chocolate. I want to decorate this tree already.”

“You got it,” Emma said as she took Regina’s card from the brunette’s hand and smiled at the woman. “Thank you.”

“Be careful,” Regina said as Emma went to the front door.

Emma lit up for a moment at the sentiment then left.

*          *          *

At the store, Emma looked down a couple of different aisles before she found the hot chocolate mix. She grabbed a box of it and checked the price before she calculated how much she had left of the fifteen dollars Regina had granted her permission to spend.

She came up with a number as she headed down another aisle and browsed the junk food selection. She passed up all the sweets and looked at the interesting little toys in the next aisle. She saw a small, plastic figurine with a cape that looked like a Superman knockoff, but she thought Henry might like it so she grabbed it and looked for a few other superhero friends for it.

There weren’t too many other tiny action figures Emma could find, but she picked up what she could and made a mental note of the money she had left to spend, careful not to push her limits with Regina.

She saw a package of two plastic, handheld lacrosse sticks, which had a much smaller handle and looked less like a stick and more like only the net of a lacrosse stick. There was a little foam ball included and Emma grinned as she imaged playing that game with Henry inside the house. She knew it would probably bother Regina and the woman would reprimand them for running all over and whipping the ball around inside, but she knew it would be worth it. Not only would she have fun with Henry, but the two of them could laugh at how flustered and nervous Regina got the closer it looked like they would run into a wall or crash into something expensive. That moment was always priceless.

As she picked up the game and started to do her calculating once again, two voices spoke up from the other aisle, closer to the pharmacy. Emma paused when she recognized them.

“I really wish we knew the baby’s sex,” Snow said.

“Give it another week or so. You’ll probably be able to find out for sure during your next appointment,” Ruby said.

“There’s just so much planning to do,” Snow said. “I really want to get the baby’s room done before the seventh month and I refuse to paint it a gender neutral color.”

Ruby laughed.

“You’ve got plenty of time to paint the room. And what does matter if the baby’s a girl or a boy?”

“It doesn’t,” Snow quickly. “I’d be happy either way, but I’m just anxious to be able to call him or her by name when I talk to them.”

“Are you hoping it’s a girl?”

“I told you I’ll be happy with either…but a girl would be nice,” Snow dreamily said. “I could teach her how to braid her hair, dress her up in adorable little outfits. I would do everything I never got to do with Emma.”

“That would be too cute," Ruby said, her smile evident by the tone of her voice. “How is Emma, by the way?”

“I don’t know. She’s the same, I guess? Regina took her back to the mansion and I haven’t heard from any of them since, Henry included. You would think I could count on my grandson to give me information on what’s happening over there.”

Ruby laughed.

“I really wish I could go back,” Snow started again after a moment. “I wish Emma was younger and I could raise her with Charming like we planned. I love Henry and if there was a way I could have them both, I would. But…”

“Don’t think like that,” Ruby said. “You are getting a second chance. You’ve got a baby on the way and Emma didn’t turn out so bad.”

“But I had nothing to do with how she turned out. I think that’s why she seems to prefer Regina over me.”

“There was a time you preferred Regina too, you know.”

“Before I realized she was plotting her revenge and my death. I just don’t understand Emma. I just wish things were different. Maybe then I could actually talk to her.”

“What exactly do wish was different,” Ruby slowly, carefully, asked.

Snow exasperatedly sighed.

“I’m not really sure. I just… Right now I suppose the first thing I’d change is this spell Emma cast on herself. Regina said the spell was cast because it was directly related to how Emma felt when it happened. Although, it makes sense. She was acting so childishly before the spell and now…”

Emma rounded the corner and marched up to Snow and Ruby.

“And now,” Emma angrily asked. “You think this is all my fault, don’t you! I cast some spell and I keep choosing Regina over you and I don’t want to talk to you about anything and that’s all because I’m wrong. I’m just the daughter you never got to raise to be an extension of yourself and you’d change everything about me if you could!”

“Emma!” Snow’s eyes were wide and she looked more surprised than Emma had ever seen her. She cowered away from the blonde and searched Emma’s eyes for what the teen could only describe as searching for reason, just one reason why Emma would react that way.

“You want to know why I choose to stay with Regina? Because she doesn’t force anything. She doesn’t say things like, ‘I’m the Mayor so you need to do what I say’ and she doesn’t tell me I’m messed up or that she doesn’t like stuff about me. Well, maybe she does, but it’s always said jokingly and if I don’t get that it’s supposed to be a joke she tells me. She makes me understand what she meant and she doesn’t judge me and tell me to be different.”

“Whatever you heard, Emma, I didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” Snow tried to assure her.

Emma shook her head.

“Fuck you and fuck your stupid baby. I don’t care what you think you meant by saying that stuff, but I don’t need you. Okay? I’ve done just fine without parents so far and I was an idiot to think it would be great to have them now that I know them. Turns out I was better off without you. I hate you!”

“Emma,” Ruby calmly and somewhat sadly said as she tried to stop the blonde from leaving.

Emma shrugged away from Ruby’s touch as she reached out to the girl and stormed off. She hurried out of the store and made one of the cashiers yell at her for not paying as he tried to catch her before she went too far. She didn’t even react to the shouting man so there was no way she could have seen the affect her words had on Snow.

“It’s okay,” Ruby cooed as she rubbed her hands up and down Snow’s arms. “She didn’t mean it. She’s just angry.”

Tears spilled down Snow’s cheeks. They flowed from her eyes to her chin without any effort at all while the pixie-haired woman appeared crestfallen. She didn’t even have to scrunch up her face to squeeze out the tears. It had been a direct hit. No need to build up to the hurt Emma had caused. It just poured out of the pregnant woman as she kept one hand on her rounded stomach and cried.

*          *          *

Regina had gotten a call from Snow only twenty minutes after Emma had gone to the store, but it wasn’t Snow on the other end of the call.

Ruby explained the blow up at the store and Regina heard Snow sob loudly in the background while the waitress broke from the conversation to console the other woman. A third and much deeper voice also seemed to be doing the same thing and Regina assumed it was David, though she couldn’t find it in her to care because Ruby had just told her Emma had run off and Regina knew for a fact the girl hadn’t come back to the house since then.

Regina rushed Ruby off the phone and almost hung up on the other woman, but managed a curt goodbye before she dialed Emma’s cell. The phone rang and rang with no answer so Regina tried again. And again.

With no way of knowing where Emma had gone or if the teen was even breathing, Regina called someone not busy trying to calm the fragile Snow White to watch Henry while she went in search for the blonde.

She couldn’t explain the panic she felt as drove all over town looking for Emma. She’d only ever reacted that way when it came to Henry. She settled for accepting that Emma was a teenager in her care and that meant her motherly concern and paranoia were strong no matter who it was that had run off. It had nothing to do with the fact that Emma was unpredictable as a teen and could have done a number of things such as swim out to the deepest part of the water farthest from shore to drown and that would crush Regina. It was the fact that Emma could have very well done that and it would devastate Henry. Her feelings for Emma were only born out of accepting her as Henry’s other mother and not at all because she and Emma weren’t as different as she’d once thought.

Not long into Regina’s search, it had started to rain. The wind had picked up a little and the temperature could be best described as bone-chilling. Regina had the heat in the Benz turned all the way up and didn’t want to spend more than two seconds away from the vents. Outside, she felt the cold hit her down to her core. Even the warmest parts of her body hadn’t been able to fight off the chill and that was before the rain.

“Emma, where are you,” Regina quietly asked her empty car as though she hoped the universe or any gods whatsoever heard her and would lead her straight to the blonde.

Regina turned toward the pier, started down the street and scanned the area, bench after bench on either side of her for the blonde. As if the universe or even one god had heard her plea, Regina noticed a figure huddled up on one of the benches she hadn’t looked at yet. She sighed with relief and parked the car in the middle of the street directly behind the bench Emma occupied.

She didn’t wait a single second before she unlocked all the car doors and jumped out of the Benz. She jogged through the cold to get to Emma and pulled her coat tightly around herself along the way.

“Emma!”

It wasn’t a drizzle and it wasn’t a light rain. Water droplets plundered to the ground with a punch. Each rain drop pelted both Emma and Regina and the wind swept past them every so often as if it was an obnoxious hug given to them to remind them it was a harsh and unrelenting winter.

Emma sat with her knees to her chest, her face tilted down as she buried it into the limited warmth of her soaked coat. Her forehead was almost pressed to her knees just to fight off the rain and the cold, her blonde hair tangled and drenched.

Regina came to stand in front of Emma and called out to her a few more times to get her attention, but the girl didn’t respond.

“Are you okay,” Regina asked with a nearly cracking voice, her tone serious and rushed and full of gut- and heart-wrenching worry.

Emma’s eyes finally snapped up to meet Regina’s.

“You found me,” Emma said.

The ends of Regina’s hair dripped from the extensive rainfall, her entire outfit soaked from head to toe.

“What are you doing out here,” Regina asked, a little less frantic than her first question.

“I needed to run. I wanted to get away. It’s like whatever I do I’m not enough for them.”

“Emma…” Regina sympathetically said.

“I got everything wet,” Emma said as she opened her borrowed coat and revealed the items she accidentally stole from the store. “And I ruined your coat. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t care about my coat,” Regina said as she brushed stringy, knotted blonde hair away from Emma’s face.

She felt Emma trembling under her touch, shivering.

“You’re freezing! We’ve got to get you out of the rain,” Regina said as she abruptly stood.

Emma’s teeth chattered.

“Why do they want me to be different? Why can’t they…?”

Emma never finished her second question as she bundled up as much as she could in cold, wet clothes and remained seated on the bench.

“I’ll drag you back to the house if that’s what it takes, Emma, but you are getting into my car in three, two—”

When Regina said “one”, Emma slowly uncurled herself and tried to walk with Regina to the car as her whole body shook. She walked right into Regina’s arms as the woman helped her as quickly as possible into the Benz. The second the passenger door opened and Regina eased her down into the seat she felt the heater on full blast and moaned at the warmth.

Regina made haste around the hood of the car and sat in the driver’s seat with a few squeaks and squishes caused by her thoroughly drenched clothes.

“And now…we’re ruining….the inside of y-y-our car,” Emma stuttered as Regina started to drive away from the pier.

“That’s not important,” Regina said as she disobeyed the speed limit and flew down the streets of Storybrooke at fifty miles an hour.

Emma tiredly blinked and before she knew it, they were parked in the driveway.

Regina scrambled around to the passenger’s seat and pulled the blonde out of the car before she helped her to the door.

“We’ll warm you up and then you can take a shower, okay,” Regina asked, though she was really only telling Emma what was going to happen.

Regina sat Emma down on the floor in front of the fireplace and flicked one of her wrists. Flames rose from the logs at her request before she conjured two big, thick blankets from the linen closet and wrapped them securely around the ice cold teen.

The fire cracked and popped as Regina rubbed her hands over the blankets to warm Emma up faster and sat down beside the blonde. It only lasted a few minutes before Emma started to cry.

“Emma?”

The girl sniffled.

“They’re just like all my foster parents,” Emma cried.

“Who are?”

“Mary Margaret and David. I’m not what they expected and they just don’t get it!”

“How so?”

“I’m not gonna change. This is who I am. I can’t be everything they wanted and I would never go back so they could raise me. I wouldn’t trade Henry for anything and it sucks because that’s how they should feel about me!”

Emma turned into Regina’s side and clutched at the woman like a lifeline and cried a little louder against Regina’s collarbone as she rested her head in the crook of the brunette’s neck.

Regina laid her legs flat on the floor and wrapped one arm around Emma’s waist to hold her close.

Emma curled further into Regina’s side and laid her legs over Regina’s, her feet planted on the floor and her knees level with Regina’s shoulder.

Regina brought her free hand down to Emma’s legs and rubbed one of the girl’s knees.

Emma took a deep but stunted breath and willed herself to calm down. In a matter of seconds, she only sniffled as she tried to ease her heart back into a more normal rhythm and control her slightly erratic breathing. She almost seemed resigned to the emotional pain then.

Once she had quieted, Henry sat down on Regina’s other side away from the fire.

Regina was caught off guard for a moment. She didn’t know when he’d gotten there. But it didn’t matter when he dipped under Regina’s arm, the one she used to rub Emma’s knee, and mirrored his blonde mother’s position.

Henry rested his head in the crook of Regina’s neck on her right, his nose pointed down at Regina’s collarbone. He then slung his arm over Emma and loosely held her where she sat.

Regina moved her hand off Emma’s knee and wrapped it around his shoulders as she held him close then squeezed Emma’s waist a little tighter to make up for the lost contact.

Someone loomed in the entryway and Regina turned her head to see Granny staring at the three of them on the floor, her hands clasped in front of her.

The elderly woman smiled then winked at Regina. She stood there for another few seconds before she left the brunette to comfort her family.

Chapter Text

Everything was wet. Regina’s outfit, at least half of Henry’s clothes, all the things Emma brought back from the store and even Emma herself since she’d finally been able to leave the warmth of the fire for a shower. While the blonde cleaned off upstairs, Regina had Henry change and hand over his damp clothes so she could wash them with every other rain-soaked, washable material. She wouldn’t have had to wash his clothes with hers and Emma’s if it wasn’t for their group hug on the floor by the fire. Not that she minded. Their little moment, though spurred on by Emma’s emotional turmoil, was worth the extra laundry and then some.

Regina had changed into her usual blue silk pajamas and went into the family room to join Henry, who wore blue and green plaid flannel pajama pants with a loose, dark blue T-shirt. When she entered the room, she saw Henry on his knees in front of the coffee table twiddling with the tiny action figures.

Though he didn’t look at her, Henry noticed Regina. His words were the only thing that made Regina aware of that.

“Emma got me these,” he said, his eyes solely on the toy figures.

“How much of what Emma said did you hear,” she asked as she slowly sat on the couch, positioned across from Henry.

“Um…enough?”

“Henry.”

“I know she wouldn’t trade me for anything,” Henry answered.

It didn’t seem to take much that night to get Henry to admit the truth to Regina.

“And she got me these,” Henry repeated his first statement, but that time he lifted two of the three figures to show his brunette mother and raised his head to meet her eyes. “She only needed hot chocolate and she got me other stuff too just because she thought I’d like them.”

Regina smiled. It might not have been the right moment to smile, but Henry’s reaction was too cute for her not to. Thankfully, Henry didn’t see and the smile faded before he looked at her again once she started to speak.

“Now do you see how much she loves you?”

Henry stayed silent. After a few seconds, he nodded and set the action figures down on the table.

“The box might still be wet, but the coca mix should be fine. How about I make all of us some and if Emma’s up to it, we can decorate the tree when she comes down?”

“Yeah.”

Regina smiled at Henry and got up from the couch. On the way to the kitchen, she stepped around the coffee table and gently patted his shoulder as a small show of comfort.

It wasn’t until the hot chocolate was finished and poured into three mugs that Emma descended the stairs and attempted to rejoin Henry and Regina. She padded through the house in only the white towel provided for her shower. She didn’t move throughout the first floor with purpose, but she found herself in the kitchen just as Regina was about to collect and move the three mugs of hot chocolate.

“Oh! Emma,” Regina blinked at the teen.

Regina, oddly, always looked at the blonde as though her presence caught the older woman off guard. Perhaps it did, but to Emma it always felt like there was more to it than Regina not used to having people around the house, aside from when Henry lived with her full time before the curse broke.

“Need help with that,” Emma asked and pointed at the mugs.

Regina looked down at the mugs in front of her.

“One of them is yours.”

“Does it mater which one?”

Regina shook her head.

Emma reached out and slid a mug over to herself. She lifted it to her lips and blew on it a few times before she took a sip. She closed her eyes and softly moaned.

“That is good,” Emma purred before she opened her eyes.

“You bought it, dear.”

“I stole it,” Emma corrected with a frown.

“You didn’t mean to steal it.”

Emma shrugged.

“Regardless,” Regina said, “how are you feeling?”

Emma sighed and set down the mug. She plucked her fingernails against the edges and underside of the ceramic handle like it was a guitar string.

“Okay…I guess,” she answered with raised, tense shoulders.

“Well, we don’t have to decorate the tree if you’d rather just sit and watch a movie.”

“No,” Emma quickly protested. “Henry’s here to decorate the tree so we’re gonna decorate the tree. It doesn’t matter what I feel and what I’d rather be doing because of it, Henry shouldn’t have to put up with this, with my problems.”

Regina shook her head. “It amazes me how you ever thought you couldn’t be a mother.’

Emma kept her eyes on her mug and didn’t respond.

“For a teenager, you’re surprisingly not selfish when it comes to Henry,” Regina added.

“I just… it’s not fair to the kid. That’s all. That doesn’t make me a good mother or even someone ready to be a mother. You know it takes more than what I’m saying to take care of him.”

“Yes, but the attitude you have of putting him first is an important priority of being a mother.”

“Sure. Fine. Whatever,” Emma dismissed the subject. “I don’t want to watch a movie, at least not instead of decorating the tree. We can watch one after.”

Regina looked straight into those determined green eyes.

“Then you might want to put on some clothes because Henry will be happy to start on that tree as soon as possible. And I doubt he’d want to be scarred by seeing more of you than he ever should.”

Emma laughed.

“I’m not showing anything too scarring. So he sees a little skin above my knee. I’m not flashing my goods.”

“Shift a certain way in that towel and you just might.”

Emma raised an eyebrow, amused.

“Sounds like someone’s curious to see what’s underneath,” Emma grinned as she teased the roll in the towel used to hold the material against her body.

Regina walked ground the counter and stepped up to Emma, the two mugs she was responsible for left behind in their places. She grabbed Emma’s hands and halted the girl’s movements.

“Even if I was curious that doesn’t mean you should take fun out of the mystery.”

Emma smiled. It started small and spread into a warm and amazed expression that seemed to make her glow.

“I’ll keep the towel on until I go upstairs and change if you tell me something about yourself, something I ask you about.”

“If it’ll make you feel better and get you to put on clothes faster.”

Emma smirked and cocked her head to the side as a way to provoke an entertaining response.

“Are you ticklish or have that one spot that drives you crazy when it’s touched?”

“And here I thought you might not flirt with me given the way today turned out.”

“It’s a nice distraction. Now answer my question.”

Regina let go of Emma’s hands and brought hers back to her sides.

“I’m not particularly ticklish, but there are a few places that make me…squirm.”

Emma’s previous smirk returned with a much more predatory appeal that time.

Regina rolled her eyes, but smiled in place of a laugh.

“And I do have that one spot,” Regina finished.

Emma’s smirk disappeared and her eyes darkened.

“You’re not going to tell me where?”

“That wasn’t the question,” Regina grinned as she slowly backed away from the teen and went back to her place on the other side of the counter.

Emma bit her lip and softly chuckled as she looked down at her mug then back up at Regina as the brunette lifted the other two mugs, ready to leave the kitchen.

“Thank you,” Emma said.

Regina blinked at the blonde then furrowed her brows.

“For what?”

“Knowing how to deal with me,” Emma breathed out a laugh. “I know I’m a handful and you’ve done all these things for me without a single complaint.”

“We have Henry to think about.”

“Right,” Emma said, defeated.

“Plus, I know how it feels…to not be good enough for someone,” Regina hesitantly, almost nervously, explained.

Emma’s defeated look vanished.

“You’re more than good enough,” Emma blurted out.

Regina flashed a quickly disappearing smile.

“So are you.”

With that, Regina walked into the foyer and made her way into the family room while Emma remained rooted in her spot at the kitchen counter, another glowing smile, and even a blush across her cheeks, caused by Regina Mills.

---

Ten minutes later, a Christmas CD played softly in the background while Henry rooted around in the ornament box for his favorite things to hang on the tree. Regina daintily sipped at her second cup of hot chocolate on the couch and Emma sat with her legs tucked under herself on the floor. She leaned back against the bottom of the couch with her arm close enough to Regina’s legs to feel the brunette’s body heat mingle with her own.

Since Henry and Regina were already in their pajamas, though it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, Emma had changed into some too. She wore a white tank top and red, cotton pajama pants. It wasn’t her normal sleeping attire, but there was a twelve year old boy, her son, in the house and she couldn’t just walk around in her panties.

There was a small, clear container filled with disorganized and twisted together hooks for the ornaments that Emma took upon herself to fix before passing them off to Henry for the ornaments he was ready to hang on the tree. Regina smiled as she watched the two of them work silently together, the cheery holiday music making the moment seem more real and feel like home. Although, home was a strange concept for the brunette considering the fact that she was from a different world and had virtually no family in her current one. That was, until Henry and Emma had come into her life.

“So, Emma, are you gonna decorate your tree tonight too,” Henry asked as pinched one of the hooks around an ornament.

Emma shrugged.

“I don’t know. We’ll see what decorations are left for the tree and go from there.”

“Oh, Emma,” Regina started, “you can pick out a few ornaments for your tree. You don’t have to wait to get the leftovers.”

“It’s okay,” Emma smiled at Regina. “These are your family ornaments. Let the kid put all the sentimental ones on the family tree and then I’ll know which ones can be put on mine.”

Regina leaned forward and ran a hand through blonde curls.

Emma’s eyes fluttered closed as she relaxed into the other woman’s touch.

“Henry and I don’t mind sharing,” Regina said. “Right, Henry?”

“Right,” Henry brightly smiled at both of his mothers with his hand outstretched to place an ornament on the full-bodied, family tree. “You’re family, Emma. Just because you weren’t a part of those memories doesn’t make you less part of us. And you said we’d make new memories.”

“There’s no reason those new memories can’t also involve some of our old ones,” Regina added.

Emma looked from Henry to Regina and gave a watery smile. She withheld her tears and settled for bumping her shoulder against Regina’s leg as a returned, affectionate gesture.

“Thank you,” she said to both of them.

“Now go help Henry hang ornaments and hang a few on your tree as well,” Regina told her as she moved her hand lower in Emma’s hair then rubbed the teen’s shoulder.

Emma breathed out a short laugh before she pushed herself onto her feet then joined Henry on the other side of the coffee table.

For the next ten minutes, Emma and Henry picked through ornaments and hung them on the family tree. Emma had refrained from putting any on her small, browning tree. Regina had noticed of course, but she bit her tongue and allowed Emma to do what she wanted. She’d given the blonde permission to put any of the ornaments on her own tree and as long as Emma knew she had that option, Regina trusted the teen would be fine.

With Christmas soon approaching, Regina filed away tiny things about Emma. The more she understood about the younger version of the woman she’d started to get to know in the last year and a half, the more ways she knew how to comfort and help her. The more she understood, the more she found herself wanting to do nice things for Emma just to make her feel better. There was no way it was just for Henry’s sake anymore either. If she was honest with herself though, it was never just for Henry’s sake.

Emma pulled out one particular ornament and paused. Hr face fell a little and when Regina caught sight of it, she didn’t understand what exactly Emma felt.

“Are you alright, dear?”

“Hmm?”

Emma turned her head to look at Regina and blinked out of her thoughts.

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, I’m okay. Just…thinking. What’s…this from?”

Emma held out the ornament in her hand as if to put it on display. It was a red paper heart with a few scribbled out sentences on one side with a five letter name signed to it at the bottom. On the other side, there was a picture of Regina and Henry glued to it. Mother and son were curled up and cozy in Henry’s bed with a book opened up and laid flat on Regina’s stomach as the two of them slept. Regina’s lips were gently pressed to the top of Henry’s head, their eyes closed as they fit snuggly on the little bed together. Henry looked no older than four or five.

Regina slowly smiled at the memory the picture evoked every time she saw it.

It was Henry’s Christmas present to me the first year we celebrated it. He said it was a thank you for getting him a tree.”

Henry’s cheeks reddened and Emma turned to look at him just then to see him blush.

“The picture was one of my favorites and I told him that when he saw me adding it to the photo album,” Regina continued. “Mary Margaret and…Graham…helped him make the heart out of colored construction paper. Then he told them what he wanted to say on the back and Graham wrote it for him.”

Henry stepped closer to Emma and Regina and added to the story.

“I didn’t know how to write my name then, I really wanted to write it. Grandma…Mary Margaret put the marker in my hand and held it while she helped me spell out my name.”

Emma smiled at Henry then turned to Regina and smiled even more at the heartwarming expression on the woman’s face.

“That’s cute,” Emma said. “Why don’t you put it on the tree?”

Emma held out the hand crafted ornament to Regina.

Regina shook her head.

“Henry can do it. I’ll just watch you two decorate the tree.”

“Oh, no, you don’t, “Emma said as she walked back over to Regina and tugged on her hand. “Come on, Regina.”

“No, no, dear,” Regina shook her head as she fought against Emma’s pull. “This is for you two.”

“Then that means you should do what makes up happy as we do this, right? I’m not gonna be happy until you help with the tree.”

“I put the lights on the tree. Isn’t that enough?”

Emma stopped tugging on Regina’s hand.

“Nope.”

Emma sighed with a smile and plopped down in Regina’s lap. She wrapped an arm around Regina’s neck and held out the ornament in her other hand, away from them.

“You need to be a part of these new memories Henry and I are making,” Emma added.

“I’m here. My presence in the memories should suffice.”

“Oh, come on, Mom,” Henry deadpanned as he scrunched up his face. “You’ve got to be involved. What’s holding you back?”

“Yeah, Regina,” Emma smirked. “Get involved.”

Emma suggestively raised her eyebrows and leaned a little closer to Regina.

Regina lowered her voice to make sure only Emma heard what she had to say in response.

“And how would you like me to get involved,” Regina teasingly purred.

Emma bit her bottom lip and failed to suppress another smirk. Her cheeks turned red and Regina figured the blonde’s face must have felt as hot as it looked.

“Um, we can start with you hanging some ornaments,” Emma said with a growing smile as she brought the ornament in her hand closer to Regina. “The rest is something I don’t think we should talk about in front of the kid.”

“I see,” Regina replied.

“Moms,” Henry called out. “Are you two hanging ornaments or not? You look weird sitting like that.”

Emma tensed a little and slowly removed herself from Regina’s lap while Regina followed the teen’s lead and got to her feet.

Regina took the ornament from Emma and the two of them walked to the tree. She lifted the ornament and hung it by the red ribbon tied to the top of the heart close to where the star would go. Regina looked over at Emma as the blonde took another ornament out of the box and hung it on the other side of tree.

Emma looked over at Regina as if she had felt the woman’s eyes on her and when their gazes locked, Emma winked at her.

The two shared a grin as the festive holiday music played on and Henry focused more on the task at hand than his mothers.

---

Though her day had been rough, Emma slept better than she had in a while – aside from all the nights she’d spent at Regina’s since her magical transformation. She would have slept longer too, but the temperature in the house had dropped since she fell asleep the previous night. Even bundled up under the guest bed’s covers, she felt the chill on her nose and feet. If she didn’t kick at the comforter all night every night, Emma’s feet would have been under the covers, but she was a bit of a wild sleeper.

It wasn’t terribly cold, but it was just unpleasant enough for the teen to open her eyes and find the reason for the room’s chill. Emma sat up in bed and blinked away the sleep from her eyes as she tried to pull the covers with her to keep herself warm. After the haze left her vision and she could see as clearly as possible without her glasses, she threw the covers aside and grabbed her glasses on the way to the window.

Everything was gray in the room, lit by a bluish white hue that came from the natural light from the hidden sun that streamed through the window. Emma stopped in front of the window in her borrowed pajamas and opened thin, elegant and partially transparent white drapes. What she saw in the backyard happily surprised her as much as seeing her beloved Bug at the end of the pathway had earlier in the week.

Bursting with excitement, Emma ran out of the guest room and straight into Regina’s without so much as a knock. But once she was inside she didn’t hesitate to make her presence known.

“Regina!”

The brunette only had a few seconds to stir at the loud exclamation from the blonde before she felt Emma jump on top of her, the teen’s thighs wrapped around Regina’s hips as she straddled the other woman.

Regna groaned when she saw the time displayed on her alarm clock.

“It’s early. Go back to bed,” Regina grumpily ordered.

“You have to look outside,” Emma easily ignored the woman’s complaint.

“I don’t have to go to work for another two hours today. I’d like a little more time to myself before I have to be the mayor again. Even Henry isn’t up.”

“But, Regina,” Emma whined and drew out the brunette’s name as she bounced up and down on top of the woman, which caused Regina to shake in the bed.

Regina released an exasperated sigh as she finally allowed her eyes to remain open longer for more than a few seconds. She looked up at Emma and batted her hair out of her face to glare better at the teen.

“What,” Regina mimicked Emma’s whiny, childish tone as she dragged out the single syllable.

Emma beamed down at Regina while her long, blonde hair cascaded around her face like the curtains on every window in the house.

“It snowed!”

“Why are you telling me?”

“Because I want you to come play in it with me,” Emma continued to smile her big and contagious smile.

“I’m not the type of person to roll around in snow.”

“Are you the type of person to roll around with me,” Emma asked with a smirk.

Before Emma could process what was happening, Regina smacked the teen’s thigh.

“Hey,” Emma protested with a hint of a laugh.

Regina smiled up at Emma but did nothing to push the blonde off of her. She enjoyed the moment for a second longer before realization sank in.

“This is the first time it’s snowed all season,” Regina said.

“Uh, yeah,” Emma responded like Regina should have understood that a while ago. “That’s why I want you to come outside with me. There’s plenty of snow to work with and I’m not going out there alone.”

“Take Henry with you. He has this thing about the first snowfall,” Regina started to explain, but didn’t finish due to a brown haired and excited interruption in the form of their son.

“Mom! Mom,” Henry exclaimed as he ran into the room, much like Emma, without knocking. “It snowed! First snow of winter this year.”

Henry’s eyes slid over from Regina to Emma and he suspiciously eyed their compromising position.

“Emma? What are you doing?”

“Annoying me in an attempt to get me to come outside with her,” Regina answered.

Emma turned her head and mischievously grinned at Henry.

“Yeah, I’m trying to get her to play in the snow,” Emma said before she conspiratorially motioned with her head toward Regina.

Henry grinned in a way that scarily matched his birthmother’s and Regina narrowed her eyes at both of them.

Suddenly, Henry dashed over to the side of the bed and jumped onto it a split second before he bounced in tandem with Emma.

“Please, please, please, please, please,” Emma started to beg, but with a large smile on her face.

Henry begged with her after the second time she said “please”.

Regina bounced on the bed as an effect of the aftershocks caused by Emma and Henry jumping up and down on their knees on the mattress springs.

“Enough, children,” Regina only half-heartedly scolded, her eyes focused on Emma when she used the demeaning title.

“Not until you agree to play in the snow with us,” Emma said.

“Yeah, Mom. Come on,” Henry said before both he and Emma stopped bouncing.

Henry threw himself over top of his brunette mother. He sprawled out horizontally across her chest and Emma laughed while Regina let out a shocked exclamation.

Emma then carefully lowered herself vertically over both of them, which sandwiched Henry between his two mothers.

Henry giggled and Emma stared straight into Regina’s eyes. She smiled at the other woman while their noses brushed against each other in their closeness.

“What do you say, Regina,” Emma asked as the two of them refused to look anywhere else but at each other.

There was a light in Emma’s eyes and a softness on her face that didn’t, or at least rarely did, exist before she reverted to her teenaged self. She looked so youthful and happy in that moment and that light in her eyes brightened at Regina’s answer.

“I’ll join you outside–”

“Yes,” Henry victoriously hissed.

“But I will not,” Regina continued, “play or roll in the snow.”

Several minutes later after the family of three got dressed for a day out in the cold, Emma and Henry were picking up and packing snow into balls with their gloved hands. Regina stood on the patio and leaned against one of the wooden posts that held up the roof over it in. She pulled her coat tighter against herself when the occasional breeze blew it open a little too much. She smiled at Emma and Henry as she watched them throw snowballs at each other for a few minutes and even chuckled when Henry latched onto Emma’s arm and smashed the snowball against the front side of her shoulder.

Emma retaliated with a snowball to Henry’s chest then, in one swift move, turned to face Regina as she packed another snowball before she pitched it at the brunette who refused to participate.

The snowball hit Regina in the stomach though it only really landed against her gray coat just below her crossed arms.

“Emma,” Regina warned, but any other words she wanted to share with the blonde were lost to her when a second snowball hit her in the chest.

The older woman blinked then directed her attention to the boy not far behind and off to the side of Emma.

Henry smiled at her like a child who wanted to turn on their cuteness to avoid consequences for the trouble they knew they were in. It was really more of a proud grin.

Emma laughed then held up a hand for Henry to make contact with.

“Nice,” Emma complimented him when he high-fived her.

“You two think this is funny,” Regina asked with an arched brow as she stepped off the patio and into the snow covered yard.

Emma and Henry just smiled at her.

“Well, not as funny as what I’m about to do to both of you,” Regina grinned one devious glint away from her infamous Evil Queen grin.

The other two continued to smile though they backed away from the intimidating brunette that approached.

“Run, kid,” Emma said as the gently swatted his arm with the back of her hand.

Within the next second, Henry ran in one direction and Emma ran in the other.

Regina’s grin widened and became crooked in the process as one corner of her mouth twitched further upward than the other.

She stood still in the spot she’d been in when Emma and Henry had bolted from her, but in a cloud of purple she disappeared and then reappeared. She didn’t stay in place long enough for the smoke to clear and reveal her identity before she snatched Henry up into her magic cloud then disappeared again.

Before the snowball flingers knew anything, another purple cloud appeared behind Emma and Regina, with Henry secured in one arm, lunged out of the smoke and tackled the blonde into the snow. Regina pinned both Henry and Emma to the ground and sprawled out on top of them as she grabbed fistfuls of snow in each hand. She sat up with her knees pressed into the cold snow in the small space between Emma and Henry and threw the snow down into their faces. Both of her victims groaned and laughed and tried to spit the snow out of their mouths. Regina laughed.

Emma and Henry brushed the remaining snow off of their faces and when Emma saw Regina clearly – without any snow obstructing her vision – she reached up and grabbed Regina by the wrist. She pulled the other woman face down into the snow between herself and Henry, but before Regina could choke on the snow Emma rolled the other woman toward her and swung a leg over the brunette’s waist. Emma straddled Regina’s stomach and laughed as she grabbed a bunch of snow then mashed it up in Regina’s hair.

Henry laughed as he rolled onto his side to watch Emma assault Regina’s hair then lazily tossed snow at Regina’s face in his own retaliation.

“Has the Queen suffered enough,” Emma asked with a smile, her amusement evident in her tone.

Regina sputtered snow and wiped away the snow that still remained on her face.

“If I say no will you continue to make unbearable knots in my hair while you persist to tangle it with snow?”

“Among a few other things,” Emma teasingly smirked down at her.

Regina huffed.

“I’ll never surrender to you, Princess.”

Emma loudly laughed.

“Just what I was hoping to hear,” Emma replied. “Henry, hold her down.”

Henry slid over, on his knees, to the place above Regina’s head and grabbed both of her wrists.

“Surrender to your knights in shining armor,” Henry brightly smiled as he loosely, gently, held down Regina’s hands.

Regina faintly smiled as she jokingly narrowed her eyes into a glare directed at her son while the boy’s face hovered above hers.

Suddenly, Regina felt Emma shift over her stomach before her coat and shirt were lifted away from her skin and a chill crept over her bared stomach. An even bigger chill hit her flat on when she tried to look down her body at Emma, which was when the blonde patted a handful of snow against her stomach.

Regina gasped and instinctively started to writhe beneath the teen in an attempt to somehow gain freedom.

“How about now,” Emma asked. “Way I see it is that what Henry and I are doing to you is much funnier than what you did to us.”

“Yeah. Plus, you cheated,” Henry chimed in.

Regina looked from Emma to Henry and back to Emma again.

“You can’t convince me to surrender,” she said.

“Oh, come on, Regina. You know you want to give in to our every whim,” Emma said.

Regina flashed a grin. When it started to fade away, she bucked her hips and turned her body at an awkward angle as she rolled on top of Emma. As she did, she managed to slip her hands out of Henry’s poor grasp and momentarily struggled to push the upper half of her body off of Emma’s, the two of them flush against each other from chest to hips at that moment. It only took a couple of seconds for Regina to press her gloved hands into the snow on either side of Emma’s head. She leaned back on her knees and tilted her head with a proud grin on her face.

“See? I’ll never surrender,” Regina said.

Emma sighed and relaxed her entire body in defeat as she seemed to accept what she was told.

Regina stood and brushed off the snow from her knees and her stomach without showing an inch of skin. When she saw movement below her, her eyes immediately found Emma and watched as the teen fanned out her arms and legs over and over, back and forth.

“Making snow angles now, are we,” Regina asked with a raised brow and entertained upward lilt of her lips.

“Yep.”

Henry allowed himself to fall onto his back then mirrored Emma’s actions.

In all the time they’d spent outside, Regina noticed that Henry had never stopped smiling. She shook her head and quietly laughed, softly enough that it could barely be heard, as she admired the two people on the ground in front of her.

“You should make one too, Mom,” Henry said as he continued to wiggle around in the snow.

Regina smiled at him.

“You always made one with me when I was younger,” Henry added.

“You did,” Emma asked as she stopped all movement and looked up at Regina.

“I did, yes,” Regina confirmed as she kept her eyes on Emma then looked at Henry before she continued, “but I usually finished mine first or waited for Henry to make his. I always helped him out of the snow so he wouldn’t ruin his precious creation.”

“What if I don’t want to ruin mine,” Emma asked.

Regina held back a laugh before she moved closer to the teen and extended a hand.

Emma beamed as she took Regina’s hand and allowed the brunette to pull her into a sitting position before she carefully readjusted her position and dug her heels into the ground. With her hand still in Regina’s, Emma lifted herself onto her feet while she used Regina as an anchor of sorts, a way to ground herself as she tried her hardest not to step on her snow angel, or even the edges of her snow angel, as she stood.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Emma humbly said as she bowed once she was free and clear from potentially destroying her work of art.

“What about me,” Henry asked before Regina even had time to blush.

Emma and Regina looked at Henry with a soft, maternal expression then went to help him up.

Together, they helped Henry up and away from his snow angel without disturbing the design. All of them smiled throughout the process and it was another family moment. Everything was whole and happy and it fit. They fit.

“I should get to work,” Regina said as they let go of each other.

“What? No,” Emma whined and pouted. “Stay a little longer. Like…all day.”

Regina smiled and Emma stepped closer to her.

“I can’t. Things may be chaos-free around town, but some people still see me as the Evil Queen. Not showing up to work would only make them think I’m plotting against them or don’t care enough about them. And then they’ll retaliate.”

Emma took Regina by the wrists and moved even closer.

“Then stay home with people that don’t see you that way.”

Emma brightly smiled at Regina and stopped all too close in front of the brunette.

“Such a charmer,” Regina stifled a giggle and smiled back at the blonde. “It’s amusing watching the esteemed Savior, daughter of Snow White try to convince me to spend the day with her and my son.”

“Well, apparently the charmer in me comes from my dad,” Emma shrugged and gently squeezed Regina’s hands when her own drifted downward to clasp the other woman’s. Their fingers brushed before Emma squeezed.

“Regardless of your ‘skill’ to charm, dear, I still have to go.”

Emma pouted and gave a groaning whine then threw her arms around Regina and pressed her nose to the bare crook of Regina’s neck, nuzzled beneath the collar of the brunette’s coat.

“What about breakfast,” Emma mumbled into the other woman’s skin.

“I can make some for you and Henry, but I’ll have to take mine on the way into the office.”

For a moment, a brief moment, Regina inhaled the faint mixtures of scents of the shampoo Emma borrowed every day and the smell of the guest room bed sheets. She relaxed into the hug and then a whoosh of air and something cold and compact hit their shoulders and hair.

Emma and Regina parted and turned to see Henry display a toothy and partially lopsided smirk.

“Breakfast time,” Henry practically sing-songed before he pushed both mothers back into the house.

After Regina made breakfast, she said goodbye to the children, took her breakfast to-go, and instructed that one of them call her if they needed anything. Once she was gone, Henry and Emma sat down to eat together. It hadn’t been planned, but it had happened and apparently, Henry wanted to make the most of their impromptu eating arrangement.

“So,” he drew out the word a little. “Do you like Mom?”

Emma’s eyes widened and she choked on her food. She coughed a few times before her breakfast dislodged from her throat and she could breathe again.

“What,” Emma asked when she settled down, her eyes still a little wide.

“Do you like her,” Henry repeated, that time more as a statement. “Romantically?”

“Wow, kid,” Emma said before she thickly swallowed. “That’s a…big word. How old are you again?”

Henry rolled his eyes and Emma was reminded how much he was in fact her kid.

“Come on, Emma. I see the way you rely on her and that hug this morning? I’ve never seen you hug anyone like that. There was that one time with Grandma and Gramps, but we all thought we were going to die…so it was different.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” she shrugged.

“It’s okay if you like her, you know.”

“Is it? Because she makes it seem like it’s wrong.”

Henry smiled.

“Yeah, she does that sometimes,” Henry said. “It isn’t because it’s you. Well, it isn’t entirely because it’s you.”

Emma sighed and took a bite of her breakfast.

“It really is okay if you like her,” Henry said. “I think she likes you too, but doesn’t want to admit it.”

Emma shook her head.

“She might like me, but I think she wants to be friends. For your sake.”

“Maybe you two need to talk,” he suggested with raised eyebrows and a slightly knowing expression, like a kid trying to keep a secret but still wanting others to know they knew more than they were letting on.

Emma furrowed her brows and chewed her food a little slower as she watched him get up and take his plate to the sink.

“Why is everything so complicated with you Mills’,” she grumbled as she finished chewing and picked at her food.

Chapter Text

Regina would have preferred to be late for work with the excuse of staying home longer, but she reminded herself that what she was doing was for those she had left at the house. So with a huffed out sigh, Regina climbed two flights of stairs in a dingy yellow and green hallway and stopped in front of a paint-chipped, green door she had only bothered to be face-to-face with once or twice before. She took a deep breath and kept her composure as she slowly lifted a fist then proceeded to knock on the worn wood.

It took about a minute, or what might have felt that way since it took more like three seconds, before the door was pulled open. Inside the apartment stood a slightly disheveled and definitely tired Snow White. The school teacher blinked her wide eyes a few times as though it would rid her of her shock or possibly reveal that she had only imagined the mayor standing on the other side of her door.

“Regina,” Snow almost squeaked and stammered out. “Wh-what are you doing here? Where’s Emma?”

“At my house, with Henry, and before you ask she’s fine. Not entirely happy with you, but she’s not physically hurt at least.”

Charming walked up and stood behind his wife, a flare instantly directed at their visitor.

“What the hell are you doing here,” Charming growled. “Haven’t you done enough?”

“I haven’t done anything other than take care of Emma,” Regina immediately went on the defensive.

“More like you’ve turned her against us,” Charming argued.

Regina rolled her eyes.

“I’m not the one who confessed to wanting a second child because you’re unhappy with your first.”

Snow’s eyes shot down to focus on the floorboards beneath her feet.

“That’s not what she meant,” Charming said as he protectively stepped in front of his wife. “Emma just—”

“What? Misunderstood? Yes, she must have,” Regina sarcastically started in. “That’s why she spent most of the night crying while Henry and I did what we could to be there for her.”

“Excuse me,” Snow quietly said as she tried to walk further into the apartment and away from the argument.

“You aren’t going to run away from this, Snow,” Regina growled like a panther stalking and cornering their prey and pushed her way into the apartment, past Charming.

“Please, Regina,” Snow weakly begged.

“Don’t plead or grovel,” Regina spat. “It makes you sound as pathetic as your cursed personality.”

“Why don’t you stop terrorizing her like the Evil Queen you supposedly used to be,” Charming sharply suggested.

Regina glared at him with fiery brown eyes and a tense jaw.

“I’m only forcing her to accept that however she meant the words Emma overheard, she needs to stop crying and whining and beating herself up. It’s time for her to be the mother she thinks she already is and put Emma first. You keep arguing that she’d be better off with you because you’re her parents, but I haven’t seen you do much right by her lately. Ever since she turned eighteen again, all you’ve done is hurt her and blame me for your wrongs. You need to acknowledge your faults and apologize.”

Snow’s eyes flickered up to catch Regina’s gaze with a questioning look.

“You seem to care an awful lot about this.”

“I’m reformed,” Regina explained. “You saw. In Neverland. I’ve changed.”

“I know that,” Snow said with a shake of her head. “But this seems more personal than just doing a good deed or doing this because you think Henry wants it.”

“Maybe because I know what it’s like to crave love from people that don’t return it.”

Realization of how Regina’s statement and what it had to do with Emma hit Snow and her face showed it. Charming slowly walked over toward the women with a curious expression. Before either of them could say anything, Regina was quick to continue.

“But it’s not about my emotional familiarity with this kind of issue; it’s about how Emma feels throughout all of this. The best thing you can do for her is to give her a little time and then give her an honest apology.”

Regina looked from Snow to Charming and back again.

“Take my advice or don’t, but at least consider it. This is your family you’re hurting by not doing what’s right.”

With that, Regina left the Charmings to think it over and she finally made it to her office, but once she got to work she felt almost empty. She signed off on paperwork and scheduled a couple of meetings for the first few days after her Christmas break, all with a frown on her face.

---

After breakfast, Emma and Henry had plopped down on the couch to watch TV and a movie or two when nothing good was on cable. It got dull fast, however, and both had already long ago showered after their morning in the snow. They were too comfy and warm inside the house and it just didn’t seem as much fun to play in the winter weather without Regina.

The TV went off with a sigh from Emma and the press of a button and Emma and Henry looked at each other with bored expressions.

“What do we do now,” Emma asked and neither of them moved from their places next to each other on the couch.

Henry shrugged.

“I…don’t know. I guess we could…play board games,” he slowly suggested as he thought it up while he spoke.

Emma scrunched up her face in displeasure.

“If that’s all there is to do around this impossibly large house then I guess it’s better than staring at the wall until your mom gets home.”

Emma and Henry both got off the couch at the same time and Henry briefly hurried ahead of Emma and led her to the stack of games in the sitting room where they looked over their options.

Monopoly, The Game of Life, Connect Four, checkers, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, and Battle Ship. Many choices and probably plenty of time to play a game of each before the end of Regina’s work day if they really wanted to do that.

“Pick your favorite, Kid,” Emma said with a motion toward the games.

“Um,” Henry looked over his choices again then moved toward the game boxes. “Monopoly.”

Henry pulled the box out from between two other games and handed it to Emma.

“We can play at the dining room table,” Henry said as he headed over to the mentioned room.

Emma followed him once again and the two of them sat at the corner of the table, sort of but not entirely across from each other. They set up the board, claimed their pieces, and organized the money then started to play. It didn’t take long before conversation flowed between them while they kept their hands busy with the game.

“So…everything that’s happening with your parents,” Henry cautiously approached the topic. “Is it about you feeling abandoned?”

“Uh,” Emma held out the word for a few seconds, a little thrown off by the topic of conversation. “I guess. Yeah. Even finding them…still seems like I’m being dumped on the side of the road.”

“They don’t mean to make you feel that way,” Henry replied.

Emma bought property without a word about her purchase and only looked away from Henry when she quickly looked down to transfer her money from her hand to the bank.

“You seem awfully insightful for a twelve year old,” she said.

Henry picked up, shook up and then rolled the dice before he said anything else.

“Between Mom and the curse and you and your…flip-flopping,” he said as he moved his game piece, but immediately froze when he realized how his words sounded. “I…didn’t mean—”

Emma shook her head.

“No. It’s okay, Kid. You feel how you feel,” she said and forced a tense smile that was supposed to be a lot warmer and more relaxed than it actually appeared.

“Felt,” Henry corrected. “How I felt.”

Emma furrowed her brow.

“You and Mom have both changed. It’s kind of funny because when you stopped thinking running away was the answer, Mom really started to listen to me and tried to be better.”

Emma seemed to give that some thought.

“Anyway,” Henry kept her from thinking about it too much. “You two didn’t realize how things made me feel until after it hurt me.”

Emma thought about it for only a couple of seconds before she nodded in agreement and quietly sighed.

“If there’s anything I’ve learned from being yours and Mom’s kid, it’s that…parents try and sometimes fail. But parents like you and Mom? Like your parents? They always mean well and…eventually they’ll come around.”

“And what? See the error of their ways,” Emma joked, a genuine smile on her face that time.

Henry laughed.

“Just wait. Things will turn around. You’ll see,” he smiled at her.

She smiled back again, her heart on her sleeve and love in her eyes.

“Now that we’ve mentioned Mom,” Henry somewhat sang as he suggestively raised his eyebrow.

Emma rolled her eyes and stole the dice from his side of the game board.

“Smooth, Kid,” she sarcastically said and took her turn.

“What? It’s normal for me to have questions.”

“Questions like…?”

“Like…are you interested in all women or just my mom,” he teasingly asked.

Emma laughed like his question was half-hilarious and half-ridiculous.

“Okay, you have got to get over this,” Emma said.

“It’s got to just be Mom, right? Because there’s no way I’d exist if you liked women.”

“You know, there is actually a thing called bisexuality,” Emma explained.

“And,” Henry curiously drew out the word with a scrunched up expression as he mulled it over, “That’s what you are?”

“Wh- Hen- No- I-”

“Real convincing,” Henry said with a chuckle.

Emma loudly sighed.

“It’s complicated.”

“That’s your answer for everything.”

“Because a lot of stuff is complicated, Henry.”

“Including liking Mom?”

“We already talked about this over breakfast. I like her. She’s nice. She’s done a lot for me.”

“And I keep asking if you like her like her. I already told you I’d be okay with it.”

“And I’m glad that it wouldn’t bother you if I liked her like that, but I wouldn’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“Then let’s talk about how much you like…to look at her!”

Emma looked floored, but laughed a little and playfully shoved him in his chair by the arm.

“You do realize you’re talking about one of your moms checking out the other, right,” Emma pointed out.

“Ew. Yeah, maybe I didn’t think this through,” Henry said.

They laughed together and lightly started pushing each other before the gentle jostling turned into Emma trying to tickle Henry. He squirmed in his chair and shied away from Emma’s insistent hands.

She remained in her seat as well and her tickles were lame attempts, but they still laughed and squirmed and reached over to continue poorly tickling the kid.

“For the record, you’re mom is really nice to look at,” Emma teased Henry back for bringing up the subject of liking Regina again.

“Gross. Emma, stop,” he said, still chuckling a little.

“Those eyes, those legs, those lips,” Emma grinned.

“Stop. No! It’s torture,” Henry yelled with a smile.

He almost stood up, but before he had the chance bolt from the table, the front door opened and Regina stepped into the foyer.

“Hello,” she cheerily greeted.

“Mom,” Henry smiled at her just in time for the tickling and teasing to stop.

“You’re back,” Emma said with a hint of joy then furrowed her brow and continued to say, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why are you back?”

“I see I’m the only one that’s happy to be home,” Regina replied as she left her purse and keys on the end table in the foyer and made her way into the dining room.

“I’m happy to see you,” Henry said as he shot up from his chair and met her in the entryway for a hug.

Regina’s smile was bright enough to blind when she hugged him back.

“I told you not to take it the wrong way,” Emma said as she stood.

“Relax. I know you didn’t mean it that way.”

“So, what are you doing home,” Henry asked.

“I took the rest of the day off. I decided I’d work through my usual lunch hour and take the rest of the day to spend here with you two.”

“Miss us that much,” Emma asked with a smirk.

Regina hesitated, but held Emma’s gaze the entire time.

“Actually, I did,” she answered.

Emma’s smirked faded into a look of surprise and her eyes held a sense of hope.

“Your company,” she continued and looked from Emma to Henry, “is much more enjoyable to that of a quiet office that has only the promise of a pen scratching against paper to break the silence.”

Emma rolled her eyes with a partial smile.

“I was also thinking the sooner I got home the more time I would have to cook dinner, which means we can all have a decent meal. How does that sound,” Regina asked.

“Perfect,” Henry beamed.

Regina smiled at him then looked up at the blonde teen.

“Emma?”

“You always make a more than decent meal,” Emma responded. “But it sounds great. Mind if I help?”

Regina shook her head. “Of course not. Just try not to burn anything or get sauce all over me.”

Emma grinned.

“No promises about the sauce.”

---

Henry kept himself occupied with a movie and several issues of his favorite comics out in the living room while Emma and Regina prepared dinner in the kitchen. He didn’t think to check up on them or tease Emma further. He was content to read and listen to his choice of movie while the occasional smell of food made him anxious and his mouth water as they wafted in from the other room.

In the kitchen, Emma worked fluidly with Regina as they each performed their own duties toward making a decent dinner. The only time they needed to talk was when Regina checked on Emma’s progress and occasionally corrected the blonde.

“You want to use these instead,” Regina said with a smile as she pulled open a drawer next to the teen and retrieved the correct cookware.

She stood almost directly against Emma’s side as she handed the blonde the better cooking utensils and set aside the one Emma had previously used. She remained at Emma’s side and watched the teen work, though she noted the blonde started to work at a slower pace and with slightly stiffened muscles once she’d started to watch the blonde. She didn’t comment on the changes and just continued to supervise for a while until that supervision became a little interactive. She subconsciously moved her hand to Emma’s ponytail and her fingers played with the tips of her hair.

Emma gulped before she turned her head to look at the other woman. She leaned into Regina just enough to feel her front faintly pressed against her side. She felt Regina twirl her ponytail around her fingers and closed her eyes. She relaxed as Regina continued to play with her ponytail and her own hands slowed, which almost cut her dinner preparation short.

“You have such pretty hair,” Regina complimented.

“Uh, thanks,” Emma’s voice cracked a little from disuse and little from the sensation that being so close to Regina caused. “So…have I managed to do this right?”

Regina grinned and let go of Emma’s other hand. She flicked the teen’s ponytail before she left the blonde’s hair alone and looked from Emma back to the teen’s hands as she resumed watching the blonde work. A few more seconds passed before Regina finally started to step away.

“You’re doing well,” she assured Emma as she went back to her own food prep on the island counter.

Emma didn’t give a response. The two just continued to work and move throughout the kitchen in silence without a hitch.

Once everything was added together and thrown in the oven, it was just a matter of waiting. Regina grabbed a box of crackers from one of the top cupboards and put them on the island as a pre-dinner snack.

“What kind of cheese do you want with those,” Regina asked as she went to the fridge and reached into one of the drawers. “Pepper jack or cheddar?”

“Pepper jack’s the one with the kick to it, right,” Emma asked.

Regina looked over her shoulder and smiled as she let out a breath of laughter then nodded.

“Yes.”

“That one,” Emma replied.

“Good, because it’s what I prefer. I spent so many years listening to Henry complain about how spicy it was and eventually reduced myself to having cheddar cheese if I was going to eat it with him.”

“That’s…wow. I know parents sacrifice for their kids—that’s how it should be, definitely—but even deciding not to have your favorite cheese because you were with Henry? That’s…kind of amazing.”

Regina chuckled.

“He used to grab the cheese slices from me before I could eat them and then throw them on the ground or the counter or the table depending on where we were and say it was bad. I didn’t really have a choice in the matter.”

Emma beamed.

“He was a little booger, wasn’t he,” Emma asked, though it came out more like a statement.

“You have no idea,” Regina fondly said.

Emma’s smile slowly faded at those honest words even though they weren’t said with the intent to sting. She busied herself with opening the packaging inside the box to free the crackers then set them out in an arc on a recently wiped down cutting board.

Regina noticed the shift in Emma’s emotions, but let it be as she went about slicing the block of cheese.

“Regina, I…” Emma started to speak, but stopped herself while she unnecessarily pushed at the crackers once they were all laid out. “Thank you.”

Regina frowned.

“For what?”

“For being here. For giving me…so much. You know, I keep telling Henry how lucky he is, but right now? I’m just as lucky as him. Because you’re here. You’re…”

Emma shook her head and sighed as the words that would convey everything she felt about Regina’s kindness either failed to exist or just failed to form in her mind. Instead, she let the rest of the sentence hang there unfinished and wrapped her arms around Regina’s waist. She gently squeezed Regina after a second and rested her chin in the crook of the brunette’s neck.

Regina hesitated before she reciprocated the meaningful embrace. She looked relieved and sad and moved almost to tears at Emma’s confession as well as the unexpected hug. She closed her eyes and squeezed back.

“I’m the lucky one,” Regina quietly admitted, so quietly Emma wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly.

It didn’t matter what she’d heard, though. It felt good to finally hug and be hugged by someone, someone she didn’t hate and someone she didn’t want a hug from for one reason or another. Then it all became a little too much, too emotional, and she almost wanted to run. But she didn’t run. She chose to break up the heavy moment another way, an easier way that wouldn’t hurt anyone.

“You seem to like touching me, Madam Mayor,” she teased. “First my hair, now the hug? And that’s just today.”

They both pulled away from each other with smiles on their faces. Regina shook her head.

“You’re the one who hugged me, dear,” Regina pointed out.

“I think you confused me with the hair touching. I mean, who plays with someone’s ponytail unless you’re seriously attracted to that person’s cuteness?”

Regina chuckled and very lightly and playfully swatted Emma’s arm.

“You know you weren’t confused.”

Emma rolled her eyes, but continued to smile.

“But I will admit you’re cute.”

Emma’s smile was replaced with a gape.

Regina smirked.

“But you’ll never be cuter than Henry,” Regina added after a few seconds.

Emma finally closed her mouth and she crossed her arms over her chest with a sarcastic and disbelieving look on her face.

“You know his cuteness biologically stems from me, right,” Emma flatly asked. “He might act like you sometimes, but you’ve got to admit the sauce fights and the cheese thing are definitely genetic predispositions.”

Regina laughed just as the oven beeped, and even though the oven almost overpowered the brunette, all Emma heard was that melodious laugh.

---

“A girl would be nice. I could teach her how to braid her hair, dress her up in adorable little outfits. I would do everything I never got to do with Emma,” she overheard her supposed mother say at the drug store.

“Don’t worry, Emma. You’ll have a home one day,” the woman that ran one of the group homes she’d once belonged to had tried to reassure her.

“No one’s ever gonna want you,” one of the boys at the home had told her when she refused to give him back one of the toys he claimed was his and his alone. It had immediately made her drop the toy and he’d smirked before he bent over to pick it up then left her alone to cry.

“She’s…a little older than what we were expecting,” one of the potential couples told the group home director about her while she sat with her knees to her chest on the floor outside of the woman’s office.

“You’re a good for nothing little shit,” a foster mother bitterly spat at her when she ran out of her room with a few bruises and tears while the angry-drunk husband stumbled out with a hand over his eye and the other over his groin after he’d tried to beat her.

“Why don’t you just give up? You’re not smart, you don’t have any money. Why bother with an education since you’re just going to end up living in a trailer park anyway,” a stuck up girl had asked after Emma saw her own failing grade on a progress report.

“What a loser,” a guy said about her to his friends while he looked right at her. A few days later, the entire school was abuzz with how unattractive and desperate she was, how she didn’t understand anything normal people should, like how to be nice and how to hug and how to accept a compliment. Her new nickname for the rest of the time she spent at that school was Emma ‘The Alien’ Swan.

“I’ll see what I can do, Emma, but…there are no guarantees here,” the same female group home director said about trying to keep her out of anymore foster homes. A week later she was placed with a woman that was only after yet another paycheck even though she already had seven other wards of the state in her poor care.

 “We’re taking you home,” a proud couple told the younger girl she’d been playing with at the group home. They hadn’t even bothered to walk the girl out of the room and away from her, or any of the other kids around, before telling their new daughter the good news.

Emma woke up mid-sob and aggressively threw the sheets off of her. She scrambled to sit up in the bed and tried to take a few deep breaths as she felt tears stain her cheeks. Things hadn’t clicked for her the night before, but it had finally set in how long she’d gone without a home.

“I’m here to take Emma home,” Regina had told Snow and David when she’d come to the Sheriff’s station to bail her out while she’d drunkenly assaulted local businesses and her own father not too long ago.

Emma looked around the room and was finally able to relax. She felt a sense of calm and relief wash over her as she recognized the guest room, but she still felt the lingering presence of cruel words and a harsh childhood and everything that led her to running away the first time and kept her running every time after. She sniffled and grunted at the weight of her chest, the weight of her heavy heart.

She didn’t waste another moment in bed. With the sheets flung halfway across and hanging off the bottom corner of the bed, she stood up and abandoned the guest room. She padded down the hallway and didn’t hesitate to open another bedroom door.

She paused in the doorway as she took a moment to watch Regina sleep. The woman’s chest steadily rose and fell while she slept flat on her back, her hands clasped over her stomach. Emma didn’t think it looked comfortable, but she knew from experience that sometimes the most uncomfortable positions were the only ones that permitted any rest.

After a moment, Emma realized her chest didn’t feel as tight or weighed down as it had when she’d first woken up and all she’d done was look at Regina since then. She took a deep breath and shut the door behind herself before she approached the bed.

“Regina,” she whispered and stood beside Regina’s side of the bed as she picked her cuticles and held her hands in front of herself like a nervous child. “Regina.”

Whispering her name did nothing to stir the other woman so Emma gently poked then shook the brunette. It took a few shakes, but eventually Regina groaned and squirmed as she slowly opened her eyes.

“Emma?”

The brunette’s voice was husky from sleep and she looked a little surprised to see the blonde in her room.

“Is something wrong?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Emma said and kept her voice low, aware that it was still late. “I…had a nightmare. Sort of.”

“So you came to me?”

“I…” Emma trailed off and looked over Regina from head to toe before she met the woman’s gaze again. “I just didn’t want to be alone.”

“Does this have to do with your parents?”

“A little. That stuff Snow said yesterday…I guess it hit me kind of late.”

“I’d say it ‘hit you’ right away.”

Emma looked at Regina with a frown and big, sad eyes.

“I also think it’s perfectly normal that you didn’t have this problem last night,” Regina added. “Sometimes it takes a little while to work through things.”

Emma nodded, though her head barely moved. She swallowed and looked down at the floor while she continued to pick at her nails.

“You can sleep in here,” Regina said.

Emma’s head snapped up and she instantly locked eyes with the brunette.

“Really?”

Regina pulled back the sheets and hummed her approval. Emma flashed a quick smile and walked around to the empty side of the bed.

“Thank you,” she said as she crawled in beside Regina.

“Whatever helps, dear,” Regina said and turned on her side with her back to Emma. “Goodnight.”

Emma quickly settled beneath the sheets and scooted closer to Regina.

“Wait, Regina…”

Regina rolled over just enough to look at Emma from over her shoulder.

“Can I…? Can you…?” Emma sighed out of frustration and slight defeat at her sudden inability to speak.

“Emma, it’s okay,” Regina soothingly reassured the teen as she rolled over completely and faced the blonde. “Whatever it is you want to ask me, it’s okay.”

“Um, would it…be okay if I…” Emma held an arm over Regina’s middle and let it hover until she had consent.

Regina looked from Emma to the teen’s arm and back. She smiled.

“Are you trying to ask if you can hold me?”

Emma shyly smiled and bit her bottom lip.

“Like a teddy bear,” she quipped and avoided further awkwardness.

Regina chuckled and draped Emma’s arm over herself as an answer.

“Whatever helps,” Regina repeated. “…Princess.”

“You know, you make it sound like an insult,” Emma said with a smile, “but really I think the Queen’s content to have this princess nearby.”

“Maybe she’s content to have this princess because her prince adores her and all the Queen wants for him to be happy.”

“Mm,” Emma drew out a hum as she pretended to think it over. “As true as that is, you like me anyway.”

“I suppose.”

Emma smiled a little more and snuggled into Regina’s side. She rested her head on Regina’s chest, the top of her head tucked against the crook of Regina’s neck.

Regina slung an arm underneath Emma and wrapped it around the blonde. She rested her forearm against the teen’s hip and draped her hand over the woman’s side so Emma was loosely held against her.

“Goodnight, Emma,” Regina said as the two of them finished adjusting to their new position.

“Goodnight, Regina.”

Emma clung to Regina as she drifted back to a more peaceful sleep. Her breathing evened out and she felt lighter than she had since her eyes had closed for the first time that night. With Regina, she was calm and collected…and maybe, maybe, she was home.

Chapter Text

Toast sprang from the toaster while she flipped the browning pancakes in the pan on the stove. She let the pancakes sit while she fluidly moved to retrieve the toast and set the golden brown slices on a plate then spread butter over each one before the toast could cool and make it impossible for the butter to melt. Her years of being a chef to a constantly hungry little boy showed in the amount of order and skill she demonstrated in the kitchen, a familiar sight to Henry even if he hadn’t witnessed it in a while.

“Are you making breakfast,” a gravelly voice asked from behind her.

Regina, though careful not to abandon the food entirely, turned around to see her son as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes in the entryway to the kitchen.

“Yes, it’s for Emma. Although, I made enough for you and her so you can make yourself a plate.”

Henry took a plate that was already served with pancakes and toast and grabbed some silverware. He cut himself a piece of the double stacked pancakes drizzled with sugary goodness. As soon as the fluffy bite was in his mouth, he smiled and chewed.

“So good,” he mumbled through a mouthful of his breakfast.

Regina smiled as she pulled the pancakes off the pan on the stove and finished preparing a nice tray made of dark stained wood littered with food. She looked from Henry down to the tray before she placed a few napkins beside the pancake plate.

“Cinnamon pancakes,” Henry asked after he swallowed his food.

“Yes,” Regina answered. “You and Emma have a disturbing love for cinnamon. I thought it would be more satisfying to include it in actual food and not just a hot drink.”

“Best Mom ever,” Henry smiled brighter and left his plate on the counter before he tightly hugged her. “Don’t tell Emma. I don’t want her thinking I play favorites.”

Regina chuckled.

“I’m sure if Emma bought you the one thing you wanted that I wouldn’t get you you’d say she was the best.”

Henry smiled again as he pulled away from the embrace.

“You’re right. And you know why? Because I don’t play favorites.”

Regina smirked and Henry’s smile spread. He went back to his plate and she picked up the tray.

“If you’re going to eat that in the living room, please be careful, especially with the syrup.”

Henry nodded before he turned and went straight to where Regina thought he’d go. Regina took the tray and headed upstairs.

When she opened her bedroom door, Emma was still asleep but just barely. She started to stir as Regina approached the bed then woke with a groan and a stretch. When she opened her eyes, she looked at Regina with a furrowed brow then looked at the food tray and smiled when she locked eyes with Regina again. She gave a little laugh and brushed her hair out of her face.

“What’s this,” Emma asked as she sat up.

Regina smiled and set the tray down over Emma’s lap.

“Breakfast in bed,” Regina answered.

“For me?”

Emma beamed at Regina before she pulled the tray closer to herself.

“Do you see anyone else in my bed,” Regina asked with a grin.

Emma laughed a little and looked at the empty side of the bed before she looked back at Regina.

“Not yet…but I’m sure someone’s gonna join me soon.”

Regina rolled her eyes, but after a few seconds sat down next to Emma.

“Happy?”

“Ecstatic,” Emma replied then picked up the provided utensils and dug into the pancakes.

Regina didn’t verbally respond. She only continued to smile and watched the girl eat.

“Cinnamon! Oh my god, Regina. You’re amazing.”

“Adding cinnamon to pancakes hardly makes me amazing, dear.”

“Clearly you haven’t tasted your own perfection,” Emma said as she cut another piece and held it up to Regina. “Come on. You need to know how amazing you are.”

 Regina scoffed with disbelief.

“Come on,” Emma pushed the food closer to Regina’s mouth with a smile on her face.

It earned her another eye roll from Regina, but the brunette relented and opened her mouth. She rested her hand on Emma’s wrist as the younger woman fed her to make it seem less like she was actually being fed, to gain more control over the situation. She wasn’t much for the overly sweet foods or treats and she wasn’t as big of a fan of cinnamon as Henry and Emma, but she emitted a quiet moan when she chewed.

“That is fairly amazing,” Regina slowly confessed.

Emma laughed and cut a few more pieces before she set down the knife and relaxed against Regina’s side. She ate a couple more bites, hummed her contentment then rested her head on Regina’s shoulder.

“No one’s ever made me breakfast in bed before,” Emma admitted.

“Ever? In your eighteen years of life…or longer?”

Emma lifted her head off of Regina’s shoulder to look at the other woman.

“Eighteen. What other age would I be speaking from experience?”

Regina gave her a small smile and shrugged.

“Right,” Regina agreed with her and Emma lowered her head back onto Regina’s shoulder. “What are your plans for today?”

“Uh, I don’t have any. Never do.”

“I’m sure you don’t want to spend the day alone.”

“Never do,” Emma sadly repeated.

“Well, what if you and I did something together?”

“You mean…aside from this?”

Emma smiled up at Regina again.

“So many smiles,” Regina noted. “I’m still not used to seeing you smile.”

“Didn’t have much reason to…until recently. And you weren’t smiling a lot until recently either.”

Regina turned her head and looked down to stare at blonde hair. She reached over and speared the last pre-cut bite of the pancakes with the fork. She ate it then said, “I suppose not.”

Emma grabbed a piece of toast and ate half of it in a single bite. For the first time since her days spent with an uptight foster family that forced her to learn her manners, especially table manners, she waited until after she finished chewing before she spoke again.

“So, what would we do together today?”

Regina let out a throaty chuckle, “Anything.”

Emma sat up fully, her head completely off Regina’s shoulder, and she stared right at the brunette.

“Maybe…maybe we could…bake Christmas cookies? And then…we could take Henry out with us for dinner…as a…family?”

Regina smiled, big and bright.

“Sounds lovely,” she replied.

Emma bit her bottom lip and smiled yet again. “Awesome. As soon as I finish the rest of my breakfast we can get started on those cookies.”

Regina chuckled.

“We’ll have to go to the store first, dear. Henry and I hadn’t exactly made plans to make cookies yet so we don’t have any dough or icing or festive sprinkles.”

“We. So we’re going together?”

Emma looked hopeful with shining eyes and a hint of a smile that barely appeared on her face but was there all the same.

“As a family,” Regina confirmed with a warm expression and a nod.

Emma puffed out a breath of relief and she lit up, so innocent and angelic and Regina thought she felt her heart stop and then beat again to an entirely different rhythm.

Regina took a moment to acclimate herself to the new beat and bask in the special, all-encompassing beauty that had always been Emma Swan, but she only just then had truly been able to see it. A few seconds later, she blinked away the haze and one corner of her mouth twitched toward a smile that didn’t appear for very long. She turned her attention to the almost empty plate and picked up the last slice of toast.

“Now finish your breakfast,” Regina said and then took a bite of the toast.

Emma feigned shock and anger when she saw Regina eat the toast and the brunette laughed when she finished chewing. The laugh was rich and carefree and Emma looked almost as in awe at Regina as Regina had only seconds ago looked at her. It was a shorter lived moment and was less intense as well, but something had shifted between them and that moment was the moment Emma had realized it.

---

Henry had a smile on his face that was hard to get rid of, but neither Emma nor Regina wanted it to disappear. He practically skipped through the store and picked up all the things they needed for their holiday cookies while Regina pushed the cart.

Emma stayed by Regina’s side as the two of them watched Henry. The sight of their son caused both women to smile and when he attempted to put one too many items into the cart, their smiles escalated into bubbly laughter.

“What do you think you’re doing,” Regina asked, her smile still present.

Henry turned to Emma and Regina and slyly grinned at his brunette mother.

“Getting what I want?”

Emma smirked and shook her head.

“He’s smooth. The kid may not be the sneakiest thief, but he sure knows how to talk his way out of his crimes.”

“I suspect he learns from the best,” Regina continued to smile, but redirected it at Emma that time.

“Oh, no, that’s not me. I’m the worst at talking my way out of things.”

Regina’s smile morphed into a lopsided smirk.

“Which you’ve proven since the day I met you. You claim to be able to tell when people are lying, but you’re not very good at it yourself.”

“Oh, so you just wanted me to admit it,” Emma said and gently pinched Regina’s side.

Regina unsuccessfully squirmed away from Emma’s pinch a second too late and laughed through the slight sting it caused.

“Ah-how,” she continued to laugh, but not long after, she let go of the cart with one hand to grab Emma’s.

She pulled the teen’s hand away from her side while they both continued down the aisle behind Henry. She kept Emma’s hand in hers even after she was safe from pinching and Emma actually squeezed Regina’s hand a few seconds later. Regina smiled at her in response.

“Emma?”

The smiles immediately vanished at the sound of a confused and concerned man that Henry, Regina, and Emma were all too familiar with for comfort. The three of them stopped and turned around to face the person that had interrupted family time. Neal.

“What…what are you doing,” he asked as he looked from green eyes behind black glasses to their clasped hands.

Their fingers weren’t laced so it seemed innocent enough, but Neal still frowned and furrowed his brows at the unexpected contact.

“Shopping. What else do you do in a grocery store,” Emma smartly responded.

She didn’t sound angry when she spoke, but she definitely hadn’t greeted him with a smile.

“Oh. Cool,” Neal bobbed his head up and down like a stupid looking nod. “I guess, uh, that’s good. Um…how’ve you been?”

“Fine.”

Neal nodded again then looked around while he stuffed his hands in his front pockets.

“Where’s Henry,” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“He’s supposed to be getting sprinkles,” Emma replied. “I’m pretty sure he’s off gathering all the best junk food while he’s at it.”

Neal chuckled then after a moment said, “I thought I was supposed to get him after he got the tree with you guys.”

“Oh,” Regina said, her eyes wide with realization. “Right. I completely forgot about that.”

“He’s gonna be with us for a little longer,” Emma declared. “We’re doing Christmas cookies today.”

Neal’s expression changed to one of surprise. His eyes were wide and he seemed seconds away from dropping his jaw.

“Really,” he asked.

Emma frowned and quizzically looked him over. “Yeah. Why?”

“Well, I just…with everything going on with you, I didn’t think you’d be up to making cookies.”

“And what exactly do you think is going on with me,” Emma asked, her expression angrier but the rest of her emotions so far in check.

“I heard from your parents that you’ve been a little sensitive lately. They really don’t know what to do and no one really knows if you’re okay. No one’s really heard from you since you took off the other night.”

Emma took a deep breath and let it out with a frustrated sigh.

“Well, what I’m going through is none of your business,” Emma coldly insisted.

Regina released Emma’s hand and slid hers up the blonde’s arm to calm her.

“Hey, whoa, I’m sorry. I just…I’ve been worried about you. We all have,” he explained.

“You never really seemed to care much before,” Emma said and her hand instinctively went to her lower stomach.

Both Neal and Regina noticed the movement and Regina wrapped an arm around Emma’s waist. Once Emma felt her embrace, Emma’s hand slid off her stomach to rest on top of Regina’s hand.

“Hey, Mom, can we get—” Henry stopped himself both physically and verbally when he saw Neal in front of his mothers. “Dad.”

“Hey, bud. What’cha got there,” he asked with a smile that looked a little too forced like a weekend Dad desperate to be liked by his kid, which was what he was. Maybe not desperate yet, but definitely a weekend dad.

Henry took a step back.

“Are you bothering them,” he asked. “Emma seems…”

“It’s okay, Henry,” Emma said.

Regina and Neal turned their attention to Emma.

“He’s leaving. What he’s looking for is in another aisle.” Emma tightly gripped Regina’s hand as she spoke, her eyes fiery and set solely on Neal.

“Emma,” he quietly said as he leaned closer to her. Emma’s grip on Regina’s hand tightened further when he did. “With everything going on with your parents—”

“You should really get that thing in the other aisle,” Emma flatly said as she tried not to lose it in front of Henry.

“I agree,” Regina said and ran her thumb over the palm of Emma’s hand.

Emma took a deep breath as soon as she felt the pressure of Regina’s thumb and she immediately relaxed.

Neal sighed and rubbed the back of his neck before he nodded and turned to Henry, flashed a smile at the boy, and finally walked off.

Once he rounded the corner, Emma released Regina’s hand and clenched and unclenched her fists before she rubbed them on her pants.

“Sorry…if I got your hand kind of gross. I got a little sweaty,” Emma nervously smiled, a little embarrassed.

“It’s okay,” Regina chuckled while Henry approached them with three cans of whipped cream and two boxes of cocoa in his arms.

“Did he say something to you,” Henry asked.

Emma and Regina looked down and only glanced at his eyes before they both instantly saw his full arms.

“What is all of that,” Regina asked with a motherly tone that suggested she wasn’t receptive to whatever his plans were with all the items in his arms.

“Uh, satisfaction? Emma and I run through hot chocolate really fast. Plus, if we’re gonna be making cookies, we’ll be drinking a lot more of it. And we’re almost out of whipped cream at home. We need more,” he shrugged.

Emma laughed then ruffled his hair.

“Kid’s got a point,” Emma told Regina. “We do run through a lot of cocoa and I don’t remember seeing a lot of whipped cream. The best part about cocoa is when you make this whipped cream tunnel with your mouth to sip the cocoa through.”

“Really now,” Regina asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“Mhmm,” Emma smiled and nodded. “I can show you later.”

“Ew,” Henry scrunched up his face. “You two can like each other, but quit flirting in front of me. It’s weird.”

“I really wasn’t flirting with her,” Emma said. “This is me flirting with her.”

Emma turned from Henry to Regina and grinned as she stepped just a little closer.

“I can show you other things later too,” the blonde winked.

“Ewww,” Henry drew out the word and pointedly raised an eyebrow that made him look like his adoptive mother.

“That’s not even good flirting, dear,” Regina shook her head with a smile.

“I didn’t have a lot to work with,” Emma shrugged.

“Oh-kay,” Henry said. “Well, I think as a way to make it up to me for having to see that, we should definitely get the extra cocoa and whipped cream. Oh, and can we make the frosted snowman shaped cookies with all the buttons and the top hat? And the chocolate cookies with the powdered sugar! We have to do those.”

“Okay,” Regina chuckled. “But the things we’ll need to decorate the cookies like that are at the end of the aisle.”

“Got it,” Henry smiled, so quickly happy again.

Henry dropped all the whipped cream and hot chocolate in the cart and darted off again to find more goodies while his mothers lagged behind.

Emma and Regina laughed while they watched him go. Emma then linked arms with Regina and pushed the cart forward with a smile on her face.

“So, what the hell are we making,” Emma asked with some laughter in her voice.

“Just a bunch of sugar cookies and a batch or two of chocolate crinkles. Those are the chocolate cookies with the powdered sugar on top that Henry mentioned,” Regina smiled. “He’s never been able to remember the name.”

“Of course not. All he needs to know is that they’re good and if you’re going to make them.”

“This coming from someone who obviously works the same way,” Regina teased.

“You bet.”

“Moms!”

Henry ran up to them with something red, white, and not a food item in his hand. He held them out and practically shoved them into both of their arms.

“Look what I found,” he beamed up at them as they both took the identical items offered to each of them.

“Santa hats,” Emma asked.

“Yeah,” Henry answered. “They’re the best ones I’ve seen around here.”

“What are we gonna do with Santa hats,” Emma asked as she inspected the one he’d handed her.

“Lots of stuff! We can wear them when we drink our hot chocolate or when we open presents. What do you think?”

Emma gave a half-shrug then slipped hers on and turned from Henry to Regina.

“Well? How do I look?”

She smiled at the brunette and made a few silly poses with the hat.

Regina laughed, a laugh she hadn’t heard from herself in a while and honestly neither had Henry. After a few seconds, she turned to their son and forced her hat on his head even though he held his own hat in his hand. She pulled the hat over his eyes and he smiled and struggled. A moment later she let go and took a step back to look at him. Henry lifted the hat enough for him to see, but didn’t remove it.

“Let me see the two of you together,” Regina requested with a large smile on her face and motioned for them to stand closer.

Emma pushed the cart out of her way and stood next to Henry. Just as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, Regina pulled out her phone and directed the camera at the two of them.

“Perfect,” Regina said before she snapped the picture. “Put them in the cart.”

Henry took the hat off and set both his and Regina’s in the cart and Emma did the same with her own hat.

“Let me see the picture,” Henry said as he came to stand on one side of Regina, Emma to the other woman’s left.

Both huddled around Regina and peered down at the phone while Regina held it out with the picture on display. The three of them looked down at two smiling faces with Emma’s arm around Henry and her head partially rested on the top of his, because even at eighteen Emma was still taller than either Mills.

Then, it hit Emma. It really was just a passing comment and it couldn’t have meant as much as Emma was about to make it mean in her head, but it had been said.

“Perfect?”

Regina had called the pose, the picture, Henry and her together perfect.

Regina turned to her and frowned.

“Don’t you think so,” she asked.

Emma had no words, but apparently Regina had a few more.

“I’d say there aren’t two more perfect people in this whole town. Look at those beautiful faces,” Regina complimented them both then gently and playfully pinched one of Emma’s cheeks.

“It’s…It’s been a long time since anyone’s ever said anything about what I did, or just about me, was perfect,” Emma shyly confessed.

“Well, at the risk of being too cheesy,” Regina started to say then clicked around on her phone. “There. Now the perfect people in the perfect picture are now my perfect background image.”

Emma flashed a teary smile and leaned her forehead against Regina’s temple.

“Thank you,” the blonde whispered.

Henry jumped right in and surprised both mothers when he collided into them and wrapped his arms around them in a family hug.

Emma and Regina chuckled and wrapped their arms around him for a moment while they all took comfort in the embrace then broke apart.

“Alright. Let’s not make a ridiculously sappy scene in the grocery store,” Regina said as she straightened out her outfit.

Emma and Henry smiled and took their places at Regina’s side while the brunette pushed the cart further down the aisle.

“Now let’s get the sprinkles for these cookies. We’ve got a full day of baking ahead.”

---

Holiday music played softly in the background while Emma, Henry, and Regina worked—and played—in the kitchen. They’d already made a batch of green Christmas tree cookies and two batches of undecorated snowmen. There was another batch of cookies in the oven while they took a little break from rolling out the dough Regina had expertly prepared in what felt like no time at all, which impressed Henry and Emma. What made the dough take longer before it was useable was the refrigeration it required, which had left the three of them to find a way to entertain themselves for a couple of hours.

Regina had kept busy by preparing beef stew for dinner. It was the only thing she thought to make that wouldn’t need the oven so she could make dinner at the same time they made the cookies. It also meant the dinner would still be hot by the time the cookies were ready. As soon as the stew had been taken care of, Henry and Emma had said the dough was decent enough for them. Regina had approved and the other two had pulled the dough from fridge before the three of them had started the day-long baking marathon.

The timer on the oven said they had five minutes before the cookies inside would be ready so Emma and Henry had taken it upon themselves to start a war with the leftover flour from one of the previously finished batches. Regina had kept herself out of the line of fire for a while, but it seemed she couldn’t escape an attack because suddenly a small puff, but a puff nonetheless, of flour hit her in the face and on her neck and the very top portion of her black sweater.

“Oops,” Emma said before she covered her smile with both flour-dusted hands cupped in front of her mouth.

“It seems at any age neither of you can avoid making messes in the kitchen,” Regina said after a moment.

“Oh, we can avoid them. We just don’t,” Emma said when she lowered her hands. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Henry nodded in agreement.

“Where’s the fun in being grounded,” Regina asked Henry with a raised eyebrow then looked to Emma.

“I’m eighteen and not your kid,” Emma started to defend herself. “You can’t ground me.”

“Maybe not, but I can make Henry’s punishment worse.”

“But it’s the holidays,” Henry whined.

“You know the rules,” Regina responded.

“Emma!”

Henry turned on the blonde and looked fearful that Regina would actually ground him for what they did, but he almost wore a pouty look too. Like it was unfair that he had to suffer for her mistake, which it definitely wasn’t fair considering that Emma was older than him and should have known better anyway.

“She’s bluffing, Kid,” Emma told him. “She actually secretly likes to get in on these messy fights.”

“What? No she does—”

One side of Henry’s face and a good portion of his brown hair was spattered with flour before he could finish his sentence. He slowly turned to see Regina take a few steps back with a wide grin on her face and a pasty white hand colored by the flour she’d used against him held out in front of her as not to further mess up her outfit.

“Told ya,” Emma said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

“Mom?”

Even after the family snowball fight, Henry looked completely baffled by Regina’s actions. He wasn’t appalled or outraged or disappointed. In fact, he slowly started to smile when he took a good look at his brunette mother. Ever since Emma broke in the night she accidentally turned herself into a teen, Henry had started to see more of the Regina he knew behind closed doors when he was younger. It was how she’d been before he’d started to pull away once he’d started to question where he came from and found out Regina used to be the Evil Queen.

“Relax,” Regina reassured him. “I’m not going to ground you. But we are out of leftover flour so the fighting has come to an end.”

“Awww,” Emma and Henry whined.

The oven beeped and a bubbly Regina redirected her attention to the cookies. She opened the oven, slipped on her oven mitts, and pulled out a cooking sheet filled with yellow stars. She set the cooking sheet on top of the stove and set up the last of the cooling racks in her possession.

“Just like last time,” Regina instructed. “Will one of you help move these onto the rack?”

“Rock, paper, scissors for it,” Emma asked as she held out a closed fist between her and Henry.

“How about you take the left side and I take the right side? Meet in the middle,” Henry suggested.

Emma dropped her fist.

“Good plan,” she agreed with him just before she and Henry moved toward the cookies.

Regina shook her head with a smile as she watched them and quietly laughed into her hand when she saw it didn’t take long before Emma started to playfully nudge elbows with Henry while they moved the cookies onto the cooling rack. Regina turned away for a few moments to grab the gel, icing, and sprinkles for the snowman cookies.

Henry and Emma came over to the counter where she placed everything and they waited a short time until it was finally all set out for them. They immediately looked to Regina for further instruction and Regina smiled at both of them.

“Icing is one of the easy parts. Adding the sprinkles at the end is the easiest,” Regina said as she grabbed an icing spatula and demonstrated how to spread the icing over the rounded cookies. “Put icing on everything but the top hat. For that, use the gel.”

Henry excited grabbed the gel while Emma took the proffered icing spatula from Regina to frost the sugar cookie Frosties. The blonde did the icing while Regina reminded Henry how to work the gel onto the cookie and he immediately started to follow Regina’s instructions from memory as well as what he heard her tell him.

Henry screwed up his face in concentration while he squeezed the gel onto the top hats one after the other. As soon as Emma finished the icing on one snowman, Henry poised the gel over the untouched top hat of that very snowman. On occasion, when he refused to wait for Emma to finish the icing on her current snowman, Henry moved on to a completely undecorated cookie and applied the gel to the top hat before he came back to the snowman Emma had finally finished.

After a several minutes, all the snowman cookies were decorated with everything but the sprinkles, which Regina did in a few quick movements once Emma and Henry backed away from their work.

“Show off,” Emma said as she watched Regina efficiently and seamlessly adorn the snowmen’s bodies with circular, almost pearl like, white sprinkles.

“Who wants to add the eyes,” Regina asked when she finished and smirked at Emma for the blonde’s previous comment.

“I’ll do it,” Emma offered and effortlessly took the gel out of Henry’s hand.

“Don’t forget to add the buttons,” Henry said as Emma started on the eyes.

“And the smile. The snowmen should be smiling,” Regina added.

“Any particular way you anal retentive people want that done,” Emma semi-growled as she dabbed out the first set of gel buttons.

“Like the buttons,” Henry answered.

“Just little dabs,” Regina expanded on Henry’s answer. “Make it look like it was made out of coal like the story of Frosty the Snowman says.”

“While she does that, I’m gonna go pick out a movie for tonight,” Henry said before he disappeared into the living room.

Regina grabbed more gel and started to help Emma. It took them some time, but they added the final touches to the last snowman within ten minutes.

“I used to decorate the Christmas tree cookies too,” Regina told her just as Emma set down her gel. “But it seems a little involved if we’re just going to eat them right away.”

“They’re colored at least. And the gel isn’t what makes the cookies taste good,” Emma replied. “I don’t need a dressed up cookie for me to eat it and like it.”

Regina smiled and followed Emma with her eyes while the teen made her way over to the star shaped cookies.

“You seemed awfully adamant about those cookies,” Regina mentioned and curiously looked over the younger woman.

“I knew a girl once. She had this birth mark shaped like a star on her wrist. She said she liked to think it made her special and then she took a marker and drew a star on my wrist so we matched. After she did she said I was special too.”

Regina frowned.

“You knew her? What happened?”

Emma mirthlessly breathed out a laugh and grabbed two stars then turned and walked over to Regina.

“She was the first and so far only girl that ever broke my heart,” the blonde admitted before she held a cookie out to Regina. “But you and Henry are special. So, here are your star shaped cookies.”

Regina smiled and took the cookie.

“You’re special, too, Emma.”

 Emma blushed a little before they ate their cookies together in silence for a moment. Then, the holiday music switched over to what the women assumed was the movie Henry chose for the night.

Regina looked to the clock and saw that it was already seven.

“Ready for dinner,” Regina asked as she went to the crockpot left in the corner of one of the kitchen counters.

“Starving,” Emma replied and rubbed a hand clockwise over her stomach to pantomime her hunger.

Regina grabbed three bowls from a cupboard near the crockpot and was about to start serving when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Henry called out from the living room before he got up and jogged to the front door.

Regina set aside the bowl she had in her hand and put the lid back on the crockpot before she and Emma followed Henry to the door.

“David,” Regina greeted with shock on her face and in her tone as she walked through the foyer.

Emma almost stopped where she stood, but continued toward the door half a step behind Regina with her mouth slightly agape and her eyes on the man in the doorway.

“Hi. I was hoping I could talk to Emma,” David said as he looked from Regina to Emma and noticed she was just as coated in flour as Henry. “Baking gone awry?”

“No, they—not surprisingly—chose to look like this,” Regina replied. “We’re just about to have dinner. What do you want to talk to Emma about?”

“I just,” David looked between Regina and Emma a few times. “I thought maybe you could talk to your mother soon. She and I are worried sick about you. And when Neal told us what happened at the store—”

“Wait,” Emma took a step closer to David and looked angrier and less shocked in his presence. “Neal talked to you? About today?”

“Yes. He’s concerned, like we all are. The whole town’s asking about you and no one has any answers, except for maybe you three. But none of you will talk about it.”

“Unbelievable,” Emma muttered then spoke up. “I’m not ready to talk to her just yet. I’m not ready to talk to anyone about anything right now. I just want to be left alone. What about that don’t any of you get?”

Emma sighed then turned away from the door.

“I’ll start serving dinner,” she mentioned on her way back toward the kitchen before she mumbled something else. “I should never set foot in stores again since it only seems to lead to a huge mess.”

“Henry, why don’t you go get cleaned up,” Regina suggested in a tone that left no room to argue.

Henry immediately went upstairs and left Regina and David alone in the doorway.

“Coming over here to ask for her to talk to you is not giving her space, David,” Regina lectured him. “Also, the last thing you want to do is tell her you’re getting all your information about her from her ex-boyfriend. You know, the one that set her up to take the fall for him and abandoned her. Honestly, how you two trust him more than me is something I’ll probably never understand.”

“He’s never tried to kill us,” David argued with a slightly raised voice.

Regina sighed and rolled her eyes.

“One day that excuse isn’t going to hold any weight and I think that day is fast approaching considering all I’ve done to help your family and this whole damn town.”

David put his hands on his hips and sighed.

“We’re going out of our minds about this,” David told her. “Snow and I don’t know what to do and giving Emma space isn’t helping.”

“Isn’t helping you. You can’t see it, but Emma does just fine when you two idiots aren’t around. I know she can’t avoid you forever—”

“Yes! Exactly! If she keeps avoiding us, she’ll keep avoiding everything else and then she’ll never grow up. She’ll stay stuck the way she is and the spell will never wear off. For someone who’s claiming to help her, you seem to be holding her back from getting over whatever made her this way in the first place!”

“You need to leave,” Regina growled.

“How many times are we going to have this argument, Regina,” David seriously asked, a little exasperated as he aimlessly motioned in Regina’s direction with one hand before he dropped it to his side, his other hand still on his hip.

“Until you get it through your thick skull that pushing her isn’t doing any good. I might be taking my time with finding a way to reverse the spell, but don’t tell me what I’m doing isn’t helping. She does smile. Just not around you. Keep pushing her and invading her space and I can guarantee you’ll undo any progress she makes.”

David let out a frustrated growl and ran his hands down his face.

“I don’t mean to push or pry. I just want to know what’s going on! I want to be able to talk to my daughter and I want to help with whatever’s happening.”

“Then give her space,” Regina slowly spelled it out for him again. “It’s simple. She’ll come to you when she’s ready.”

“Can you promise that,” David asked and finally the defeat set in on his face and weighed on his shoulders.

 “I can’t promise it. But she came to me,” Regina calmly pointed out, sympathy in her eyes and voice. “Give her a chance to do the same and come to you.”

“Okay,” Charming said and nodded. “Uh, thanks. You know, for…for watching out for her. I still don’t- You did a lot in Neverland and I know that I should be more inclined to trust you right now, but it’s just…”

“It’s difficult to let go. I get it. Don’t forget that Henry didn’t want to be around me for a time.”

“Right. Uh, well, sorry to bother you at dinner. Guess maybe I’ll call next time.”

Regina nodded and watched David leave. She took her time to close the door while he made his way down the pathway and she sucked in a deep breath, her shoulders tense, before she turned her back on the door. She leaned back against it and heavily exhaled with a worn expression on her face. Just as a hint of doubt started to seep into her bones, Emma appeared in the foyer just outside the kitchen.

Emma frowned, her eyes big like a sad puppy, and for a moment she just stared across the foyer at Regina. Regina blinked and suddenly Emma ran across the foyer toward her. Emma’s arms wrapped around her in an instant and held her tight while the blonde crashed against her and nearly ran her backward into the closed front door.

“Thank you,” Emma said with her chin on Regina’s shoulder.

Regina wrapped her arms around Emma’s waist and hugged her back. She had no verbal response for the teen. “You’re welcome” wasn’t necessary. Regina may have done Emma a favor, but Regina didn’t see it that way. She hadn’t done anything that should garner praise, but Emma seemed grateful and Regina wasn’t going to deny the blonde a hug.

Then, with Emma’s next words, it became clear why the other woman might have thanked her.

“They don’t understand me. Not the way you do.”

Regina’s only response to that was to hug Emma tighter. She closed her eyes and ran her hand up Emma’s back until her fingers reached the blonde’s ponytail. She gently tugged on the end of it and smiled, her action sure to break up the intensity of the moment.

It wasn’t until they pulled apart that Regina remembered Emma was covered in flour. She looked down at her clothes and saw her black sweater spotted with transferred flour.

“You just couldn’t resist, could you,” Regina joked with a smile.

Emma laughed as she took in the damage she caused.

“Is anyone else ready to watch this movie yet,” Henry complained from the top of the stairs with a frown and crossed arms.

Emma and Regina looked up at him with matching smiles before Regina told him to get the big blanket from the coat closet. Henry bounded down the stairs and fished out the big blanket from the top shelf of the closet while Emma and Regina went upstairs to shower and change.

Regina, the queen of quick showers, rejoined Henry first and took a seat on one side of him while they watched the end of a movie and waited for Emma to come down. It was another ten minutes before the blonde came into the living room with her hair still damp, but dressed in cotton pajama pants and another tank top, which apparently was her go-to sleepwear whenever Henry was around to see her.

“Finally,” Henry and Regina said as Emma plopped down on the couch on the other side of Henry.

“Yeah, yeah. The water got cold on me because Regina showered at the same time. I spent a few extra minutes cranking up the heat.”

Not another word was said as Emma and Regina curled up with Henry under the big red, gray and black plaid blanket that was deliciously warm and fit all three of them beneath it with a little room to spare for more on each side. The movie started within the next minute and Emma and Regina leaned against Henry to cushion him between them while they watched Elf.

Chapter Text

A few days had passed since Emma, Henry, and Regina had snuggled up under one blanket on the couch together to enjoy a holiday movie. Close to the end of the movie they’d all started to nod off, but Regina had convinced everyone to head to bed and call it a night. Before Henry or Emma got into bed, however, they begged and pleaded for a hug from Regina. She’d argued that she had to clean up, but Emma had asked her how a hug would have stopped her from cleaning once she and Henry went upstairs. Due to the blonde’s oh so charming nature, Regina had caved in and hugged Henry. Emma had waited for her hug, but Regina had withheld it while she teased and lectured the teen about proper hugging etiquette.

“No wandering hands, no unwarranted kisses, and no flirting,” Regina had explained with a pointed finger directed at Emma.

Emma had crossed a finger in an “X” over her heart and put on a transparently fake sweet expression while she verbally promised to behave. For once in all the physical contact they’d had since Emma had turned herself eighteen again, Emma had actually refrained from inappropriate touches. She’d nuzzled her nose into the crook of Regina’s neck, but she had actually seemed content to just have someone embrace her, which Regina knew it went farther from holding the blonde in her arms. A lot more.

Four days after the family snuggle and hugs goodnight, Emma and Henry were playing video games in the living room after breakfast while Regina cleaned up in the kitchen yet again.

“Oh! I owned you,” Emma happily shouted.

“Lucky try,” Regina heard Henry try to shrug off the loss.

Regina smiled to herself while she dried off the last dish that needed cleaning when the doorbell rang.

“Bet you can’t win again,” Henry challenged.

“You’re on,” Emma replied, and Regina heard the sound of a new game start.

She set the dish back in its rightful place in the cupboard to the left of the sink then turned and went to answer the door. As soon as she saw the person that stood on the other side, she was surprised and yet not surprised at the same time.

“Good morning, David,” she politely greeted, a smile absent from her face.

“Regina,” he responded with a small nod.

“If you’re here for Emma, I thought I made it clear—”

“No. No, I know she needs to decide when to talk to us,” David said. “I’m here for Henry.”

Laughter erupted from the living room and David looked over Regina’s shoulder in an attempt to see what was going on inside the house. The living room wasn’t in sight from the doorway so his attention came back to Regina within seconds.

“Sounds like they’re having a good time,” David noted.

“It does, doesn’t it,” Regina replied with a bit of a bite to her tone, because old habits die hard.

David sighed.

“I wanted to see if Henry would want to come sword fighting,” David continued and held up two wooden swords to show Regina.

“You do realize the ground is covered in snow and it’s freezing outside, right?”

“He’ll be bundled up and working up a sweat fighting. I’ll make sure he stays warm. Can I just ask him if he wants to play?”

Regina thought it over for a moment then stepped aside to allow David into the house.

David walked in, careful to keep the snow on his boots outside, and thanked Regina before he slowly made his way toward the living room. Regina followed a couple of steps behind him after she closed the front door.

When David peeked around the corner and into the living room, he saw Emma and Henry smiling and standing in front of the couch with giggly determination to do whatever it was they were doing in the game. For a moment he smiled, but it quickly faded the longer he looked at his happy daughter.

“She does smile. Just not around you.”

Even Regina knew that must have been what he was thinking, her words from four days ago an echo throughout his mind, in that moment because she saw and recognized the look on his face. He was a father on the outskirts of his daughter’s life. The blonde had pushed him away and kept pushing him away when all he claimed to want was what was best for her. Regina knew better than anyone how often and how badly parents could and did make mistakes. They were only human after all. Not even she knew how to deal with the problems that arose with Henry, or Emma for that matter. She just tried one thing after another until one of her solutions to the problem worked. She wasn’t a fool to think she hadn’t made mistakes with Emma during the blonde’s spell either. So she knew. She knew exactly what David was going through, but Emma was her priority. She didn’t comfort David or Snow. She only helped them, or at least tried to help them, see their mistakes so they could fix them and be better. For Emma.

“Gramps? What are you doing here,” Henry’s voice broke both Regina and David out of their thoughts.

“Hey,” David cheered up and smiled at his grandson. “I thought maybe you’d like to come out and have a good old fashioned sword fight with your grandpa.”

“W-w-well…”

There was a flash of excitement in Henry’s eyes that soon disappeared before he looked from David to Emma and finally settled his eyes on Regina. He looked unsure and when his sight fell to Regina he was looking for confirmation, for the right answer.

Regina hesitantly flashed an encouraging smile.

“I’m not…sure I want to leave,” Henry said and looked to Emma again.

Emma frowned with sad eyes and an expression that Regina hoped she never had to see on the blonde’s face again. The teen appeared to be kicking herself and truthfully she was.

“If Emma—” Henry started to say, but Emma stopped him.

“If you want to go you should go,” Emma smiled. It was a little forced, but it was also sincere.

“R-really,” Henry disbelievingly but somewhat hopefully asked.

“Yeah,” Emma nodded with a less forced smile.

The twinkle in Henry’s eyes made it easier for her to smile.

“Okay,” Henry instantly perked up. “I’ll get my coat!”

Henry rushed off and David beamed as he watched the boy go. He gave Henry’s hair a quick ruffle as he shot past him and Regina and grabbed his coat. When David turned back to see Emma, he saw her stand there with one hand clutched tightly around her arm. Her eyes were cast directly on Regina, wide and innocent and he wasn’t sure what she felt in that moment, but when he looked to Regina he understood that she had a pretty good idea.

“Hey, look, if this is going to be a problem,” David started to say to Emma and took a step closer to her to watch her take a step back.

“No, it’s fine,” Emma shook her head. “He really should go if he wants to…and it’s not… It’s a problem with me sort of, but I- I know it shouldn’t be. But…I’m working on it.”

“Oh. Okay,” David said and defensively raised his hands as he backed away, the swords still in his right hand and pointed down toward the floor. “No worries. I’ll…keep Henry safe and return him without a scratch and I promise I didn’t come over here just to see you. Although I will say it’s nice to see you so consider that a plus to this visit.”

David didn’t smile, didn’t push his luck with what he said. It had been four days. He’d left her alone for four days and that was a good start, but it wasn’t a whole lot of space.

“So, I’m gonna go…and I hope you two enjoy the rest of your day,” David carefully said and waved with his free hand before Henry caught up with him and the boys went out for a sword fight.

As soon as the door closed, Emma walked up to Regina and looked like she was two seconds away from shaking like a leaf.

“I never wanted to put Henry in the middle like this,” Emma blurted out.

“Emma, it’s okay. He was always going to be in the middle of this,” Regina calmly explained. “He’s our son. Whatever bothers and affects us, things like how we feel and who’s in our lives, is always going to involve him at some point.”

“But he’s looking at us for permission to go out with his grandpa. Just because I have things going on with him doesn’t mean Henry has to suffer.”

“He loves you. He’s going to do whatever he thinks is going to help.”

“But I don’t want him to do things that are going to keep him from his family!”

“It’s a difficult situation, but, Emma, these are his choices. We can encourage him to do what he really wants without having to worry about our reactions, but ultimately what he does will be his choice.”

Emma took a deep breath and relaxed then nodded and stepped closer.

“Why don’t we have some more of those cookies we made,” Regina asked as she plucked Emma’s hand off the teen’s arm and ensured both of the blonde’s arms were at her side.

“Yeah,” Emma quietly said with a nod. “Okay.”

They made their way to the kitchen and Regina tugged on the tips of Emma’s hair, which wasn’t in a ponytail that day, while she bumped their heads together. Emma smiled in response to the affection and pulled on the tips of Regina’s hair in response.

Regina laughed her way into the kitchen alongside Emma and the pair looked a little foolish, but they also—aside from the age difference—looked like friends.

Unfortunately, after a few more laughs and a couple of cookies, Regina’s phone rang.  When she hung up, she looked apologetically at the other woman.

“I’m sorry,” Regina said after a moment. “I have to go to the office.”

“Well then I’ll come with you,” Emma said and started to walk out of the kitchen with Regina.

“It’s really nothing. The receptionist is incompetent when it comes to Miss Ginger, but it should all be sorted out very quickly and I don’t want you to have to listen to that woman’s ridiculous, petty problems.”

“But I don’t…I don’t want to be alone,” Emma pouted.

“It should only be twenty minutes. I promise. I’ll be quick.”

“You sure? I mean, I’ve got plenty of problems so maybe listening to someone else’s problems will make me feel better,” Emma smiled with the intention of charming Regina into agreeing with her.

“I’m sure it would make you laugh,” Regina lightly laughed. “But I’m also sure you’ll be just fine here for a little while. We’ll have plenty of fun when I get back.”

“Okay,” Emma sighed.

Regina brushed blonde hair out of the teen’s face.

“See you soon,” Regina smiled on her way out.

Emma frowned and looked around the big, empty house. She went to the coat closet and grabbed her borrowed coat from Regina then went to the living room with it. She turned on the TV and curled up under Regina’s coat. Thankfully, after she’d gotten soaked in the coat, when Regina washed it the scent of the woman clung to it once again.

There were holiday movie reruns on due to the fact that it wasn’t primetime yet, but that didn’t matter. Emma didn’t really pay attention to the screen. She closed her eyes and buried her face in Regina’s coat. After several minutes, she was about to doze off for a nap since there was nothing better to do, but then her phone rang. She lurched forward to grab it off the kitchen table in case it was Regina, but the caller ID read Mary Margaret.

She rolled her eyes and ignored the call before she set the phone aside, closer to her instead of on the coffee table because Regina still could have called later. Only a few seconds passed before her phone rang again. And again it was Mary Margaret.

Emma let out a long sigh and hit the ignore button again. That didn’t seem to do anything, however, because it wasn’t long before the other woman called her for a third time.

Emma groaned, but she finally took the call.

“What do you want?”

“Emma? Emma! Please, I don’t know what’s happening. I have this pain in my stomach. My vision’s blurry and I’m not feeling too well and I keep having to go to the bathroom.”

“Whoa. Okay. Hang on. First of all, nausea and frequent trips to the bathroom are normal during pregnancy.”

“No,” Snow desperately pleaded. “Emma, I know something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

“Okay, well, did you call David?”

“He’s not answering. He’s out playing with Henry so I’m sure he can’t hear his phone. A-and I tried Regina, but it went to voicemail.”

Snow sighed then quickly continued.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to call you considering everything that’s going on, but I had no one else. I need to see a doctor and I just- I can’t drive myself right now. I’m sorry for calling and I’m so sorry I need a favor from you and I’m really sorry about what I said at the store. Apologizing over the phone also wasn’t my plan. I was hoping to do it in person. But I need you and I don’t know what to do and I do mean every apology I’ve said. I’m just so dizzy and I can’t—I can’t—”

“Okay! It’s okay,” Emma quickly said, a little panicked. “I’m on my way. Just relax and stay calm. I’ll be there soon.”

“Thank you,” Snow quietly said.

Emma immediately ended the call and threw on Regina’s’ coat as she swiped her keys and ran out to the Bug. When she slid in behind the wheel and shut the door, she gripped then released then again gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to take her own advice and stay calm. Once she settled down a little, she started the car, gave herself another second to remain collected, and then hurried off to the Charming household.

---

“Oh my god,” Snow breathed out as she threw an arm out and slapped her hand into Emma’s when the blonde caught her before she could stumble face first onto the floor.

“How’s the pain? On a scale from one to ten, ten being the worst,” Emma asked.

“Maybe a four? I’m not really in much pain, but I’m unbelievably uncomfortable.”

“Okay. I’m sure you’re fine.”

“But—”

“But we’re going to the hospital and you’ll get checked out. The more you freak out the harder this could be on you and the baby.”

“You’re right,” Snow nodded before she looked at Emma with suspicion. “How are you so calm and logical and…prepared? It’s almost like you’ve been through this.”

“I haven’t. I just don’t…think there’s anything to worry about and if there is, I’m sure it wouldn’t help to put more stress on your body by giving in to that worry.”

“Right, okay,” Snow agreed and the two slowly made their way out to the car.

They didn’t have the opportunity to discuss whose car they’d take because between the Beetle and the station wagon, the station wagon was the most practical, but Emma only had keys to the Beetle. So she eased Snow into the passenger’s seat of the yellow car then rushed to the hospital without driving fast enough to scare the other woman. The dark haired woman didn’t need to be more scared than she already was.

For the first couple of minutes into the drive, they sat in silence. Almost halfway there, Snow spoke up.

“I don’t want to screw this up. I’ve already made so many mistakes with you by not being there and now there’s your anger and my poorly chosen words. I don’t want to mess everything up with this child too. But look at me. Something’s wrong already and I haven’t even given birth to him or her yet.”

Emma frowned and looked sympathetically at Snow. She dug her nails into the steering wheel and picked at the material while she failed to say a single word in response. She was out of reassurances and she had no helpful advice. The rest of the ride continued in silence aside from the little noises of discomfort Snow couldn’t and didn’t hold back.

At the hospital, Doctor Whale took Snow off Emma’s hands with curious glances at the teen but no questions about her physical appearance, and Emma plopped down on a waiting room chair with a loud sigh. Her leg immediately started to twitch and shake and though she hadn’t done it in a while, she also started to bite her nails.

The chair wasn’t hard to sit in, but Emma was restless. For the next fifteen minutes, she shifted and squirmed all around in the chair. She sat with her legs folded beneath her, lounged across two different chairs, and even paced the floor in front of a row of chairs until her phone rang. She hastily grabbed at it, all the muscles in her body tense, and hoped she wouldn’t be stuck in the waiting room too much longer.

Unlike before, that time the caller ID read Hot Ass Mayor. She didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Regina?”

“Where the hell are you?! You’re not here and you’re car isn’t here. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m…I’m fine. I’m at the hospital.”

“What?!”

“With Snow,” Emma quickly explained. “No one else was answering her calls and she needed a ride. She thinks something’s wrong with the baby.”

“And you’re there alone?”

“Yeah. I’m waiting for someone to come out and tell me what’s going on. Regina, I’m scared. She’s so worried about screwing everything up and I don’t know what’s going on and I just want them both to be okay. I never wanted anything bad to happen no matter how angry I am.”

“I know, Emma. It’s okay. I’m sure everything is going to be fine. Snow White fought me hard enough to keep herself alive this long so she’ll sure as hell fight to make it through this. Until we know something, there’s no use jumping to worst case scenario, alright?”

“Okay,” Emma said with a nod even though Regina couldn’t see it.

“I’ll be there soon,” Regina assured. “I’m already on my way.”

---

There were people and chairs and months old magazines that didn’t entertain anyone or calm their nerves. Phones rang and nurses shuffled through the area while receptionists dealt with paperwork and the occasional patients. All of that faded away after a few seconds. Nothing else mattered except the small and terrified blonde teen that paced back and forth and nervously plucked her fingers over her bottom lip.

“Emma,” Regina breathed out with relief.

Regina didn’t waste a second to hurry to Emma who looked as relieved as Regina sounded.

“How is everything? Has Whale been out here yet,” Regina asked as she approached.

Emma nodded.

“Everything’s fine,” Emma said. “Apparently it’s hypertension and they’re a little concerned about gestational diabetes so they’re giving her something now to check that out.”

Regina smiled and ran her hand up and down Emma’s arm.

“See? I told you everything would be okay. Sounds like Whale just needs to monitor her a little more frequently.”

“Yeah, and they said she’ll need to take it a little easier and get more exercise to help with the baby for the rest of the pregnancy. Even if she doesn’t have gestational diabetes she’ll have to change her diet too. Apparently she’s already put on a little more weight than expected at this point in the pregnancy.”

“That’s good that’s all that is.”

“She’s also asking to see me. And I…I think I should…”

Regina nodded and said, “You should go. Check on her and make sure she’s okay, emotionally okay. Does David know she’s here?”

Emma’s eyes popped wide open.

“I completely forgot to call him,” Emma confessed.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of that while you go in and see her. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

“Thanks,” Emma said with a nod and awkwardly leaned in for a hug a few times but kept pulling back at the last minute.

Emma wrapped her arms around herself and made a jerky turn before she went further into the hospital toward the rooms. She hesitantly knocked on the door before she opened it and peeked her head inside. She flashed a small smile, sort of forced, and slowly made her way into the room.

“Hey,” Emma greeted.

“Hi,” Snow replied with an apologetic tone. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course I’m okay. I’m not the one in the hospital bed.”

“Oh, I know, but I panicked in front of you and that probably got you to panic. Anyway, I really- Thank you for coming to my rescue.”

“Well, you’re fine. Everything turned out fine,” Emma said. “So I’d hardly say I rescued you.”

“Still, you answered my call and took me to the hospital. That means a lot to me. And I’m so sorry about all of this. So, so sorry. I never meant for what I said at the store to sound so cruel. I truly wish I had been able to raise you and I’m sorry for the hell you’ve had to go through because your father and I couldn’t do that.”

“Didn’t. You didn’t raise me.”

“You’re right. There might have been a chance that we could have been together and I didn’t trust in that chance. I was too afraid the curse would never have been broken if we didn’t let you go and there will always be a part of me that imagines the life we might have had together, but there’s also always going to be a part of me that accepts what happened because you grew up to be an amazing person.

“And now you’re father and I have a second chance at parenting and we’re thrilled about that, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love you or that we love you any less. We’re just struggling to connect with you right now and…we’re not handling that in the greatest way, I admit.”

“Yeah, I get it. I…sometimes I wish I could have a second chance with Henry. He’s got Regina, he’s always had Regina, but you know, there’s a part of me that regrets not being able to enjoy the firsts in his life. Regina tells me all these stories about him when he was younger and I just missed out on so much. So I get it.”

Snow ran a hand over her stomach and slowly exhaled in a way that seemed to keep her calm.

“I know that my apologies on the phone, and any apologies I might make now, aren’t going to instantly change things between us. But I do want to fix things. I want to understand you, or at least understand enough to know when to give you space and when to hug you. Like Regina seems to understand. And if she can understand but I don’t then what kind of mother does that make me? I love that I have this second chance, but I don’t think I’m ready. Not when I’m failing with you.”

“Eh. I’m just unusually difficult,” Emma joked to lighten the mood. “The baby won’t be able to back-talk you for a while so I think you’ll be fine.”

Snow smiled and tried to reach for Emma’s hand. Emma squirmed in place before she threw her thumb over her shoulder as she spoke up once more.

“Uh, Regina’s trying to call David right now so he’ll probably be here soon,” Emma told her. “I think I’ll go wait with Regina since she kind of came rushing over here when she found out what happened.”

“Thank you,” Snow said again and nodded while her smile wavered.

Emma flashed a half-smile and left the room to meet Regina in the waiting room. She came out in time to see Regina hang up her phone and then their eyes locked. Regina smiled at her as she walked back toward the other woman.

“David’s on his way with Henry,” Regina informed her. “How did it go in there?”

“It was fine. Snow apologized for the grocery store thing for a second time. The first time was when she called me for a help.  I just…I wish I could say I love you and I forgive you and I know you love me too, but everything still hurts,” Emma frowned.

Regina guided Emma to a chair and sat down next to her. Emma leaned on her shoulder and Regina draped an arm over Emma’s shoulders.

“Your hurt will only weigh you down as long as you let it. It will take some time to heal,” Regina said. “Earlier, when you and I talked over the phone, why were so worried?”

“Things might be complicated, but they’re still my family. I thought I was gonna lose them and I’m not…I’m not willing to give them up now that I’ve found them.”

“That’s perfectly understandable. And not being able to say the things you know you should be able to? I get that too. I’m still dealing with what happened with my mother. But what you did today is a huge step forward with you and your parents.”

“How…how are you still dealing with what happened with your mother?”

“I… Well, I didn’t get a lot of time with her before she died. The last thing we ever did together was turn against the town in an attempt for her to get control of The Dark One’s—Rumpelstilskin’s—dagger. She told me I would’ve been enough, but I still have difficulty believing that at times. We never really had a conversation that wasn’t about power and the real reason she came to Storybrooke was to fix me. And that was only after she framed me for a murder so I would be broken by what everyone thought of me when they thought I’d done it.”

“Wow. That’s…rough.”

“Yes. I- She tried to make it right in the end, but the only memories I have of her revolve around her disciplining me and being so cold because that whole time she never had her heart. I mean, the woman literally didn’t have her heart. She always had it hidden away somewhere so she could live without any weakness.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s bad. Worse than what I’m dealing with,” Emma said.

“It’s not about what’s worse,” Regina shook her head. “Pain is pain. Everyone’s dealing with something and those things can’t be compared to each other. The pain people feel, regardless of what the situations are, is real. Another person’s pain and situations don’t invalidate another’s.”

“That’s really smart. Sounds like we’re both fucked up.”

Regina laughed.

“I’m not even going to correct your foul language because that is an accurate assessment.”

Emma smiled and snuggled up closer to Regina even though the armrests of the waiting room chairs made it difficult to cuddle up like they did with Henry on the couch whenever they watched movies together. It didn’t prevent Emma from leaning further against Regina no matter what and Regina, to Emma’s surprise, tightened their embrace.

Regina rested her head against Emma’s while Emma kept hers pressed into the crook of the brunette’s neck. The two of them stayed like that for several minutes, not a single word spoken or needed to be said in any of that time. They just found comfort in being there together and being able to lean on each other for support, physically and emotionally. Before they knew it, David and Henry jogged through the automatic entrance doors and into the waiting room.

“Hey,” David breathlessly said to Emma and Regina.

Both women looked up at him with exhaustion in their expressions.

“Long day,” David asked.

Regina smiled and Emma mumbled, “I’m ready to fall asleep on Regina’s couch. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the second floor, if I can even make it to the car outside.”

“I’m going to take them home,” Regina said at the sound of that and carefully inched forward in her seat to extract herself from Emma.

“I’m not leaving my car,” Emma firmly stated.

“You’re too tired to drive,” Regina told her.

“Then you drive,” Emma suggested and handed Regina her keys.

“Then I’ll just have to come back for my car later. Come on, Henry,” Regina responded as she started to stand.

“You know, I can take your car back as soon as Mary Margaret’s released,” David offered. “I’ll drive it straight over to the house and Mary Margaret can follow me in the truck. Then we’ll ride back to our place together.”

Emma looked a little surprised and after a moment, a smile slowly spread across her face.

“Thank you,” Emma said. “That’s really nice.”

“It’s not a problem.”

“Hey, Gramps, when you see Grandma can you tell her I said hi and that I’m glad she and the baby are okay?”

“Yes,” Regina chimed in. “Let her know we’ll all see her when she’s back home.”

Henry, Emma, and Regina started to head out and as they left, Regina looked back at David. He mouthed thank you to her and she nodded in response. She tossed David the keys to her Mercedes and thanked him the same way he’d thanked her. He gave her a salute and a small smile before she ushered Emma and Henry out of the hospital.

David watched as Emma hooked her arm around one of Regina’s and Regina smiled at the blonde less than a second later. Henry started to elbow Emma and she elbowed him back. It looked so natural and even Regina laughed along at their playfulness. David curiously stared at them while he noted how much like a family they appeared.

---

After Chinese takeout for dinner—something Regina wasn’t a fan of when Emma suggested it or even when Henry seconded it, but she caved to their whims as usual—they found Home Alone on TV and curled up under the blanket again.

“I don’t know why we didn’t start watching movies under this blanket together sooner,” Emma smiled and pulled her portion of the blanket up to her chin. “It’s so cozy.”

That night Regina sat between Emma and Henry so both of them could snuggle up against her sides. Emma was all bundled up to her right while Henry tucked his feet up against her left leg, his head on a pillow at one end of the couch. Regina periodically throughout the movie rubbed her hands over the tops of his feet then tickled them just to hear his giggles and watch him squirm.

“Cozy indeed,” Regina responded to Emma and played with the teen’s hair, which the brunette quickly noted seemed to soothe Emma.

Once the movie was over, Emma made Henry and herself hot chocolate. They carefully brought their mugs into the living room then looked through movie options for the duration of the night. It was still a little early and even after the hospital trip for all of them, none of them were all that tired. It took several minutes, but they found something they could all enjoy. As soon as they were all comfortable on the couch again, Henry with his legs bent and knees pointed at the ceiling while he again lounged against one end of the couch and Emma with her legs folded beneath her, they watched the movie and enjoyed their cocoa. Before the cocoa could get cold, Emma lifted her mug up to Regina.

“Want some?”

“I don’t think so,” Regina chuckled at the idea.

“Oh, come on,” Emma gently urged and unfolded her legs then shifted closer to Regina.

Regina rolled her eyes.

“Honestly, Emma, you think you can just bat you lashes and convince me to drink that truckload of cinnamon?”

“It’s not a truckload. It’s just the right amount,” Emma smirked.

“Right,” Regina dryly agreed.

“Only one way to find out how much is in it,” Emma sang her words. “Try some.”

“If I have a sip will you desist with your talk and watch the rest of this movie,” Regina asked with a faint grin and an arched brow.

“Possibly. Still only one way to find out,” Emma teased.

Regina subtly sighed then took the mug from Emma. She had a sip and surprisingly didn’t scrunch her nose in distaste.

“It’s not my favorite, but I can see why you two enjoy it,” Regina commented and handed the mug back.

“Now that you’ve had a taste, I don’t think you’ll ever have enough,” Emma said while she took back her mug.

Regina’s brow inched closer toward her hairline.

Emma pursed her lips to hide her grin, which was an unsuccessful attempt.

“Um, is this something that would make me uncomfortable,” Henry piped up. “Because the way you’re looking at each other makes me think something’s happening that I don’t want to be around to see.”

Emma laughed and Regina struggled to find a way to reply to Henry.

“Mmmaybe I should go to bed,” Henry started to sit up on the couch. “Just don’t do anything weird. Emma’s, like, only seven years older than me.”

“Henry,” Regina immediately scolded. “We’re not going to do anything!”

Emma continued to laugh.

Henry smiled and looked between his two mothers.

“Relax, Mom. I don’t expect you to,” Henry said as he stood. “I just had to put it out there. All you two ever do is exchange weird looks.”

“Well, you certainly don’t have to see that,” Regina said and stood up, too. “If you’re going to bed, I’ll take care of your cocoa.”

“Thanks. Goodnight,” Henry said as he hugged both Regina and Emma before he ran upstairs.

“Guess we know how to get rid of him when we want some alone time,” Emma smiled as Regina headed toward the kitchen with Henry’s mug.

“Really, Emma?”

Emma’s smile widened.

“I didn’t necessarily mean together. Get your mind out of the gutter, Regina.”

Regina scoffed.

“Still a handful,” Regina threw over her shoulder and disappeared into the kitchen.

“And it’s always a pleasure,” Emma loudly said so Regina could hear her from the kitchen.

Emma wrapped the blanket tighter around herself while Regina cleaned the mug. It didn’t take the other woman long before she strolled back into the living room and took Henry’s vacated spot on the couch. Emma scooted closer, still cocooned in the blanket, and laid her head on Regina’s shoulder.

The movie continued to play and for a while that was all Emma and Regina focused on, but then Emma yawned and nuzzled her head into the crook of Regina’s neck.

“If you’re tired we can turn this off,” Regina told her and absent-mindedly played with Emma’s hair for the second time that night.

“Keep doing that and I’ll fall asleep right here,” Emma tiredly confessed, her voice a little rough and gravelly.

Regina looked down to see Emma’s eyes fluttering open and shut with each stroke of her fingers through silky blonde locks. She smiled to herself then turned her attention back to the movie while she slowed her movements.

“Wait, don’t stop,” Emma whined.

“I think you like this a little too much,” Regina stifled a little laugh.

“I still think the Mayor has a few kinks of her own so I wouldn’t judge,” Emma replied with a sleepy but amused smile.

Regina didn’t hold her laughter back that time.

“Alright. I won’t stop and we won’t go anywhere, but when this movie ends or if you start snoring, we are removing ourselves from this couch immediately.”

“Mhmm. Okay, Regina. We will definitely do that.”

Emma’s head fell from the crook of Regina’s neck to the top of the brunette’s chest.

“You know, the more I look at your hair the more I remember…twenty-nine year old Emma wears a lot of beanies.”

“This Emma wears a lot of them too. I just didn’t grab any at the apartment.”

Regina hummed.

“Guess you never grew out of liking beanies.”

“Guess not. Also, for the record, I don’t snore.”

“Noted,” Regina smiled.

“What’s your happiest holiday memory? Did you celebrate anything that was considered a holiday back in that fairy tale land,” Emma asked.

“Maybe not a holiday, but a favorite memory at a celebration. Will that suffice?”

“Yeah,” Emma nodded against her chest.

“It was one of my cousins’ birthdays. She was a princess closer to the throne so she got a lavish ball,” Regina started to explain. “I wasn’t having the best time and some of my older, male cousin were teasing me.”

“Doesn’t sound much like a happy memory,” Emma interrupted.

“Because I haven’t finished telling you about it yet. May I continue?”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“As I was saying, it wasn’t a good time. So I ran outside and ran right into someone. I ran into Daniel. Things were awkward, but he was so sweet and we hardly had a chance to talk since we were both so nervous.

“After some time, he had to go and I was crushed because the only thing I knew about him was that he had blue eyes, he dreaded the ball as much as I did, and he lived on the other side of the kingdom. I was crushed because I thought I was never going to see him again and I stayed outside for a while longer.

“That’s when my father found me. He wasn’t much for small talk and liked the ball even less than I did. When he joined me out there, he saw the look on my face and immediately tried to comfort me. I told him about the boy and he told me about love. He said if it was meant to be that we would find each other again. He also said that true love is magic. The most powerful magic of all.”

Emma’s head sank lower against Regina’s body as the story went on. Regina continued to play with Emma’s hair and not much time passed before the blonde rested her head in Regina’s lap.

“Daniel and I met again and the only thing I could think of was what my father taught me about love. It’s something I’ve always believed in, but there were times when I thought finding someone again wasn’t always a good thing. Either way, it’s the one thing I’ve ever truly believed in and that’s what makes the moment I heard it from my father my happiest memory. Though I suppose it really wasn’t about the celebration.”

“Well, if it wasn’t for the ball you might not have met Daniel that first time before he came to work for your family,” Emma slowly started to say in between a yawn. “And if it wasn’t for meeting Daniel that way, your father wouldn’t have had to comfort you so you might not have ever heard him tell you true love is magic. I think it counts.”

“As true as that may be,” Regina said with a smile as she looked down to see Emma’s eyes were completely closed, “I think it’s time for bed.”

Regina patted Emma’s upper arm and started to scoot forward on the couch. Emma reluctantly sat up and groaned, but after a moment, the two were on their feet. Regina turned off the TV then pushed Emma toward the stairs.

Emma walked at a leisurely pace and stumbled left and right on occasion due to her exhaustion she’d pushed through and ignored for at least the last twenty minutes. Regina steered her in the correct direction and prevented Emma from falling on her face on the stairs.

“Do I get a goodnight hug,” Emma asked with another sleepy but still bright smile.

Regina chuckled and opened her arms. Emma walked right into them and the blonde got her hug.

“I still can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”

“You don’t have to keep thanking me, Emma.”

After they separated, Regina watched Emma crawl into the guest bed and as she turned to leave, Emma spoke up again.

“R’gina?”

She turned around and looked back at the blonde as she settled herself under the blankets.

“I didn’t used to believe in true love and fairy tale happy endings, but I think I’m starting to get it.”

Regina smiled.

“Goodnight, Emma.”

Emma smiled back.

“Goodnight, Regina.”

Chapter Text

Henry refused to go anywhere but home with Regina and Emma for the next three days. He wasn’t all that upset with Neal, but he wasn’t ready to spend even a few hours at a time away from his moms. He stayed for Emma really, and he figured Regina might want or need help with the blonde even if she didn’t, or maybe never would, ask for help.

During the time he continued to stay at the mansion, they filled their days with board games, card games, family dinners, movie nights and not much more to do than try to find other ways to keep busy. They were successful, and even became creative during more their more festive endeavor of further decorating the family room, but their success wasn’t instant. Henry and Regina had celebrated the holidays in a small, cursed town for years. They did cookies and decorated and sometimes did a few things around town, but they had no other suggestions.

With only ten days left until Christmas, Regina thought the house looked a little baron in the way of holiday cheer and spirit. It was more decorating. It was all Regina and Henry had to offer to keep them all busy, but Emma seemed more than happy to put in the work to transform the family room from every day regal-ness to red and green all over. They spent the afternoon lining the ceiling with white garland and Emma helped hang up Henry and Regina’s stockings. The only set back with that was when Regina mentioned they were missing a stocking. Emma said she didn’t want one and then Henry shared a look with his brunette mother. They knew Emma was only pretending not to care. They’d heard a few more stories about Emma’s past over the last three days and knew the teen had never truly celebrated a holiday, not even one.

Emma moved past that moment with a decoration idea of her own, one she said Henry might really enjoy. She asked Regina for red and green construction paper and when she got it she cut a few papers of each color in half then showed Henry how to fold the cut paper into rings and attach them to each other.

“Each paper ring counts as a day,” Emma explained. “You make as many rings as there are days left until Christmas. Every day that passes, you rip off a ring and throw it away.”

“So it’s a Christmas countdown,” Henry asked.

“Yep.”

Regina watched the two of them coil red paper rings to green paper rings to more red paper rings, the colors alternating every other ring until there was a string of ten rings altogether. When it came time to put them somewhere, she offered Emma and Henry a push pin and they hung the rings along one side of the family room archway. It hung vertically on the wall on the way to the Christmas trees from the room’s entrance and Henry really seemed to like the concept of the countdown.

“They were really into Christmas at the group home so everyone there had a decent holiday at the very least since none of them had families,” Emma told Henry, which Regina easily overheard and quickly felt sympathetic.

During all the decoration, Regina noticed Emma’s tree didn’t have much on it and once the countdown rings were hung, Emma had no other decorating suggestions left. Regina assumed Emma had a reason for avoiding adorning her tree with decorations and even though Regina had yet to understand why, she already had a plan in mind to make the teen’s tree brighter.

A little later in the day, Emma and Henry were in the living room flipping through channels while Regina started some dinner preparations. There wasn’t much on TV for at least another hour when all the holiday movies played at the beginning of prime time and after another minute of scrolling through the digital TV guide, Emma pulled Henry’s attention away from the screen with a question.

“Do you know what kind of stuff your mom likes?”

Henry looked both confused and suspicious and lowered the remote, the search for something to watch completely abandoned, when he tuned to looked at the blonde.

“Why,” he slowly asked, the word drawn out due to his suspicion.

“I want to get her something for Christmas. She deserves something nice and it’d be another way to thank her for all that she’s done for me,” Emma answered. “Maybe you could get her something too.”

“Oh,” Henry lit up. “Yeah, that sounds awesome. But…I thought you wanted to avoid stores.”

“It’s for Regina. It’s worth the risk that something might come up and ruin my day. She’s done a lot for me.”

A smile, though it curled more into the form of a grin, slowly spread across Henry’s face.

“I might have a few ideas,” Henry said.

They turned the TV off and went into the kitchen with poorly concealed smiles.

Regina chuckled when she looked between them and eyed them with curiosity.

“Well don’t you two look like you’re up to something,” the brunette rhetorically asked and received two much bigger smiles in response.

“We’re gonna go out for a little bit to find something to do,” Emma said. “There’s nothing on right now and we thought going for a drive would be nice.”

Regina looked them over like she was looking to detect a lie, which she truthfully was doing. Seeming satisfied, she nodded.

“Okay, but be careful.”

“Will do,” Emma promised.

Henry and Emma left Regina to her cooking and headed straight for the Bug. They slid in and smiled at each other before they drove off. Interestingly enough, their smiles barely faded between and upon their arrival to the first department store.

“Perfume is good,” Henry started to give Emma gift ideas as they walked into the store. “She’s always wearing it. One year, Graham gave her a bottle and she was happier than ever. Like, she was usually strict and tired and easily frustrated, but the perfume he gave her made her smile and relax.”

Emma scrunched up her face in rejection to the idea.

“I don’t want to get her something some guy gave her in the past. Hey, she doesn’t still wear the same perfume, does she?”

Henry thought about it for a moment then shook his head.

“She used a different perfume than the one he got her, but it still made her happy to get a bottle from him. She wore the one he bought her for a while, but eventually she ran out and never gave her another one so she went back to the one she used before. Or maybe she switched to a new one. I’m not really sure. I just know she doesn’t wear the same kind of perfume he got her.”

Emma sighed with relief. It wasn’t all that strange that she was relieved by that information, though it certainly wasn’t a typical reaction for most people, but Emma really liked Regina’s scent and she loved that it lingered on the coat she borrowed from the brunette. She hated thinking, even for a moment, that the scent had anything to do with someone else. She liked Regina. She didn’t want anyone else with the exception of Henry to continue to leave their mark on the other woman. She didn’t want what she really liked about the coat and Regina to be tainted by someone’s memory. She liked Regina’s scent because it was one hundred percent Regina and she wanted it to stay that way.

“I think I’ll skip the perfume. Any other ideas?”

“Shoes?”

“Okay. And?”

“Um, I don’t know. I really thought I had more intel,” he frowned.

“It’s okay. I’ll just…have to think outside the box.”

For a while, Henry and Emma walked through the store and looked at almost every single thing available. Without anything specific in mind they were lost. They had no idea what to get Regina because for starters she seemed to have everything. Secondly, neither Henry nor Emma knew what she really wanted. As they passed the jewelry section, however, Emma beamed and dragged Henry with her over to the earrings. She was more excited by the success than he was, but he was a twelve year old boy that had never shown interest in earrings or dresses or anything society depicted as feminine.

“She prefers dangling earrings, right,” Emma asked as she browsed the selection in front of them.

“I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to that sort of stuff.”

“Dangling it is,” Emma decided.

She scanned the display for a few minutes before her eyes landed on the perfect pair for Regina. She nearly gasped at their breathtaking beauty. They were labeled as marquise drop earrings. Emma wasn’t certain of the name’s meaning, but all she needed to be certain of was that they were everything that described Regina. There were three different sized almond-shaped pieces that stemmed from the diamond-filled, almond-shaped stud at the beginning of the earrings’ design. The stud was silver and the diamonds were clear cut while the next piece of the earrings, linked directly to the stud, displayed black spinel like the final piece of the earrings and the small piece that hung between the second and the third piece of the earrings. The second piece was pure sterling silver and linked to it was the small piece that resided between the second piece’s end and dangled within the center of the third piece. As intricate it sounded when described, it was elegant in its simplicity yet held a deeper meaning Emma found within the exquisite jewelry. Diamonds and spinel, each earring both light and dark and the two colors blended together, and the dark parts were more prominent than the light, but the light could easily outshine the dark given the chance.

“Whoa,” Henry breathed out and his eyes widened at the sight of the earrings. “Those are awesome!”

“Right? They’re the ones,” Emma smiled at the earrings through the glass case that separated them and several other earrings from grabby hands, her tone filled with confidence about her choice.

And if she wasn’t sure enough about the decision, a sales clerk stepped up behind the counter with a polite smile and offered to unlock the case after she asked if there was a pair Emma was interested in. It was perfect timing for the perfect pair of earrings for a flawed but incredible woman. Emma pointed to the earrings she wanted and the redheaded woman behind the counter retrieved them for her.

When Emma held them in her hands and traced the outline of each curve with her fingertip, her smile grew and she fell into a temporary trance. The smooth silver and the rough edges of the diamonds’ and spinel’s cuts wonderfully contrasted each other just like the roughness and softness of Regina did. Though Emma had recently seen only Regina’s softness, Emma knew there was more to the brunette’s story from what she’d heard from Snow and Charming. She also knew from the occasional empathetic looks Regina gave her. There was sadness and a hint of pain in her chocolate eyes when she gave Emma those looks, looks brought on by the hurt Emma felt when she dealt with her parents and with Neal.

“How much,” Emma asked.

“One fifty,” the redhead replied.

“What,” Henry practically shrieked the question. “That’s more than the family tree!”

“Henry, not now,” Emma sternly attempted to silence him then pulled out a wallet and riffled through some cash.

“I’ll take ‘em,” Emma said as she handed over the money.

“Where did you get that,” Henry asked her.

“That day I was out in the rain when your mom brought me back to the house I stopped by my apartment,” Emma explained while the redhead rang up the earrings. “I grabbed the money and I was gonna leave town.  I was gonna run like I always do.”

“But you didn’t. Why?”

The redhead handed Emma her receipt for the earrings and handed her a small black pouch for the closed, black velvet box the earrings lay in. Emma accepted the receipt and twice over concealed earrings then thanked the woman behind the counter before she answered Henry.

“I had a reason to stay.”

Emma smiled at Henry who brightly smiled back. She threw an arm over his shoulder and pulled him along as they moved on to another store, satisfied with their first purchase and having seen and disapproved of everything else available in that particular store.

“I didn’t know you made that much money,” Henry said before he and Emma walked into the next store a few blocks away from the previous one.

“I make more than that. I saved it,” Emma shrugged then quickly added, “at least I think that’s what I did.”

Henry nodded and didn’t think twice about her answer.

“So are we just looking for something I can get her now?”

“That’s the plan, but if something else catches my eye I might just get it. We’ll see how the rest of the day goes.”

So they looked at classy heels and fancy dresses and ventured into silky sleepwear and thin but comfortable cotton robes. Henry stopped in front of a rack of neutral colored robes, some white, some gray and some black and all of them thankfully still available in in small, medium, or large.

“She likes robes,” Henry mentioned as he flitted through the light and charcoal gray robes on the rack. “She’s been wearing the same one for years and I think it’s time for a new one.”

Emma chuckled.

“Alright. Then I guess you should pick one out.”

He picked out a charcoal gray robe and Emma carried it while they looked through the rest of the store. As they walked down the glossy tiled aisles, Emma looked over the robe draped over her arm.

“I thought your mom’s favorite color is black. Why not a black robe?”

“Because she has a gray robe now and I can’t remember a time when she hasn’t worn a gray one. The one she wears now is light gray. I thought I’d get the darker gray so it’s not really the same as the one she already has and that way it’s not black or white like I used to think everything was.”

“You really are too sophisticated to be twelve. Are you sure you aren’t an exceedingly well-aging man already in his fifties?”

Henry laughed and when he relaxed he said, “Before Neverland, you and Mom showed me that not everyone is a hundred percent good or a hundred percent evil. And then Neverland happened and I believed in the wrong person and then you and Mom worked together. You two saved me and then it made sense that Mom really has changed and that you had to do things Savior’s don’t usually do just to get me back.”

“I’m sticking with the well-aging fifty year old theory,” Emma responded.

Henry flashed his teeth in a wide smile.

As the next few minutes passed, they walked by more jewelry and stared a little too long at necklaces that neither decided to buy. The necklaces they saw were as captivating as the earrings, but both Henry and Emma agreed that Regina didn’t often enough wear necklaces—at least not in the last month—for them to find the right one for her. Even if they tried to look for a pair that would match the earrings Emma bought for her, they wouldn’t come up with anything. They were in a different store with differently designed jewelry and different brand names. So they moved on to other areas of the store for the next half hour and after Henry had offered to split the difference of the robe with Emma since all he had was limited allowance money, they headed for the exit. Before they could even walk through the theft detectors, however, Emma’s head whipped to the side and her gaze landed right on another perfect gift. She smiled, slow to form but bright and wide in appearance once it did.

“That,” Emma said and pointed at just what she saw.

Henry turned to see what had Emma freeze in place, but just as he noticed it Emma walked toward it. He shuffled after her and stopped in front of the rack.

“What do you think,” Emma asked him as she ran her fingers over the material.

“It’s…nice. But why would she need or want it?”

Emma’s smile grew.

“Let’s just say I owe her one,” Emma cryptically replied then pulled the right size and color off the rack.

Emma and Henry waited in line for the second time at that store and Henry’s eyes almost bulged out of his sockets when he heard how much it cost Emma, and the teen didn’t even blink at the amount. The price wasn’t more than the earrings, but the total of the two items together made Henry strongly consider asking for a raise in allowance once Emma was back to her usual, adult self. Apparently, the blonde had been holding out on him.

The purchase was placed in a zipped up bag and handed back to Emma over the counter. With the two gifts from Emma and one from Henry, the two of them were content and finally headed back to the mansion after a couple hours spent on their gift search.

“We did good today, Kid,” Emma said on the drive back.

“You did good. And I think the word you should be using is well.”

Emma rolled her eyes and tried to not take it personally that she’d been corrected by a twelve year old like she’d once been corrected by foster parents that had only seconds before told her she was going back to the group home.

“Whatever, Old Man,” Emma responded, and Henry smiled. “I think we’ve got stuff that will make your mom’s Christmas so much better than she’s ever imagined any of her Christmases could be.”

“With the money you spent on her? I don’t doubt she’ll be happy with what she gets.”

“It’s not about how much money I spent,” Emma corrected his way of thinking. “It’s the thought that went into the gifts. You had your reasons for getting her the robe and I had my reasons for getting her what I got her. She’ll appreciate that more than any price tag.”

“But you’ve got to admit, the money you spent on her gifts is definitely her style. She told you her closet was expensive and you just bought her some pretty expensive things to match.”

“Would you have settled for something cheaper both in looks and in value if you’d had to make that choice,” Emma asked. “I didn’t plan to buy either of the things I bought, but I saw them and immediately thought of Regina. I didn’t look at the cost. I just knew there wasn’t anything better to get her. They’re perfect.”

“You really like her,” Henry noted. “Like really, really like her.”

“She deserves the best and I got her the best, which thankfully I could afford.”

“Yeah. That actually sounds like more than liking her. Do you lo—”

“She’s done a lot of favors for me, Kid. I’m just trying to pay her back for them.”

“She doesn’t care about you paying her back.”

“I know, but…I needed to do something. You might not understand, but the best way I can put it is that when someone’s got your back you make sure they know you’ve got theirs. Buying nice and expensive things doesn’t really say that, but it’s a holiday season and I figure the gifts are a good way to tell her I don’t take what she’s done, what she’s still doing for me, lightly. I want her to know that I really appreciate her for all of that.”

“I think she’ll get the point,” Henry smiled, and less than a minute later they pulled up to the curb outside of the mansion.

“Alright, I don’t know where she is in the house, but we’ve got to hide these somewhere and make sure she doesn’t know what we got.”

Henry nodded in agreement while they grabbed their bags and the velvet pouch for the jewelry and got out of the Bug.

The chilly, early evening air blew past them and caused both Henry and Emma to shiver. Their coats flapped open in the wind and they tried their hardest to bundle up while they carried their presents up the pathway. They clumsily stumbled through the door and when Emma tripped over her own feet, the two of them laughed. She caught herself before she could hit the ground and she turned to Henry to make sure he didn’t make the same mistake.

“I take it you went shopping,” Regina asked from the family room to the left of the entryway where Emma and Henry stood and laughed.

Both whipped around to face Regina as she got off the couch and sauntered toward them. Their expressions were less amused and more deer-in-headlights then.

“What? Uh, nothing,” Emma lamely replied.

“Nice,” Henry sarcastically said.

“I mean, yeah. We went shopping,” Emma changed her answer. “We’ll be right back.”

Emma dragged Henry with her away from Regina and toward the stairs. She smiled at Regina so the brunette didn’t think anything was wrong and at least only thought things were strange. Emma knew it looked like she and Henry were up to something, but she was willing to let Regina have suspicions. She knew the woman was smart enough to figure out why they went shopping and wanted to keep it a secret, but she wanted the presents themselves to be a surprise when they actually celebrated the holiday.

Emma took Henry up to the guest room and they stuffed the presents into the back of the closet.

“We’ll have to get wrapping paper later if there isn’t already some in the house,” Emma told him. “And we’ll wrap all this stuff within the next couple days so that even if Regina finds them, she won’t know what they are.”

“Yeah,” Henry agreed. “Okay.”

They didn’t wait around in the guest room much longer and went back downstairs to properly greet and talk to Regina instead of just fleeing to the second floor after a display of odd behavior.

“Everything okay,” Regina asked with a quirked brow and a subtle but knowing smirk.

  “Yeah. Yeah, everything’s all squared away,” Emma confirmed with a quick nod.

“Good, because I was thinking we could go out tonight instead of staying in and watching a movie.”

“Really,” Henry asked with some excitement and some disbelief.

“Yes. While you two were out, I looked into what’s going on around town and found that they just opened the skating rink for the season. Apparently, it’s cold enough for them now to maintain the ice.”

“Awesome,” Henry exclaimed. “Let’s do that!”

“Wait, ‘maintain’? ‘Cold enough now’? Is this an outside rink,” Emma asked.

“Yes,” Regina answered and then frowned. “That’s not a problem for you, is it? I thought it would be something fun for all of us to do.”

“Well, I mean, outside? In this weather? That seems… I mean, won’t we be cold?”

Regina chuckled.

“Emma, even if it was an indoor rink they’d have to maintain the ice there too. It would be cold inside, colder where the ice is, but cold in general.”

“It’s just…I’m not….I haven’t…”

Emma fidgeted in place and kept twisting up her face while she struggled to get her words out.

“You don’t know how to skate,” Henry surmised with eyes wide in realization.

Emma’s non-verbal reaction and change in facial expression immediately confirmed Henry was right.

“Oh,” Regina said, at a loss for any other words for a moment. “That’s not really all that bad, dear. We can teach you.”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine. And fun like Mom said,” Henry reassured her.

Emma took a deep breath and sighed.

“Okay,” she quietly and shyly agreed with a bit of nervous reluctance.

Regina and Henry smiled at her then smiled at each other.

“Dinner’s almost ready,” Regina informed both Emma and Henry. “After we eat we can throw on a bunch of layers and head out. Sound good?”

“Yes,” Henry happily hissed while Emma nodded and dubiously smiled at Regina.

“Don’t worry,” Regina started to say to Emma while the three of them headed toward the kitchen. “We’ll be with you the entire time. I promise nothing’s going to happen to you.”

“I trust you,” Emma truthfully confessed.

---

Multi-colored lights hung from the telephone poles that surrounded the large, oval-shaped chunk of ice near the center of town. Street lights were lit, but it still felt like a winter wonderland with the decorative lights. There was a gazebo placed in the middle of the rink and twinkling white lights were wrapped around the pillars. Only about an inch of snow remained on the ground around the rink after the plow came through the streets every morning during the harsher weather season.

Even though Emma wore a thermal undershirt, a long sleeve shirt and a hoodie underneath her borrowed coat, the teen shook as she watched several families and couples skate around the ice rink. Both Regina and Henry knew her shaking wasn’t entirely from the cold. Emma’s nerves were a wreck and her apparent unease started to consume her.

Regina reached out and comfortingly rubbed circles on Emma’s back.

Emma looked away from the rink and big, green eyes locked on Regina’s chocolate brown. She took a deep breath, gulped, and slowly exhaled before she nodded.

“I know. It’s not bad and you’ll be with me the entire time,” Emma repeated Regina’s words from earlier in the evening.

Regina smiled and wrapped an arm around Emma’s waist. She squeezed the blonde and the action pulled Emma closer against her side.

“I’m telling you,” Regina started to say. “You’ll be fine.”

“I know that too,” Emma said when she looked at Regina.

“Then why do you look so worried?”

Emma shrugged.

“Guess I just don’t want to fall on my ass. And I definitely don’t want to look like an idiot.”

“You’ll only look like an idiot if you don’t go out there,” Henry teased.

“It’s fun, Emma,” Regina reminded her. “I think after all the things you’ve gone through recently you’re the one who needs to let loose the most.”

“Even after you found out I can’t skate you thought this would be the best way for me to do that?”

Regina rolled her eyes and smiled.

“It’s not going to kill you to learn something new,” Regina said and started to pull Emma toward the rink. “I’m sure you’ll learn very quickly. The important thing is you’re here. You’re with us.”

Henry walked alongside Emma and the trio went up to a table in front of the rink where skates were given to those that didn’t have their own pair. Regina gave her size and Henry’s then had to nudge Emma so the blonde would give hers. Regina paid for the rentals and the three of them went to one of two sets of metal bleachers positioned at the openings between the pavement and the ice. On the first row of bleachers, they switched out their shoes for the skates and set their shoes against the wall that separated the bleachers from the ice rink along the row of shoes already lined up against it.

Regina ensured Henry’s laces were tightened enough for him so he wouldn’t wobble around and break an ankle and then, because Emma had never gone ice skating before and also because by then Regina was used to taking care of her, she tightened Emma’s laces for her. To do so, she took one foot into her lap at a time and asked the blonde if it felt too tight.

Emma’s eyes remained glued to Regina while the brunette tied her skates. She pulled her borrowed coat tighter around herself and tucked her mouth and chin beneath the collar. When Regina removed one foot from her lap and replaced it with Emma’s other foot, the younger woman’s eyes instinctively went from Regina’s eyes to her hands. Suddenly, Emma was riveted by how Regina’s fingers moved as they fluidly weaved through the laces and then riveted again when she watched Regina tug at the laces with a delicate sort of strength in those same hands the teen watched. Her cheeks turned red and the new, rosy color had nothing to do with the chill or the occasional gusts of wind that struck her and the others.

Regina carefully removed Emma’s foot from her lap then smoothed out her pants. She easily put on her own skates in less than two minutes then stood and held a hand out to Emma. She smiled at the blonde as Emma remained on the cold, metal bench of the bleachers.

Henry clomped around Regina in his skates and stopped at her side with a smile directed at Emma.

Emma looked between Regina and Henry and though she hadn’t and might not ever voice the thought out loud, she felt safe with them. Ice skating wasn’t a big deal and there really wasn’t any danger in what she was about to attempt for the first time, but the safety didn’t just come from their promise to help her on the ice. She felt safe because she trusted—she knew—that when Regina said they would be with her the entire time that it was the truth. They weren’t going to leave her. They came there together and they would leave there together and Emma was safe with them. If she fell, they would catch her. If she bumped her knee against the wall or slammed it down on the ice on accident, they would tend to her until she was better and they would make her as comfortable as possible. If she wanted to stop, they would take a break or take her home.

There it was again. That word. Home. In all the places she’d lived, she’d never once called any of them home. Even if that’s not how Regina and Henry felt about it yet or ever, Emma knew she had found her home regardless of the family drama that surrounded her on that holiday.

Emma flashed a small smile at Regina, warm despite the cold and not all that visible but still completely there, and took the woman’s hand. She directed her smile at Henry next and all three headed out to the ice not too far from where they previously sat.

Cheery, upbeat Christmas songs and some of the slower, original versions of Christmas songs played through several speakers set up around the rink. Families laughed together while they skated and some couples and even a few friends together on the ice sang along with the music. A waitress from Granny’s skated out to the gazebo with a carry-out drink tray and served steaming drinks in to-go cups to the people inside.

Emma took it all in while Henry encouraged her from his place on the rink a few paces in front of her. While he tried to wave her out there to join him, Regina rested a hand on Emma’s upper back, but didn’t nudge or push her toward the ice. Emma quickly and tightly gripped either side of the little doorway in the wall that surrounded the rink then let go and stepped out onto the ice.

Henry gave a little cheer and Regina followed closely behind Emma to help when she started to flounder on unsteady feet.

“Straighten up,” Regina instructed from behind her.

Emma held out her arms in a desperate attempt to help maintain her dwindling balance.

Henry remained in front of her with his hands at the ready to grab hers if she fell forward.

Emma inched forward on the ice with more assistance from her skates than her actual desire to move forward and she had yet to fully straighten up as told. She flailed a little and lost footing so she instinctively leaned forward even though she was already bent at the waist. She started to fall toward the ice, but Regina swooped in and positioned herself on Emma’s left side. She placed one hand on Emma’s sternum and the other on the blonde’s lower back. She guided Emma into an upright stance and kept her hands in place until Emma stopped leaning forward every time she struggled to keep her balance.

Once Regina removed her hand from Emma’s sternum, Henry skated up beside Emma’s unoccupied side. Regina took one of Emma’s hands in hers and Henry took the other.

“Whoa,” Emma exclaimed with wide eyes. “Are you sure we’re ready for this part?”

“You mean the skating part,” Regina asked with audible amusement in her voice. “Yes, dear, I think we’re ready for this part.”

“But I didn’t even make it more than a few steps onto the ice before I almost face planted!”

Henry chuckled beside her and Regina smiled wide enough to show teeth.

“But you didn’t,” Regina reminded Emma. “Because we’re here.”

Regina looked past Emma and made eye contact with Henry. She motioned with a slight tilt of her head for him to move forward. He nodded in response then slowly started to skate away from the doorway and further onto the ice. Regina did the same.

“Whoa. Whoa!”

Emma squeezed Henry and Regina’s hands for dear life as she shakily glided forward in between the other two. She kept her feet tense and still and allowed Regina and Henry to skate for her.

Regina laughed to herself as she watched Emma’s expression change from nervous to scared to freaked out about being on the ice. Henry wasn’t nearly as bad when she’d first brought him to the rink. He’d been younger than Emma was and he also repeated the same words over and over again with bulging wide eyes until he finally centered himself and figured it all out. As she watched and helped Emma through her struggles, she was hit with a wave of gratefulness. Given enough thought, Regina realized just how lucky she had to be for her to have witnessed both Emma and Henry as they tried to learn something for the first time. Because when they learned they looked so beautifully innocent and cute and it was a sight that warmed Regina’s heart every time. It wasn’t a Mom thing, not entirely. It was just being able to share in such sweet moments with two wonderful, enchanting human beings she thanked the gods for more and more the longer she was with them.

“You look like a little foal when they try standing up for the first time,” Regina said and let out the laughter she had kept to herself for the last couple of minutes and could no longer contain.

“Ha ha. Yes, Emma Swan: not actually the savior, but Queen Regina’s personal court jester for around the clock entertainment,” the blonde grumbled.

That was when Henry laughed. Emma shot him a glare, but he kept laughing.

As soon as Regina gained control of her laughter, she gave Emma a few tips about balance and how to kick out with the skates to get a good stride. The three of them slowly but surely made it around the first loop of the rink before Emma found balance and managed to glide forward on her own, though Regina and Henry continued to hold her hands.

As they all approached the halfway point between the two loops in the rink, Emma moved forward just a little faster and Regina and Henry let go of her hands. The teen swept across the ice with a few confident strides while Regina and Henry leisurely skated at a close distance behind her. She stood up straighter and slowed down before she looked over her shoulder and met Regina’s eyes with hers.

“I did it,” Emma exclaimed with bright eyes and an equally bright smile.

Regina was instantly overwhelmed with a couple of small but powerful moments she’d experienced with Emma, overwhelmed with “you did it” when Emma broke the first curse and “we did it” when they’d combined their magic and stopped the trigger from destroying the town.

They’d never vocalized that they’d also managed to save Henry from Neverland, but it was another accomplishment of theirs. Even though they weren’t the only two on the island on a mission to save Henry, they had been the ones to rescue him more so than anyone else. Together. Regina had done most of the physical work, but Emma had allowed her to do what was necessary to get their son back and sided with her and her plans when necessary.

Regina gasped when the memories flooded her mind, but a brief moment later she smiled back at Emma. The smile was happy and proud and then she gasped again for an entirely different reason when Emma hit a rough patch of ice and slipped.

Regina grabbed Emma by the teen’s borrowed coat and pulled the blonde backward toward her. It happened a little too quickly so Emma lost balance a second time and stumbled her way back against Regina’s front. The two roughly collided, but Regina wrapped her arms around Emma’s waist and chest in a secure embrace. Another memory ran through Regina’s mind just then as well. Another time when they’d been in a similar embrace, but their positioned were reversed and Emma had a sharp object to her neck while Regina and her mother had tried to steal The Dark One’s dagger together.

The memories were somewhat irrelevant, but the fact was that she and Emma seemed to fall into place one way or another. As strange as things were right after Emma had cast the spell on herself, everything still seemed to make complete sense to Regina in a way she’d never really been able to fully comprehend. Even then, when she understood that she and Emma always seemed to fall into place, she wasn’t sure why that was. Maybe it was their connection to Henry or maybe it was just how well they worked together in more ways than one. The thing was, it didn’t have to make sense. It just was.

“Uh, Mom? I think you can let go now,” Henry broke Regina out of her thoughts.

The brunette suddenly realized she still had Emma in a koala-like hug and she wasn’t sure how long they’d been like that. They certainly weren’t the only ones at the rink, but apparently Regina had a knack for forgetting herself in public whenever she was around the blonde.

“Right,” Regina said as she released Emma from her grip. “Sorry, Emma.”

“Hey, don’t apologize. You saved me,” Emma said as she turned around to look Regina in the eyes. “Thanks.”

Emma smiled at her again and Regina smiled back while she gave a nod almost like a silent way of saying, “You’re welcome.” She then cleared her throat and looked around only to see that their little display had gathered some attention from a handful of townspeople.

“Alright. Let’s move on,” Regina said to Emma and Henry and offered her hand to Emma again. “Do you think you’re ready to skate around by yourself?”

Emma’s smile spread just a little bit wider and she took Regina’s hand without giving a verbal answer or confirmation that she was either fine or that she still needed them.

Regina didn’t question Emma’s lack of an answer and instead gave the blonde’s hand a gentle squeeze before the two of them looked to Henry.

Henry started to move forward beside Emma and Emma and Regina skated beside him, both on his left. After a few strides forward, Emma held out her hand to Henry and he took it with a smile.

It didn’t take long before Henry and Regina figured out that Emma had learned enough to skate on her own, but they all stayed linked at their hands and went around and around and around the rink again.

Just as The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole came on, the three of them skated their way to the gazebo and took a break. A different waitress than the one Emma had seen serve the others earlier in the night came up to them and asked if they wanted anything.

“Hot cocoa with cinnamon, please,” Emma replied.

“Yeah, I’ll take one, too,” Henry said.

The waitress nodded then looked to Regina for her order.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any warm apple cider, would you,” the brunette asked.

“I think we might have some. I’ll have to ask Granny,” the waitress responded. “Is there something else I can get you if we don’t have any?”

“I suppose I’ll have hot cocoa without the cinnamon if there’s no cider.”

“Okay,” the waitress smiled at the three of them. “I’ll be right back.”

When she skated off to the stand outside the ice rink and only several feet away from the skate rental table, Emma, Henry, and Regina were alone in the gazebo for the time being.

Emma looked from Henry to Regina before she commented on the rink.

“This is amazing. Do they have this every year?”

“Well, Granny didn’t always have a stand out front,” Regina explained, “but after the first couple of years that the rink was operational she decided to spare a few waitresses to get as much business as she can during the season. If there aren’t big crowds of people here, they’re most likely at the diner when they’re out and about this time of year.”

“Smart,” Emma said. “So, if you’re the Mayor and always have been, does that mean you had to approve all of this? I mean, how do you find ways to let people have a skate rental and then have Granny set up shop. Plus, the cost of keeping up the ice.”

“A lot goes into it,” Regina replied. “The first year the rink was just the dwarves adding cold water to the iced over pond at the park.”

“They took a hose and sprayed the pond every half hour to make sure it was solid so no one would fall through,” Henry piped up. “It was like having rest periods at a community pool except with ice skating.”

Emma laughed.

“It wasn’t the best of conditions, but everyone seemed to like it. The first town meeting in November some people stood up and asked how they could improve the rink,” Regina continued.

“It was all anyone talked about,” Henry lit up. “They talked about it during the meetings, but most of what people worked out to fix up the rink was mentioned on the way to work or picking kids up from school. It was so cool how everyone thought it through and shared their ideas.”

Regina fondly smiled at Henry while he helped her tell the story they’d unwittingly started to divulge about how the outdoor rink became what it was.

“The second year produced a few positive results from the improvements,” Regina continued. “It was still on the pond, but the dwarves had figured out a way to smooth out the ice without using something heavy like a Zamboni. They worked it out with Marco and Michael. Marco worked on the design that basically was only as heavy as the engine and the person operating it and Michael worked on the mechanics.”

“And the dwarves used a lot more water on the frozen pond so that there were more layers of ice just to cover their bases in case the handcrafted Zamboni was still heavier than they accounted for,” Henry added.

“Two years after that,” Regina picked up from where he left off, “Granny thought to see to it that people had hot food and warm drinks to fight off the cold.

“The rentals were free the first three years, but the nuns thought it would help if they started charging for them so the money could be donated to the school and the parks and recreation funds for the town. They started to split the profit sixty-forty and whichever needs more attention in the upcoming year gets the larger percentage of money from the rentals.”

“And now it’s this well-oiled machine,” Emma noted as she looked around at the lights and the people and the speakers that allowed them to enjoy holiday themed music.

“This is only the seventh year we’ve had it up and running,” Regina informed her. “I think it’s impressive how everyone still works at it.”

“Wait, only five years? This town was cursed for almost thirty years, right,” Emma asked. “Why five?”

“No one thought to do it sooner. Well, I never thought to do it sooner,” Regina answered. “And after the curse broke people were all over the place. No one was concerned about the rink. When I first thought of the rink, though, I kept seeing these holiday movies from this world and saw how happy it made everyone in the movie. I didn’t want people to be happy. I brought them all here so only I could be happy. But then there was Henry and I started to reconsider.”

“Okay, so you started all of this for the kid,” Emma incredulously asked.

“Most of what I’ve done that seems out of character for an Evil Queen was for him. Not everything I tried was the right thing, but I tried. I’m still trying.”

Regina bumped foreheads with Henry who sat beside her, between her and Emma, and then she flicked her eyes to Emma’s.

“I’m gonna remind you again,” Emma said as she kept her eyes on Regina for a moment longer then looked at Henry, “you’re one lucky kid.”

“I know,” Henry warmly said and beamed.

Just then, the waitress returned with their drinks.

“We actually did have some cider. Apparently it was made from the last batch of apples you gave to Granny.”

“Ah, so she got them. Good. Thank you,” Regina said as she accepted her cider.

Emma and Henry grabbed their cocoas and as soon as they simultaneously took a sip, they both moaned in delight.

Regina chuckled and watched them while she paid the waitress. When the waitress was gone again, Emma spoke up again.

“When did you give Granny a batch of your apples?”

“When I called her to watch Henry while I went out to look for you that night you ran off in the rain,” Regina said then took her first sip of her cider. “Delicious.”

Regina licked her lips for any remnants of the cider then continued to answer Emma’s question. “I’d had a basket full of honeycrisps that I’d picked before you cast that spell. I told her where to find the basket in the house and said if she watched him she could have it. I didn’t see her with them when she left so I wasn’t sure she got them.”

“Oh,” Henry said as realization dawned on him. “Yeah, I was wondering why she was carrying apples out to her car. She was over for about twenty minutes before she took them. Then she made herself comfortable on the couch for a while and started knitting.”

“Oh my god. How weird did that look to you,” Emma asked. “And you never said anything?”

Emma and Regina chuckled and Henry smiled and shrugged.

“I was more worried about you than what Granny was doing.”

“Aww. Thanks, Kid,” Emma said and wrapped her arms around him in tight hug. “I think I’m starting to feel as lucky as you are.”

“And don’t forget you are,” Henry responded and finally hugged her back.

Regina dramatically cleared her throat.

“Excuse me, but don’t I deserve to get in on this hug?”

Emma laughed and let go of Henry with one arm that she swiftly wrapped around Regina. The two of them squished Henry between them in a group hug and when he started to squirm and said the hug had gone on long enough, the two women just laughed and held him a little bit tighter.

“Moms! Not cool. What if people from school see me like this?”

“Don’t care,” Emma said.

“Never cared,” Regina clarified.

“Okay, but I’m really close to spilling my cocoa all over one of you.”

“Henry,” Regina playfully scolded while she and Emma started to pull away from him.

“What? I didn’t mean on purpose.”

“Sure you didn’t,” Emma dryly said with a smirk then ruffled his hair until it looked like a wild case of bedhead.

Henry sighed and finger combed his hair back into place.

“Having two moms is so difficult,” he said seriously, but they all knew it was a joke.

Emma and Regina immediately looked at each other, smiles that had been directed at Henry only seconds before still on their faces when they locked eyes.

And just like in Neverland, when Henry’s heart had been returned and he’d gasped for life before they hugged him because he was safe and he was alive, there was so much emotion in the way they looked at each other. All either of them could think as they stared at one another over the top of Henry’s head in that gazebo was, “This is ours.”

Henry wasn’t a “this”, but he was included in what “this” encompassed. The moment, their little family they made regardless of blood ties and past feuds, their happiness. All of it wasn’t just one woman’s or the others. It all overlapped. Just like they fell into place, they also shared these things. Things no one could or would take away from them.

I won’t let you if it is the last thing I do, Regina completed the statement in her mind.

You won’t be able to come close enough to even touch it, Emma completed it in hers.

As if they read each other’s minds, a moment later their smiles widened while their eyes remained fixated on the other.

Chapter Text

They got back to the house a little later than usual, but all three of them were as happy as they were tired.

“Did you have fun,” Henry asked Emma with droopy eyes and a tired smile as they walked through the front door.

“I did,” Emma proudly admitted. “I had a really great time.”

“Good,” Henry said as all three of them removed their coats and hung them up in the closet near the front door.

“Yes,” Regina agreed. “I’m glad you did.”

Henry struggled to hang up his coat, still not tall enough to reach the hanger, but Regina stepped in and took care of it for him. She brushed her hand through his hair and smiled at him when she was finished and then turned and held out her hand to Emma.

Emma held Regina’s coat, the one she’d been using every chance could since it was lent to her, over her arm. She looked down at the extended hand with wide eyes and a pout before she looked up at Regina and hugged the coat closer to her body.

Regina frowned. “I’m just going to hang it up. I’m not taking it back,” the brunette explained.

“Can I…Can I hang on to it,” Emma hesitantly asked.

“What could you possibly want with a coat in the middle of the night inside?”

“I just…want… It’s stupid, okay? But I want to keep it with me,” Emma replied.

“Okay,” Regina easily said and hung up her own coat.

Emma flashed a quick smile, though she still looked small and uneasy—nothing more than a scared little girl. Regina smiled a longer and more genuine smile back at her and touched the teen's shoulder. She gave it a reassuring squeeze and rub before she let go and then directed Henry toward the stairs.

"Okay, young man, time for bed," Regina instructed. "You too, Emma."

Emma loosened up her hold on the coat a little and followed the Mills duo to the staircase. When they reached the second floor, Emma went to the guest room while Regina walked Henry into his room. Emma frowned and curled up with the coat, her knees to her chest, on the comfy queen-size bed and rested her chin on her crossed arms, which were kept warm by the coat. She closed her eyes for just a moment, but it was just long enough for her to fall asleep.

In Henry's room, Regina tucked him in and kissed the top of his head. He complained that while he still loved her, he wasn't five anymore. She chuckled and affectionately brushed her fingers through his hair before she agreed to ease up on her motherly displays of love and stood up. On her way to the door, he called out to her and she turned around again.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I think...maybe we should get a gift for Emma. You and me, we could go shopping tomorrow and pick out something she might like."

"I think that's a great idea," Regina beamed and sat back down on the edge of his bed again. She thought about it for a moment and then frowned. "But...what will she do while we're out shopping? We can't leave her alone and she doesn't like anyone else in town right now."

Henry twiddled his semi-laced fingers over his stomach as he lay on his back and stared at his hands while he kept them busy. "Um, I don't know. I guess we could take her with us and try to convince her to save us a spot in the food court?"

Henry smirked like the devious little boy he was, something that was a problem long before Neverland, and Regina smiled almost from ear to ear. "You want to distract her with food," she asked.

"It's the only thing I know that could work," he confessed with a shrug.

Regina hummed her agreement and said, "We'll find out for sure tomorrow, won't we?"

With that, Regina said goodnight yet again and finally managed to make it out of his room. She then went down the hall and checked in on Emma. She made sure to knock first, softly as not to scare or interrupt the blonde, and slowly pushed open the door to see young Emma Swan asleep sitting up. She smiled to herself and then crossed the room. As she gently tried to ease the teen onto her back, she noticed how her coat was draped over Emma's arms and also clutched tightly in her grasp.

Regina shook her head and furrowed her brow as she considered the odd behavior. She'd never seen someone hold on to something so tightly, especially something that wasn't theirs and wasn't anywhere near as comforting as something like a stuffed animal or blanket could be. But as long as the coat was in Emma's possession she was fine to see Emma use it any way the younger woman desired.

Emma grumbled a little as Regina carefully guided her onto her side on the bed and she tugged the coat free from the teen's arms—with some resistance from Emma—but when Regina had her on her side the brunette pulled the covers over her and then draped the coat over the top half of Emma's body.

Emma subtly moaned and snuggled into the coat more than she did the sheets and she tucked her nose beneath the collar, her eyes the only part of her face visible.

Regina chuckled at the sight and ran a hand through blonde hair like she'd brushed through Henry's hair less than ten minutes prior.

"Goodnight, Princess," Regina quietly said.

---

The smell of coffee, cinnamon, and fresh, warm apple pie filled the thankfully and pleasantly heated diner the next morning. Snowflakes fell lightly outside and didn’t really add to what had already accumulated on the ground. For that, both Emma and Regina were grateful. After all the things they’d been through in the chilly weather, heat was much appreciated. Snowmen and snow angels were fun and they could bear the cold for that, but limited exposure to that weather was preferred.

“Mom, can I have some quarters for the juke box,” Henry asked almost immediately and smiled at her before he expectantly held out his hand for the change.

Regina smiled back and rolled her eyes as she shook her head. Seconds later, she dug into purse, pulled out her wallet, and plucked several quarters out of it before she dropped them into his hand.

“Thank you,” he beamed at her for a second before he bolted for the juke box.

“He definitely takes after you,” Regina said as she turned from their son to face Emma.

Emma blushed and ducked her head, suddenly shy about Regina’s comments and comparison. She felt a finger hook under her chin and gently force her to lift her head and make eye contact. When she looked at Regina again, the brunette continued to smile and her eyes were fixated on her as they twinkled that time.

"You're too pretty to hide, dear," Regina told her and Emma's blush darkened, much more noticeable than before in the well-lit diner. If anyone asked she would blame it on the raised temperature inside compared the weather her body had adjusted to when she was outside.

"Who said I was hiding," she asked as she kept her eyes locked with the brunette's.

Regina's smile expanded and Emma instantly felt the warmth not only in the woman's expression, but her chocolate colored eyes as well. Not many people had been able to make her feel that way. In fact, there had only been two before Regina and one of them was the reason she had Henry.

"What do you want with your cocoa," Regina asked and released Emma's chin. The blonde immediately felt the loss and realized just how desperate she was for the woman's touch.

"Um, pancakes? With strawberries on them. Lots of strawberries. Do they have strawberry syrup here?"

"You really love strawberries," Regina chuckled and turned toward the counter before both she and Emma made their way up to it to order breakfast.

"Maybe," Emma grinned and sat down on a stool. Regina remained standing and her arm brushed Emma's bicep and shoulder as she stood in the space between Emma's stool and the one next to it.

Granny walked out of the kitchen and placed a fresh tray of donuts on the end of the counter close to the door, which put the enclosed treats less than a foot away from the young blonde. Emma's eyes tracked the donuts from the kitchen to the place where Granny's hands left them out for the public and as soon as they were set down on the counter, she licked her lips. Her eyes were as glazed over as some of the donuts under the dome seal over the tray.

Regina laughed beside her as Granny stopped in front of them. Emma didn't even notice Granny was within arm's reach until Regina's laughter pulled her attention away from the donuts. She turned and saw the brunette's eyes focused on her, which meant she had somehow been the source of Regina's laugh.

"What," she asked innocently, unsure of her role in making Regina sound and look as amused as she was in that moment.

"As if what you want for breakfast isn't enough," Regina shook her head as she replied, "you want a donut, too?"

"Ooh, donuts," Henry piped up as he walked over to join his mothers. He slid onto the stool beside Regina, which sandwiched her between him and Emma. "Can I have one?"

Regina rolled her eyes despite the glowing smile stretched across her face. "What am I going to do with you two, hmm?" She looked from Emma to Henry and then settled her attention on Granny before she placed their orders. "Strawberry pancakes with strawberry syrup if you have any. Three glasses of orange juice, one coffee, two glazed donuts, and...what do you want, Henry?"

"Frittata!"

"Damn, Kid," Emma said. "Your tastes are fancy like your mom's wardrobe."

Henry smiled and Regina rolled her eyes again while she let out a sigh.

"How many pancakes am I stacking," Granny asked Regina as she peered over the rims of her glasses, which were perched low on the bridge of her nose.

Regina looked at Emma before she answered, "Three. This one can really put away food like it's her job." Affectionately, she ran a hand through blonde hair a few times and Emma beamed as she leaned into Regina's side, which caused her elbow to gently press against Regina's thigh just above her knee.

Granny sweetly smiled at Emma then looked at Regina. She continued to smile, but the look in her eyes had changed. It was more knowing than it had been when her gaze was set on the blonde.

"What are you getting, Mom," Henry asked.

Regina looked over at him for a moment and considered her options before she turned again to look at Granny. "I'll have a few slices of French toast."

"How many is a few," Granny asked.

Regina looked over at Emma and caught the blonde lifting the lid off the donuts before she snatched one for herself and placed it on a napkin then went in for a second one, hopefully for Henry. Regina smiled at the sight, although it was more of a smile to herself despite the fact that anyone who looked at her could easily see her expression.

"Four," Regina answered as she looked back at Granny yet again.

Granny responded with a raised eyebrow as she silently questioned Regina’s choice. Regina just grinned and didn’t give a single explanation as to why she’d asked for two extra pieces of French toast, especially since Granny had seen her eat for years and knew she sometimes barely managed to finish regular portions of her meals. Granny took a moment before she seemed to accept the order and nodded before she disappeared back into the kitchen to prepare the food.

“That’s a lot of food,” Henry said.

“I’m sure I’ll need it,” Regina replied, and she was right.

Emma scarfed down her pancakes like she ate all her meals, like she hadn’t seen food in days. Regina already knew it was what Emma was used to after having spent years in the foster system either not being well-fed or having to rush to get something on her plate if she expected to eat before the other kids took everything. Because Emma inhaled her breakfast, even after having a donut, it made sense that her eyes drifted toward Regina’s plate. She sized up how much the brunette had eaten and how slowly she’d done it so that she might determine how much more Regina would actually have.

The corners of Regina’s mouth curled into a bright smirk and she laughed while she finished chewing the bite she had taken only seconds ago. She slid the plate a little closer to Emma and let it rest on the counter in the space between them. Emma’s head immediately snapped up and they met each other’s gaze. The teen lit up as she recognized Regina’s silent offer and then leaned over a little before she cut herself a piece of one of the uneaten slices. Emma continued to smile and directed it right at Regina as she chewed.

Regina shook her head and stifled a chuckle while she took small bites of her nearly finished slice of French toast. She almost choked on her breakfast when she felt Emma’s left hand squeeze her knee. She coughed and placed a hand on her chest as she tried to relax. She set down her fork and slid her hand beneath the counter before she placed it over Emma’s. She turned to look at the teen and as soon as she did, she saw Emma grinning at her.

“Stop that,” Regina whispered.

“It’s not like my hand is in an inappropriate place,” Emma leaned in closer and whispered back.

“Everything about this is inappropriate,” she replied and pushed Emma’s hand off her knee.

Emma pouted and blew out a heavy sigh before she reached out and grabbed Regina’s hand. She held it in hers and tried, and failed, to lace their fingers. Regina fought to break free of Emma’s grasp and it kept the blonde from being able to do more than squeeze the other woman’s hand. Her grin faded and the look in her eyes was so serious and sincere.

Regina gulped and licked her lips as her eyes scanned over all of Emma’s face, not just her eyes. She took a breath before she tried to say something, but her words were cut off before they even left her mouth when the bell above the diner door jingled. Her head whipped around and when she saw who had entered, she yanked her hand away from Emma in an instant. She turned back around and looked down at her plate before she set both elbows on top of the counter, her hands in plain view.

Emma looked where Regina had and saw her father. Immediately, she scowled and turned so her back was completely to him. She frowned and lost the edge to her stare as she started to retreat into herself then cut another piece of French toast. She pushed it around in the syrup instead of eating it right away and a moment later felt Regina’s eyes on her.

“Are you finally full or is there another reason you’re playing with your food instead of eating it,” Regina asked.

Emma didn’t respond. She hesitated for a few seconds before she lifted the piece of French toast that was drown in sugary syrup and stuffed it into her mouth. She faked a smile, one Regina knew was meant to be obviously faked, and then dropped her head as she turned her eyes away from the brunette.

Regina looked Emma over from head to toe. The younger woman was sad again and she understood why, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to see the blonde smile. Slowly, she reached out and placed a hand on Emma’s back.

The teen instantly looked over at her with wide eyes, confused but trusting. So trusting.

“You’re not alone,” Regina quietly reassured her.

Granny shuffled around behind the counter and David took a moment to look around the place before he noticed Emma and Regina. Then his eyes fell to Regina’s hand on his daughter’s back. He furrowed his brow and stared at them with a hint of dislike because Emma was too young for Regina to touch her like that. Even at twenty-nine years old, Emma was his daughter, his baby girl, and Regina had no right to lay a hand on her for any reason. He pursed his lips into a thin line and slowly made his way over to the counter, several seats down from the pair and his grandson. He kept his eyes on Regina even as Granny approached him with a mug and pot of coffee. She poured him a cup before he even registered that she was there.

“Stare any harder and you’ll burn a hole in the back of her head,” Granny said as she finished serving him coffee he hadn’t yet asked for.

David finally looked away from the two women and met Granny’s eyes. One of her eyebrows was raised. One hand held the coffee pot and the other hand rested on her hip. He cleared his throat and looked down at the steaming cup of coffee in front of him. He wrapped his hands around the warm mug and pulled it closer to him before he said, “Thanks. And I’m only staring because that’s my daughter Regina’s getting handsy with.”

Granny scoffed and shook her head. “She is not handsy with her.”

David took a small sip of his coffee and cringed as it burned his mouth a little, just as hot and bitter as Granny’s words made him feel. “How else would you explain why she’s got her hand on Emma’s back like that?”

“Like what, Charming? She’s not doing anything wrong.”

“She’s touching my daughter,” he said a little too loudly.

He looked over and saw Henry’s eyes on him, but thankfully not Emma’s. He wasn’t sure how he would explain talking about her behind her back considering all the friction between the two of them and Snow.

Granny sighed and explained, “That woman there hasn’t done anything but help your daughter. If you don’t see that, you don’t really want what’s best for her. You only care that Regina is the one comforting her and not you.”

David looked at Granny again and said, “Would that really be such a bad thing to care about? Whatever Emma’s issues with us are were only created because of Regina.”

“Does taking care of Emma now not make up for that?”

“You think she deserves a chance at making things right this way?”

“How else would you like her to fix things? If you ask me, Emma doesn’t blame her, but Regina sure as hell blames herself.”

“She should. And Emma should blame her, too.”

Granny set the pot down on the counter and leaned over until her nose almost touched David’s. “Listen up, Charming. Emma went to Regina. She chose to stay with Regina. Even if I didn’t like Regina being around Emma the way she is, but I do because I can see it’s doing both of them a lot of good, Emma’s made her choice in the matter very clear. If you want to help her, the best way to do that is let her work all this out with Regina by her side.”

David stared into Granny’s firm gaze for another couple of seconds before he looked down at his coffee with a hint of defeat. A moment later, he looked over at Emma and watched with sad eyes as she nodded and then smiled in response to something Regina said.

At the other end of the counter, Emma leaned into Regina’s side with a smile and rested her head on the brunette’s shoulder. Regina had called her strong and beautiful and said that she didn’t have to face her demons alone. It was everything she needed to hear and suddenly it didn’t matter who had walked in. She was safe with Regina and Henry, something she’d known and felt for a while, and everything was okay.

There were so many words on the tip of her tongue every time Regina reassured her, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to say them out loud. Not yet. There were a few more things she had to figure out first so she settled for easier words in the meantime.

“Thank you,” Emma quietly said as she briefly closed her eyes, extremely comfortable against Regina even though they were in public.

Regina slid her hand across Emma’s back until she was able to wrap her arm around the teen and gave her a gentle squeeze. She loosened her grip just a little and then focused on the food that was left on her plate. She used the side of her fork to cut a soggy piece of French toast then speared it onto her fork and offered it to the blonde.

“I ordered extra for you so you better eat it,” Regina said and Emma lightly laughed before she leaned forward and ate it without taking the fork into her own hands as the brunette had intended. “You eat like a child.”

Emma laughed again as she quickly chewed then swallowed. “Doesn’t seem to bother you too much, Madam Mayor.”

Regina rolled her eyes, but her lips curled into the slightest smile and her cheeks were a little pink.

Emma contentedly hummed and closed her eyes again, food forgotten. She placed a hand on her stomach and rubbed it a few times. “I think I’m finally full.”

“If she’s done, I’ll finish what she can’t,” Henry said beside her.

Regina laughed and set her fork down on the plate before she slid it over to him. When she looked over at Henry, she noticed over the top of her son’s head that David staring at her. Her smile disappeared, but she didn’t dare move or stiffen up with Emma’s head on her shoulder. The blonde wanted to be there so she would let the younger woman press against her however long she wished. She didn’t care how upset it made the man that watched her. Although, he didn’t look upset at all. His eyes seemed to consider her seriously, maybe even a little dejectedly. He almost looked tired and possibly sad as well, but she wasn’t sure why.

After a few seconds of looking at each other, David nodded at her and raised his coffee in a toasting motion before he had another sip. Somehow there seemed to be a hint of respect in the gesture and it made absolutely no sense to Regina after all the arguments she’d had with the Charmings. Then she noticed as Granny walked over to her from where she’d previously stood near David.

Granny smiled at her and winked before she put the coffee pot back in place on the hotplate to keep it warm for other customers. Once that was done, she milled about the diner in Ruby’s apparent absence.

Regina was surprised, and also very confused. She wasn’t sure what Granny had been up to or if she’d said anything to David, but she had a feeling the other woman was somehow involved in David’s change of behavior. She looked over at him again and a second later he met her eyes across the room. He then looked at Henry for a moment before he looked at her again then cocked his head back and to the side. He seemed to be signaling to the back room near the hall that connected the inn part of Granny’s to the diner. She gulped before she nodded, her eyes slightly wider than normal as she silently agreed to follow him.

David set his coffee down on the counter and disappeared into the back. She faced forward again before she turned and looked down at Emma where she remained draped against her side. She ran her hand up and down Emma’s side a few times where she had it wrapped around the blonde and Emma lifted her head from her shoulder. Once she did, Regina stared into big, green eyes full of questions.

“I’ll be right back. I need to use the restroom,” Regina said as a way to excuse herself.

Emma nodded and pulled away from her to allow the brunette to get up. Emma watched Regina walk away until the brunette rounded the corner and disappeared from her line of sight. After that, she looked down at Henry who devoured the rest of Regina’s French toast much like Emma had gone at her own food. She chuckled and ruffled a hand through his hair until it resembled bedhead. He groaned in response and halfheartedly attempted to brush his hair back into place with his free hand.

On the other side of the wall that separated her from the diner, Regina stopped in front of David who ran a hand over his mouth and rested a hand on the dividing wall. He leaned into it for a moment and paused as he seemed to mull a few things over in his mind before he finally turned to face her. When he looked at her, he still wasn’t angry. He actually looked a little lost, as though he didn’t know the best way to proceed with what he seemingly had to say.

“Is everything alright,” she asked, in case he struggled to talk for the next few minutes without a nudge. “Is Snow okay?”

He furrowed his brow and looked both genuinely confused and shocked. “Yeah, she’s fine. Since when do you care how she is?”

“Since Emma would be devastated if anything happened to her,” Regina replied.

“Excuse me for thinking that’s true after all the times she’s yelled at her,” David said. “And after she just walked out of the hospital after they had a brief conversation—”

“One that didn’t end well and wasn’t going anywhere good,” Regina quickly pointed out.

“She’s only acting this way because of your influence, you know.”

“I have nothing to do with how she feels about you. The problems she’s had with both of you started long before she came to me.”

“She never would have talked to us like that if she wasn’t spending so much time with you,” David argued. “You two were getting closer after Neverland, before she was eighteen again. You’re telling me you had nothing to do with how she acted at Thanksgiving.”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. But you’re right. She and I were getting close after Neverland. We were friends. We are friends. So she talked about you and Snow, yes. She didn’t talk about you often, but when she did she was always the one to bring it up in conversations and she was the only one that really had anything to say on the subject. She was venting and I let her.”

“You think I’m just going to take your word for it?”

“You think I care what you think? All I care about is Emma. She’s the one that’s getting hurt.”

“So, naturally, you think you’re the only one that can ease the pain?”

“On the contrary. I’m skeptical about what I can really do for her, but I’m damn well going to listen to her at the very least. If you did the same maybe she wouldn’t yell at you as much as she does.”

David sighed and looked down at the tiled floor. He took a few calming breaths before he looked up at her again. “I didn’t ask you to come back here to fight with you.”

“Then why am I here?”

“I just wanted to ask you one thing.” When he didn’t say anything else for a few long seconds, Regina raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “If you’re doing what’s best for her, if you’re taking care of her as much as you claim to be helping her, then you must have found a way to break the spell on her by now. Right?”

Regina parted her lips and tried to find a response, but she didn’t have one. Her eyes widened and they flicked from left and right in rapid succession as she stared directly into his blue eyes.

His eyebrows briefly jumped up toward his hairline before they returned to their almost neutral expression. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head as he subtly twisted his body side to side. He let out a mirthless chuckle and looked at the floor again before his gaze met hers, his eyes more determined than ever before. “That’s what I thought. You may have Emma and Granny fooled, maybe even Henry and a few other townspeople too, but you’re not helping her the longer you keep her this way.”

“You make it sound like I’m the reason she’s like this in the first place,” Regina found her confidence again and stood her ground.

“You might not have used the magic it took to make her young again, but you aren’t helping fix anything. You probably haven’t even looked into the cause of how something like this could happen. You said you would, didn’t you? And getting Emma back to her normal self is the only real way to help her right now.”

Regina closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened her eyes, they were fiery as they held his gaze. “Undoing the spell she cast on herself is only one way of helping her. It’s a physical solution and even if I could undo it myself, I doubt it would do her any good. It’s clear to me and Granny and Henry and maybe a few other townspeople that she’s working through something emotional. Magic is emotion. Magic isn’t the cause of her condition. Her emotions are.

“So don’t tell me that I’m not helping her because I haven’t found a magical solution to the magical part of her problem. Don’t tell me that every time I wipe away her tears or hold her close or encourage her to not be afraid to do as she pleases because she’s not going to be chastised for doing what she wants that it’s not helping.”

David blinked and reared back a little as he listened, really listened, to Regina.

“She… What do you mean encourage her? She thinks… Why would she think she would be…chastised? Chastised by you?”

Regina scoffed. “In case you still haven’t figured it out, she’s not afraid of me. I think maybe she doesn’t want to disappoint me, but why on earth would she feel that way? Her fear of disappointing people isn’t something I’ve done to her. Tell me, how do you see your daughter? Is it as a princess, the Savior, your little girl? After years of foster care and group homes, do you really not see how your actions lately could possibly stir up past scars?”

In that moment, David wasn’t the only one to understand a lot more about Emma. Regina hadn’t been aware that she knew that much about the teen, but she’d known since the first night the blonde spent in her home after she’d turned eighteen. When David looked at her, she knew he saw the shock and then he suddenly seemed to…accept what she’d been telling him.

He didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at her apologetically like she thought maybe he would once things seemed to sink in for him. Instead, he just hurried out of the hallway.

Regina placed a hand over her stomach the way she always did when she felt vulnerable and slowly, she turned toward the entryway between the hall and the diner. She took a few steps toward it and tried to calm down before she went to rejoin Emma and Henry. She didn’t understand why it hit her so hard to realize just how much she knew about the blonde. It wasn’t necessarily new information she’d uncovered by talking with David. She knew how Emma felt. She knew the younger woman never felt good enough or that she was doing the right thing. She always seemed afraid that she would mess something up and incur Regina’s wrath, but maybe Regina never realized how little it actually had to do with her wrath specifically. Maybe that was why her heart ached for Emma again as she stood in the hallway, more than it had earlier despite hating how hurt Emma was nearly every second of every day.

She took a deep breath through her nose and released it after a short pause. She moved her hand from her stomach and let it fall to her side. Comfortable enough with her appearance, her emotions a little more in check than they had been moments ago, she walked back out into the diner. Within seconds, Emma’s eyes were on her. The other woman looked concerned and Regina smiled, thankful that Emma seemed to care about her at least a fraction of how much she cared about the blonde, before she remembered Emma needed her. Her smile faltered a bit, but she still looked warmly at the teen as she made her way over to her.

“Everything okay,” Emma asked as Regina made herself comfortable on the stool next to Emma, which she gently pushed Henry out of so she’d have somewhere to sit. He took the next stool down without question.

“You tell me,” Regina said before she leaned in close enough that their foreheads almost rested against each other. “Are you okay now?”

Emma stared at her for what felt like an eternity. She looked so wise yet so young and so beautiful. She gave a small nod and answered so softly Regina was sure she wouldn’t have heard it if there weren’t so close. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

Emma’s smile reached her eyes that time and Regina smiled back with immense sincerity before she said, “Good.”

Regina finally broke away from Emma’s captivating gaze and Emma took the opportunity to rest her head back on the woman’s shoulder. Regina didn’t mind. She looked at Henry and saw his knowing eyes and smirk. She placed a hand between his shoulder blades and rubbed his back a couple of times as she smiled back at him. She looked up as she slowed her motions on Henry’s back and looked over his head to see an abandoned mug on the counter where David once sat. Apparently the revelation the two of them shared was too much for him and he’d bolted. Regina supposed that was the difference between her and the Charmings. She stayed.

---

Before they sat down for family time before bed, Emma had so thoughtfully offered to clear the table and make cocoa. Henry and Regina went into the living room to pick out a movie and while they were alone, Henry spent less time looking at movies and more time talking about their day out shopping at the mall. Apparently it wasn’t much of a mall to Emma because she’d seen much bigger with a lot more stores and food court options, which Henry complained about more than once. He made it known that he wanted to see more malls, which then turned into a statement about how he wanted to see more realms as well.

Regina was able to get him back on track with a reminder that putting dishes in the sink and making cocoa didn’t take long and he went back to raving about how fun the day was.

“We had a close call when Emma came back from the food court with a snack for you, but we still managed to keep the presents a secret,” he said.

“Indeed. Although she did try to peek once or twice,” she noted with a smile.

Henry laughed. “Yeah. She’s so nosy.”

“Mm. I know a young boy that’s just as inquisitive, especially when it comes to his gifts,” she pointed out with a raised eyebrow and another smile.

Henry’s smile spread and a moment later, Emma joined them with two mugs filled almost to the rim with steaming hot cocoa.

“What are you guys talking about,” she asked.

Henry and Regina looked at each other and grinned before they looked at Emma again and not-so-innocently answered in sync, “Nothing.”

Emma squinted at them and both Regina and Henry knew her lie detector had pinged just then. Regina chuckled at the adorable distrusting scowl on the teen’s face and elaborated, “Well, nothing bad anyway.”

Emma sighed and relaxed her features, seeming to accept that answer, and handed Henry one of the mugs before he pulled a movie off the shelf.

“This one’s the winner,” he announced and Regina took it from him before she moved to the DVD player and put it in.

After they’d watched another holiday movie and torn off a green ring on the Christmas countdown in the family room, Regina sent Henry to bed and said goodnight to Emma. Henry received a kiss before he made his way up the stairs, but Emma cleaned up the kitchen with Regina and waited until the brunette went upstairs before she even considered going to bed. Regina had to walk her all the way to the guest room, but Emma looked at her like a lost puppy looking for a home; big eyes, adorable pout. It wasn’t until Regina cupped Emma’s cheek and stroked her thumb over soft, fair skin that the blonde dropped the pout and replaced it with a smile and relented to parting ways.

Not two hours later, however, Regina sat up in bed with her eyes glued to one of several spell books she’d brought up to her bedroom when she was interrupted by the click of her bedroom door opening. She looked up and assumed she would see Henry staring at her with a frown and tired eyes before he confessed to having another nightmare. Instead, she was greeted with the sight of Emma. The teen wore a timid expression while she kept a hand on the doorknob and occasionally averted her eyes as she nervously shifted from foot to foot.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you,” Emma said before she finally made eye contact with her for more than a few seconds. “I also didn’t mean to find out you wear reading glasses.”

Regina set the book down on her lap and held it open until she pulled off her glasses and placed them between the pages. She used the glasses to save her place before she set the book aside on her nightstand and said, “Not a single crack about how old I am.”

“Actually,” Emma slowly said as her lips started to curl into a grin, “I was gonna tell you how hot you look in them.”

“Bordering on inappropriate again, are we?”

“Should I not tell you how amazing you look? I can appreciate an attractive woman when I see one and age shouldn’t matter.”

“Was there a particular reason you came in here,” Regina asked and avoided furthering that conversation.

Emma ducked her head for a quick moment before she looked up at Regina again and approached the bed. “Um, yeah. I just…wanted to know if I could stay here.”

“Here. As in the house?”

Emma shook her head. “Here, as in your room.”

“No.”

“No?” Emma immediately went from timid to heartbroken.

“You shouldn’t come to me like this every time you see your parents.”

“But…what if I’m not here because I saw David today?”

“Then why else would you ask to stay?”

Emma shrugged before she crawled onto the bed despite Regina’s lack of permission to do so.

“Emma.” Regina meant to use a warning tone, but her voice betrayed her and she spoke Emma’s name with little resistance to the other woman’s presence in her bed.

The blonde remained silent as she sat down beside Regina and lifted the covers before she tucked her legs beneath them. She slid down until her head was seconds away from hitting the unused pillow, but she curled into Regina and rested her head in the crook of the brunette’s neck. She draped an arm over Regina’s waist and took a deep breath before she melted against the other woman’s side.

“Emma,” Regina tried again, but the blonde tipped her head back and Regina was helpless when she felt Emma’s nose brush over her pulse point.

“Let me stay,” Emma quietly said.

Regina felt her words in the breath that tickled her neck and the vibration against her shoulder from the feel of Emma’s throat when she spoke. She couldn’t resist and she couldn’t deny the woman. She knew Henry had her wrapped around his finger, but it wasn’t until that moment she realized just how true that was about Emma as well.

“What were you reading,” Emma asked before she started to lazily draw circles above Regina’s hip.

Regina gasped under Emma’s light and teasing touch. It was like Emma knew the effect it would have on her. “I was…looking into possible spells you could have casted on yourself.”

Immediately, she felt Emma tense up beside her. “Did my- Did David…say something to you?”

Regina took a deep breath and her hesitation made Emma stiffen further. The blonde twitched against her side and hugged her tighter around the waist. Emma’s nose brushed against her neck again as she burrowed her face in it and turned partially onto her stomach halfway on top of her.

She placed her hand over the arm draped across her waist and slowly and soothingly rubbed it up and down. “He did say something to me, but nothing that hadn’t already crossed my mind.”

“You don’t need to look for the magical cure, you know. I don’t…I don’t want you going out of your way to clean up the mess I made.”

“Mess? This is hardly a mess. What you do in the kitchen is a mess,” she chuckled and Emma laughed with her. “Despite your lack of control over your magic, there was a reason you cast the spell. You might have been aware of the reason when you cast the spell and maybe a part of you still is aware of the reason now, but there was a reason.”

“Doesn’t make it any less screwed up,” Emma muttered.

“It’s not screwed up. Emma, magic is emotion. Whatever your emotions were in the moment you cast the spell, you turned back into your eighteen year old self. That’s not screwed up. That’s kind of heartbreaking.”

“Why?” Emma lifted her head from Regina’s shoulder and stared at her but kept her arm securely around the brunette’s waist.

“Because I can only imagine what feelings it must have taken, and how strongly you had to feel them, for you to magically revert into adolescence.”

“Would-Would you ever do it? To yourself? Would you turn back time or…whatever you call what I did?”

“My younger years weren’t filled with love and happiness, dear, so I doubt I would do it on purpose.”

“Even if it meant seeing him again?”

“Him,” Regina asked and furrowed her brow as she tried to decipher who Emma was talking about. The teen barely knew anything about her. She’d lost all her memories from everything in Storybrooke and everything that happened after she was arrested, or at least that was what she’d told everyone and had continued to claim.

Emma’s eyes ever so slightly widened and Regina almost missed it. Almost.

“Your horse,” the blonde quickly covered for herself. “You told me about him the first night I spent here. Roci-something? You said you were good at riding, that you loved it, so I just thought maybe some part of you would think it’s worth it to go back? For one last ride or whatever.”

Regina blinked a few times and wondered what Emma really meant to say, because she was sure Emma had been about to say something else before she realized it would prove she’d been lying about what she remembered. She licked her lips and looked down for a moment before she answered, “I suppose. Although, if I did what you did then I would just be eighteen again. Rocinante would still be long gone.”

“Oh. Right. But would you go back? If you could?”

She thought it over for a moment. “No.”

“Really?”

“Really. There were so many times I’d wished I could go back, mostly just so I could change a few things. Now I have Henry and I’m…not the same person I once was. I’ve grown. I’ve learned from past experience. There were many times I know going back to change just a few things here and there would have been worth the pain of suffering from my mother’s magic, but I can’t feel that way when I have Henry and finally feel comfortable with myself.”

The younger woman frowned.

“Emma? Did I upset you?”

The teen shook her head but continued to frown. She pulled even further away from Regina and her arm slipped away from the brunette’s waist. Regina immediately felt the loss and wondered if Emma really was upset by something she’d said.

“What’s wrong,” she asked.

“I… Well, I did this to myself.”

“Yes, I thought we’d already established that.”

Emma shook her head and added, “You wouldn’t go back or try anything like this. You wouldn’t feel like you had to. Because of Henry. But…But I did.” Emma blinked and her eyes watered just before the first few tears spilled down her cheeks.

Regina leaned forward and brushed the pad of her thumb under one of Emma’s eyes to catch and wipe away a tear.

“Every day he lives with the fact that I gave him up, that I just let him go. I abandoned him. And now look at me. I did this to myself. I chose to go back to a version of myself that I was before I had him and I couldn’t remember him. I chose to do that. Oh, god. I’m not any better than Mary Margaret and David.”

“Yes, you are.” Emma’s eyes locked onto hers in a heartbeat at her firm tone. She had never spoken so assuredly before except to Henry on occasion. It was strange yet familiar and in that moment it felt completely right, completely necessary. “Your parents are struggling to make up for the poor way they’re handling your situation right now, but you see the potential effect this has on Henry and you feel guilty. You always try to fix it and you never push him away. You don’t just blame him for the way things are like your parents seem to blame you.”

“Because he didn’t cast the spell. I did. I know I’m at fault. My par- David and Mary Margaret didn’t do this to me. They know I used my magic to make this happen and that’s why they’re being so hard on me.”

“Just because you used magic and wound up this way doesn’t make everything your fault. You did this because you were hurting. You’re still hurting. Henry understands that. I understand that. Maybe David does now too, but they’ve been going about this all wrong. Because the spell you cast has everything to do with how you feel and they don’t seem to care about why you did this. That’s wrong of them.”

“Are you trying to make me hate them more?”

“No,” Regina shook her head. “They aren’t doing any of this the right way, but I just think it’s hard for them. The first time they saw you as their daughter after the curse was broken, you were twenty-eight years old. You were your own person and they didn’t get the chance to raise you. You’re their first child and they missed so much, Emma. So it was an adjustment to recognize they had a fully grown daughter. And then you were eighteen again. Maybe they thought that meant they were getting another chance to be more like your parents than your friends and you just weren’t having it. I don’t know. All I know is that you don’t have to keep giving them chances to make things right, but I think someday you’ll be happy you did.”

For a long moment, Emma just stared at her. She didn’t have a single response. Just stared. Her big, wet, gorgeous green eyes looked into her own brown eyes and the air in the room suddenly felt charged with electricity of a less mechanical source and a more personal one.

Then, Emma surged forward and slammed into her as she tightly wrapped her arms around Regina. Her cheek pressed against the brunette’s sternum and she squeezed the woman closer to her despite the fact that they were almost flush against each other already. The teen wriggled around on her knees on the bed until she pushed against Regina’s front like it was a wrestling match and she almost had her opponent in a position to be pinned and end the fight.

Regina slowly relaxed and fell toward the bed until she landed on her back with her head on her pillow. She wrapped her arms around Emma’s back just before she felt the blonde collapse on top of her. Emma had one of Regina’s thighs snuggly fit between her legs and her breasts pressed against the brunette’s torso. Emma’s head still rested on her chest, just above the swells of her breasts, and her arms were trapped between Regina’s back and the bed.

“Thank you,” Emma quietly said.

“For what?”

“So much. Everything. You and Mary Margaret have a lot of history and I know it’s probably not easy to defend her, but you still encourage me to try and fix things with her and David. Without taking sides.”

I only defend her for your sake, was the reply that came to Regina’s mind, but she didn’t admit it out loud. Instead, she responded with, “You don’t need to thank me.”

“Uh, yeah. I do. I owe you a lot, Regina.”

“Well, I won’t accept anything from you.”

“Yes, you will, because there’s no way I’m not paying you back.”

“Seeing you smile is payment enough,” Regina said as she started to gently rake her nails up and down Emma’s back.

Emma faintly hummed and she felt a curve of lips against her chest. She couldn’t see it, but she was almost one hundred percent sure that Emma was smiling in that very moment. A few minutes later, Emma’s breathing slowed and evened out.

Regina smiled and stopped running her nails over the blonde’s back. Carefully, she reached over and turned off the bedside lamp before she settled under the covers with Emma almost completely sprawled out on top of her.

“Sweet dreams,” Regina whispered to her and threaded a hand in blonde tresses as she placed her other hand beside her on the bed.

Chapter Text

Emma hummed and deeply inhaled as she started to wake up. She felt warm and cozy and definitely well rested, but she wasn’t sure why. She didn’t even remember or recognize where she was or what she was sleeping on. Whatever it was, it was soft and just as warm as her. Maybe even a little warmer. She wiggled around a little before she tried to stretch, but as soon as she arched her back and lifted her arm above her head to work out any kinks, she felt her lower body push into something. Correction, someone. Her eyes popped open in an instant and the first sight she was greeted with for the day was Regina Mills, eyes closed, hair askew, free of makeup, and on her back beneath her.

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened, afraid of what the brunette would do if she woke up to find Emma on top of her. Had she really fallen asleep like that? She was all over the other woman and all she remembered from the night before was that she’d shyly asked if she could spend the night in Regina’s room.

But the longer she stayed in place on top of Regina, the more comfortable and less worried she felt about it. She relaxed and even smiled as she slowly started to lower her head back down toward Regina’s chest. In the process, she wiggled around again and shifted a little lower so that one of her hips pressed between Regina’s upper thighs. It was twice as comfortable as the position she’d woken up in. Unfortunately, it was only comfortable for her.

“Emma,” Regina groggily said.

Emma immediately looked up at her like a pet when it heard the rustling of a food bag and expected to be fed. Regina’s eyes were still closed, but her brow was furrowed as though she desperately wanted to stay asleep.

“Either get off me or stay still,” Regina ordered.

It took a few seconds before she reacted, stunned by the words she wasn’t sure she heard correctly, but when she finally made sense of the words and knew she hadn’t just imagined the brunette saying them Emma grinned. The witty remark, “Glad to know you wouldn’t kick me out of bed” was on the tip of her tongue, but she resisted the urge to say the words out loud in case Regina changed her mind about letting Emma stay. Instead, she only responded with the grin and settled back down with her head to the other woman’s chest. She breathed out a content sigh and tried to fall back asleep, but all she could do was rest with her eyes closed. She was awake for the day, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy being with Regina a little longer.

Several minutes passed and Emma thought they would remain in bed for the first half of the day, maybe keep themselves curled up under the covers for another hour or two at the very least, but Regina shifted beneath her. Emma frowned and felt the moment and their closeness coming to an end. But she didn’t want it to end. She liked it and she didn’t have any plans for the day. Even another attempt to get a look into the shopping bags Regina and Henry had brought home the night before wasn’t tempting enough to get her to move.

But Regina shifted again and Emma knew she was getting restless. The woman had slept with a hundred and two-pound teen on top of her all night and once she’d been pulled from her sleep because that same teen had jostled her around, it wasn’t likely she would be comfortable in that position much longer.

Regina sighed and Emma thought for sure the brunette would push her onto the empty side of the bed. But she didn’t do that. Not right away at least. She picked her head up and looked at Regina to see that her eyes were finally open, but she didn’t look flustered or upset or desperate to get away from her. Regina’s eyes just stared back into her own and the brunette looked at her with an unreadable emotion etched on her face.

Emma rested most of her weight on her hands, which were on either side of Regina on the bed at that point, as her upper body hovered just slightly over the woman. She bit her lip as she continued to look at Regina, unsure of what the brunette was going to do or if she should just slide off her before Regina even had to tell her. Regina surprised her though, because she didn’t do any of the things Emma expected her to do. The first thing the woman did was rest her hands on the blonde’s hips and after a few seconds brought one of her hands up to Emma’s hair.

Regina ran her fingers through messy blonde tresses from the teen’s ear to the very tips of her hair. It was soothing, but a wildly affectionate gesture. Regina had acted similarly the previous day when Emma had been sad, but that was different. In that moment, Regina had no reason to comfort Emma the way she was. Emma wasn’t even sure the brunette knew she was comforting her at all. On top of that, they were in a very intimate position. It wasn’t just that Emma was sharing Regina’s bed. It was the fact that Regina was under her and gently stroking her sides the longer they chose not to speak yet remain pressed together the way they were. She hadn’t noticed the stroking until she watched Regina lick her lips in a very normal gesture. Her mouth was probably dry in the mornings like Emma’s tended to be.

It didn’t matter how normal and expected the gesture was, she quickly realized, because all her mind had processed was the sight of Regina’s tongue flicking the scar above her lip. Regina hadn’t even done it on purpose. She hadn’t meant to lick her lips seductively, and she really hadn’t even done that, but Emma still thought it was sexy. Regina had done something out of necessity and Emma was fascinated by the small, simple, innocent moment. Seconds later, her fascination was replaced with a jolt of sensation where she felt Regina’s hands and suddenly, she erupted in a fit of giggles.

Emma lurched forward and curled her body up and inward as she buried her face in Regina’s neck and squirmed as the brunette’s fingers poked and slid across sensitive spots on her body. She forgot how ticklish she was, but Regina apparently knew what had slipped the teen’s mind.

“Regina,” she said between laughs. “St- R’gina, stop it.”

She lost her breath second by second. She was way too sensitive, always had been, and she hated it. There had been a few times she’d tried to get physical with someone and the person had grazed over a particular area of her body here and there without meaning to, which immediately made her laugh. Sometimes it ruined the mood completely and sometimes it just made things take that much longer to move past the overwhelming sensation.

“I’m- Stop! I’m ticklish,” Emma said as she continued to laugh without any control over herself.

Regina started to laugh as well and her hands never stopped their torture. “Clearly!”

Emma bucked, jerked, and twisted all around as she laughed and laughed until she really couldn’t breathe. She threw herself onto the bed in the empty space beside Regina and curled up on her side in the hopes that as soon as she was off Regina, the brunette would pull her hands away. Regina didn’t do that right away though. She proceeded to tickle Emma and even rolled onto her side to face the blonde as she did it.

“You’re not gonna- You’re not gonna be laughing… When-when I- When I pee on your sheets,” Emma insisted through her struggle to do anything but giggle and try to gasp air back into her lungs. She squeezed her eyes closed, a big smile on her face, and tears spilled out from all the laughter.

Slowly, not immediately, Regina stopped and moved her hands away from the teen. Finally, Emma was able to breathe. The blonde relaxed and took deep breaths before she rolled slightly onto her back, though most of her body still faced Regina. She draped an arm over her own waist and heavily sighed as she regained control of her breathing.

“You said that to me the last time I did that,” Regina confessed. “You’re just as ticklish at twenty-nine as you are now.”

“I’ve always been ticklish.”

“You’ve mentioned that before as well.”

“Before my magical mishap,” Emma stated.

“Yes,” Regina replied despite the fact that Emma hadn’t asked a question. “Do you remember any of that?”

Regina certainly did. It had been the only time before Emma’s spell that the two of them had shared a bed. It was the same night she’d agreed to secretly help the Charmings pay for their house. Emma had pleaded her case while they relaxed in Regina’s bed after a long day and had a few drinks from Regina’s personal stash. The blonde had convinced Regina the favor wasn’t for Snow and Charming but for Emma so that she could get the apartment all to herself when her parents moved out. Plus, the older woman couldn’t deny the other woman the freedom she desperately wanted and needed when Emma drew lazy circles with her fingertips just above her hip.

Regina still hadn’t conceded to helping with the house yet and she liked how Emma’s fingers felt against her skin way too much to think clearly so she’d tried to even the playing field a little. When she’d skated her hands up the blonde’s sides, the woman instantly squirmed before she burst out laughing and shouted that she was extremely sensitive. Regina had laughed and teased her about it before Emma made the remark about peeing in her bed. Then, she’d stopped tickling the younger woman and caved in to Emma’s request for her to help the Charmings.

“No,” Emma answered. “Why would I remember that?”

“Right,” Regina said and nodded, but she didn’t quite believe the teen. She stared into green eyes for a moment before she smiled at the teen.

After a few seconds, Emma smiled back and chortled. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I can’t help it,” Regina admitted without any hesitation. She realized it wasn’t what she should have said to the eighteen-year-old, specifically because she was still too young despite her legal age.

Emma blushed and rolled over so her back was to the brunette. She scooted back toward Regina and pulled the woman’s arm across her waist as she snuggled up against the mayor’s front, her butt pressed up against Regina’s groin. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she released it in a long, slow sigh. She was completely relaxed and ready to sleep just a little longer if she could get away with it.

“We shouldn’t stay in bed much longer,” Regina said.

“Why not? What do we have to do today?”

“I have to go to work. I’ve told you before that the town doesn’t run itself. Henry might also be up soon and imagine his confusion if he found us like this.”

“He’s twelve. Doesn’t he already know about sex and relationships?”

“It doesn’t matter what he knows because that’s not what this is.”

“Well, it is a relationship. We’re friends, right?”

“Wh- I-, Well, yes, but we’re also his mothers. You’re also not much older than he is right now so I think on both counts seeing us cuddle would make him wonder what exactly we’re doing.”

“What’s so wrong about two people cuddling? Two friends cuddling?”

“Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s just more complicated because we’re his parents and you’re a teenager for the time being.”

Emma sighed and Regina could tell she wasn’t happy. She didn’t seem completely upset either. Defeated was probably the best word to describe the blonde in that moment.

“Just a few more minutes,” Emma said and tugged Regina closer before she tightly clutched the brunette’s hand and wrist.

Regina leaned her head forward and pressed her nose against the back of Emma’s neck. “I’ll give you ten and then it’s time for breakfast,” she muttered into silky blonde hair.

Emma smiled brightly and bit her lip to contain her enthusiasm even though Regina couldn’t see her face. “Okay,” she agreed and then happily wiggled around in the other woman’s embrace.

“Emma,” Regina groaned. “Be still or we get up right now.”

Emma stifled a laugh and settled down before she closed her eyes again in an attempt to rest. “Thank you, Regina,” she quietly said and couldn’t wipe the smile off her face if she tried.

[---]

The next few days passed without incident. Emma didn’t cry about anything and even started to smile more. She helped around the kitchen, spent time with Henry when Regina had to attend to things at the office, and didn’t outright flirt with Regina anymore. Although, the same could not be said about her nighttime antics. It wasn’t the teen’s fault, though. Regina knew that and was very understanding, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a little concerned.

The blonde had spent the past several nights in her bed. She always welcomed the younger woman into her room with limited questioning, which she only used to identify why it was Emma came to her, and the girl had seemed more relaxed each day following a night spent curled up together in the master bedroom. She always quickly learned that it was entirely possible Henry got his cuddling habits from his birth mother because Emma could certainly smother her like a koala bear clinging to a tree.

Each morning she woke up to Emma wrapped around her, always positioned differently than before yet always sprawled out on top of her. Feet were hooked around ankles and hands were set on and buried in specific places all over her body. Knees were either slipped between legs or they poked at her sides and ass. And then one morning Emma wasn’t on top of her.

That morning, Emma was instead curled up with her knees almost pressed to her chest. Regina was molded against her back with a hand between the teen’s shoulder blades. When the blonde shivered and tried to curl further into herself, Regina moved her hand and started to rub Emma’s back without even realizing she was doing it.

Her eyes remained closed as she continued to slide her hand along Emma's spine. The teen started to stir, but after a few small movements seemed to find a comfortable enough position. Regina inhaled through her nose and smelled her shampoo on the blonde tresses in front of her before she dipped her head and pressed her nose to the base of Emma's neck. The girl emitted a soft sound but remained still for at least a few more seconds before she shifted and rolled onto her back. She had to pull back before the teen could lay across her face and chest and finally opened her eyes. As soon as she did, she saw bleary green eyes stare back at her.

"Morning," the blonde groggily said.

"Good morning," she greeted in response, her own voice a little gravely from sleep. Her hand was crushed between Emma's back and the bed, her palm pushed into the sheets and her knuckles against the blonde's cotton tank top. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," the teen replied. "Warm. Comfy. I'm okay."

Emma smiled and Regina found the expression to be infectious. The younger woman then turned onto her side, which then gave Regina the opportunity to slide her hand out from beneath her, and lay face-to-face with her on the bed.

"You weren't having any nightmares just now," she just then thought to ask the blonde.

"No nightmares. Why? Did I do something or say something in my sleep?"

"You were shivering."

"Oh, I was just...I don’t know. I guess I was uncomfortable? I'm sorry. Did it wake you?"

"No, I was already starting to wake up. And you don't need to apologize."

"Okay," Emma said before she bit her bottom lip and looked over Regina's face from forehead to chin and everything in between.

"What," she had to ask after a moment.

"Nothing," Emma said before she locked eyes with her again. "You look really beautiful like this."

Before Regina could even think of a response, Emma brought a hand up between them and cupped the side of her face before she pushed back a few stray, and probably frazzled, strands of hair. Usually, Henry didn't even see her as disheveled as she must have looked in that moment. Not since he was little and used to barge into her bedroom at all hours of the day and the night whenever he wanted or needed something from her. The fact that Emma of all people had the opportunity to see her vulnerable like that, without makeup and with bags under her eyes as her hair did whatever it damn well pleased, was a shock and yet made sense. Of course Emma would be the one to see her in such a vulnerable state, whether it was emotional or physical. And the fact that Emma thought she was beautiful in a moment that Regina almost always thought she looked the worst in made her feel a sort of shock to her system and a flare inside her chest. She never thought it would be the irritating blonde, but ever since Neverland she couldn’t imagine things any other way. She couldn't imagine having shared that kind of close space with Snow or even Tinker Bell and she and the other blonde had already spent plenty of time in close quarters together.

But things were different. They had changed. She had changed. And as Emma lightly trailed her thumb across her cheekbone as the morning light crept in through the partially sheer curtains, she was content. Maybe even happy. For years, she'd only ever wanted moments. Moments with loved ones and someone to hold her on good days and bad. Moments basking in the sunlight before inevitably being dragged away for work or some other mundane duty she wished she could avoid, but only ever did because she was determined to get home and relive more of those moments she enjoyed so much. With Emma beside her in bed on a chilly winter morning beneath warm covers and aware of the fact that Henry, their son, was just down the hall, she finally had what she'd been looking for and craved before, with, and after Daniel.

"Now you're staring," Emma noted with a bright smile.

Regina pulled herself out of her thoughts at the sound of the teen's voice and the feel of fingers pressed to her collarbone. At some point during her revelation, Emma had moved her hand from her cheek and hair to gently caress and trace patterns on her exposed sternum and shoulders.

"You're beautiful like this, too," she replied and watched as the younger woman's cheeks flushed a rosy shade of pink.

While the teen had her eyes averted, Regina took the time to admire all the little freckles she spotted on Emma's cheeks and nose. She'd seen them before, but she'd never been as physically close to the woman at such a still moment in time to truly appreciate every minute detail. It felt like she'd stared at Emma for hours before she noticed the flutter of lashes and saw green eyes focused on her again. She caught the blonde's gaze and gulped.

Emma placed her hand on the front of her shoulder after another moment and gently shoved her backward. She was rolled onto her back before the blonde followed her and lay on top of her. The teen's chest was pressed against her torso while the girl rested a cheek just above her breast. The hand that had pushed her onto her back then slipped beneath the strap of her silk top and her fingers loosely clung to it as the strap then hung off her upper arm.

"Emma," she nearly gasped.

Just then her phone rang and she didn't get the chance to hear if Emma actually had a response. The only thing the blonde did was sigh and burrow her hips between Regina's thighs. She felt Emma relax a little more and assumed the teen was ready to fall back asleep as she kept the brunette pinned beneath her.

Thankfully, her phone was on the nightstand next to her and it didn't take much effort to grab it without pushing Emma away. She unplugged the phone and held it above her head, careful not to elbow Emma, and blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the screen. Panic jolted through her like a shot of adrenaline when she read the caller ID. If Emma felt her tense or cringe, the blonde hadn’t let on and instead remained perfectly still and content on top of her.

She had two options. One, she could ignore the call until a more convenient time or two, she could answer it and potentially avoid a later conflict. She didn't want Emma to overhear any of the conversation, whether or not the blonde would be able to hear the person on the other end of the call, but she also didn't want to hide anything from the younger woman. And if she didn't answer right away, she risked the chance of the woman calling her again or showing up at the house. If she was lucky and decided to ignore the call, the other woman would show up at her office while she was at work, but Regina wasn't lucky and the other woman had a knack for interrupting her at the worst times.

She sighed and answered the call. "Good morning, Snow." As soon as she spoke the other woman's name, Emma squirmed. Instinctively, just as she had when Emma had shivered earlier, Regina ran her free hand through blonde tresses and let it slip through her fingers over and over again. The effect was calming for both of them. Emma even hummed as she went limp again, but not before she tugged the strap of Regina's shirt further down her arm. "I assume there's something I can do for you?"

"Good morning, Regina," Snow carefully greeted. Regina immediately picked up on the hesitation in her voice, the nervousness and uncertainty the other woman tried but failed to hide from her.

"Are you home from the hospital?"

"Wh- Uh, yes. I am."

"And you're alright? You and the baby are fine?"

"Y-yes," Snow croaked out. "But do you really care?"

"Despite my many and best efforts, we're family, dear. Your health matters," she said as passively and casually as possible. As long as she ignored the fact that Snow's own daughter was on top of her in her bed with their lower bodies far too close to be completely innocent, she was able to act as if nothing had changed between them. She didn't have to feel that panic or guilt and continuing to run her hand through Emma's hair helped keep it that way. "Even if I don’t agree with most of what you say and do, especially lately, that doesn't mean I wish you harm. Although watching you squirm is something I always enjoy."

"Well, thank you," Snow slowly said. "Um, listen, I... David and I have spent the last few days talking about it and we know that things are still...rocky with everyone, but we really want to see Emma and Henry for the holidays."

"And?"

"And we thought we'd invite them over for Christmas? They can always say no and we'll understand if neither of them want to see us, but this is the first Christmas we'll all be able to spend together. As a family," the woman stressed. "It's not the first Christmas we've had since Emma came to Storybrooke, but it's the first one that doesn't have us going off to other worlds and fighting villains."

"I see."

"You're welcome to come with them, if they agree to spend the day with us."

"Well, that's a given. They're my family, too. Don't you think I would like to spend the day with them as well?"

"Right. Of course. We- Regina, please. I know this is hard—"

"Hard for you two maybe, but it's not hard for me."

"Because you get to spend every day with her," Snow raised her voice. She wasn't angry, but Regina could tell she was desperate and hurt. "And Henry! The last time we saw either of them was at the hospital and we both know that could have gone better. I just... We just want to start making things right. We're willing to do whatever is necessary to have Emma and Henry at the house this Christmas. So, can we expect them?"

"I don't know."

"Please," the woman quickly cut in to beg a little more.

"I don't know because it's not up to me," she clarified. "I'll have to ask them. It's their decision and I'll respect whatever they choose to do."

A few seconds passed before Snow said, "Okay. You'll ask them and let one of us know?"

"Yes."

"Thank you," Snow replied. That time it was firmer and sincerer than the first time she said it, which had been with some insecurity. "H-how is she?"

"Good. It's been good lately." She heard a heavy sigh of relief a moment later.

"He was right," Snow quietly said.

"Who was?"

"David. He said-" the other woman stopped herself short.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. I- He just told me you two talked at the diner the other day. I wasn't sure if... I'm glad she's doing well. I'm...glad she has you."

She tried to say something, a little shocked at Snow's confession, but the line went dead before she could get out a single word.

"What did she want," Emma grumbled against her chest.

"She wants you and Henry over for Christmas," she answered with only slight pause as she set the phone back down on the nightstand.

"Oh." Emma shifted again and she stifled a groan as the blonde accidentally rubbed against an extremely sensitive part of her. The teen knelt between her legs on the bed and stared down at her with a small pout and indecisive eyes as she seemed to consider the offer. "How long do I have to decide?"

"Seeing as how Christmas Eve is less than a week away, I'd say not long."

Emma bit her lip and nervously played with the hem of her tank top.

Regina pulled herself up to lean back against the headboard then took both of Emma's hands in hers before she shook the blonde's arms a little to get her attention. The teen took the hint and moved toward her a little more before she sat down on her butt and left side between Regina's open legs. The girl's side was pressed against her front and she wrapped an arm around Emma's waist to hold her just tightly enough that let the blonde know she was supported but could walk away at any time if she needed space.

“You don’t have to go,” she reminded her.

“But…I should go. Or…at least I shouldn’t keep Henry from going. He’s invited too, right?”

“You don’t have to go,” she more firmly repeated. “You don’t owe them anything. You owe it to yourself to do whatever makes you comfortable and happy.”

Emma stared at her for a long moment before she asked, “What would you do?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me. If you were me, what would you do?”

She sighed and rubbed her hand up and down Emma’s side a few times before she started to extricate herself from the blonde. “I don’t know. There are so many things I’ve done regarding my parents and most of them weren’t the best course of action. But at the time I thought it was.”

Emma frowned while Regina made her way to the closet. She pulled out clothes for the day and looked at the teen again who had made herself even more comfortable in Regina’s bed while the brunette had her back turned.

Emma had the covers pulled up to her chin and her knees pulled in toward her body as her thighs seemingly almost pressed flat against her torso beneath the sheets. She leaned against the pillow propped up against the headboard and kept her eyes on Regina as the woman moved around the room. Her eyes were wide and her body position made her look so small.

Regina set her outfit on the foot of the bed and sat down on the edge just in front of Emma. She didn’t say anything, didn’t push the teen to talk at all and didn’t reach out. She just sat with her in silence for a little while before the blonde finally spoke again.

“I think…I want to spend some time with them before I decide. Maybe breakfast or lunch. But I want you to come with me.”

“Okay. I’ll call your mother later to agree on a time,” she said.

“Really? And you’ll go with me? Just like that?”

“Yes, just like that. Although, that means Henry will have to come along as well. I don’t want to leave him here alone and with everything going on, I don’t think he wants to go back to Neal's.”

“I’m okay with that. Are you okay with dragging him into this,” Emma asked and suddenly she looked nervous about the answer.

“He’s already involved. We’re all connected, Emma. When you hurt, we hurt.”

Emma winced. “Sorry. I don’t mean to make things worse for you.”

“How do you make things worse?”

“You’re stuck watching me and taking care of me and apparently, what I feel causes you pain. I don’t want to cause you pain. Either of you.”

“I’m not stuck. It’s my choice to help you. I don’t have to. I want to. Henry and I care about you and we wish you didn’t feel the way you do, but we can’t change how you feel. We don’t blame you for how you feel either. We just want you to be okay.”

“Yeah, and I’m not. I’m not okay and because I’m not, you two are suffering.”

Regina shook her head. “Don’t rush things just because you think it’ll help Henry and me. If you don’t want to see your parents at Christmas, don’t. If you don’t want to set up a breakfast or lunch or whatever with them, don’t.”

“But I’ve been such a burden.”

“No. Maybe you’re still not used to people caring or putting you first, but that’s what this is. That’s what Henry and I are doing. Your needs come first. What do you want? Don’t worry about us. You do that enough when you’re not eighteen and in so many ways. It’s time someone worried and cared for you so let us keep doing that.”

Emma rolled the sheets between her fingertips and stared down at the movement for a few seconds before she looked at her again. “I want to have breakfast. Or lunch,” the teen said with determination. Her mind was made up.

[---]

So they had brunch two days later. All four of them went to Snow and Charming's house around ten thirty and had quiche that Regina had offered to make, but Charming had insisted preparing himself. Thankfully the dish wasn't terrible and no one suddenly needed to rush to the bathroom at any point during their meal so things were off to a decent start at least. But things were also quiet and tense, however. Henry didn't have much to share and the wide-eyed expression he had gave Regina the impression that he was afraid to say anything in case it might ruin whatever possible progress they could all make together.

In that moment, Regina wasn't sure there was anything to ruin, but she understood his concern. She didn't attempt to find a talking point and say something either, but that was mostly because she wasn't the one that needed to discuss things with Snow and Charming. Emma was the one that needed the brunch, needed to talk and to address her issues sooner rather than later.

“So,” Emma slowly started to say. “You’re okay? The baby’s okay?”

Snow’s eyes flicked up in an instant and she flashed a quick smile before she nodded. She waited until she finished chewing before she replied, “Yes, the baby and I are fine. Thanks to you. How…how are you? How have you been…since…?”

Emma gulped and stared down at her plate as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. When no other response was forthcoming, Henry spoke up.

“We went ice skating the other night,” he smiled. “Before that we had a snowball fight and made snow angels. We’ve been having fun. Right, Mom?”

Regina stopped eating. She froze in place with her silverware poised over her plate to cut into a bite of meat, but she never went for it. She just paused and looked around the table at Henry, the Charmings, and lastly at Emma. The girl’s green eyes were slightly wide and filled with curiosity.

“Yes, we have been,” Regina confirmed.

“That’s good,” Snow awkwardly said with a forced smile. “We’re…happy to hear that.”

Snow looked from Regina to Emma and bobbed her head in a stilted nod before silence stretched between them again.

After a long and painful amount of time hearing only the scraping and clinking of silverware, Emma seemed to have had enough with the tension in the room and said, “Regina’s been a huge help. I’ve said that before, but I think it needs repeating sometimes.”

The blonde looked over at her and smiled before she turned to her parents and hardened her expression just enough to get her point across but not enough to look mean or sound rude.

“Yes, well…thank you, Regina,” Snow slowly said. Her voice was strained and her fists clenched and unclenched around her utensils as though it took a painful amount of effort to thank the brunette in person. It probably was. Even after their phone call, Snow hardly ever thanked her for anything. Even worse was that Snow rarely admitted when she was wrong and thanking Regina for her help with Emma was an admission in itself.

“So, what else have you been doing,” David cut in. He surprisingly wasn’t judgmental. He was only curious. His demeanor and tone were calm and inquisitive.

Emma chose to take a few more bites and made sure to take her time and swallow each one before she answered, “We decorated the tree.”

“Trees,” Henry corrected. “We have two. But…you never really decorated yours, did you?”

The question was directed at Emma and she didn’t seem to have the heart to give him a response. Instead, she shrugged a second before she went back to eating and from then on the rest of the meal was consumed in silence, awkward and painful silence.

Regina was used to quiet dinners and feeling isolated during various meals, both in Storybrooke and before the curse, so it wasn’t particularly difficult for her to get through, but it wasn’t enjoyable either. It was even worse to see the way Emma struggled beside her. The blonde had earlier explained to her that she wanted to be comfortable around her parents before she officially agreed to spending any part of the holidays with them. It was understandable, but it also wasn’t working.

"Um, I think I'm gonna do the dishes," Emma quietly said after she dropped her silverware onto her mostly clean plate and held out a hand to take hers as well.

"You don't have to do that," she replied before Emma decided to go for Henry's plate instead, which he gave her almost immediately.

"You always make us dinner and even though you didn’t feed us today, you’re hosting four other people right now. You shouldn't have to clean up. That's not fair," Emma explained as she set Henry's plate on top of her own and then waited again for Regina to hand over her plate.

Regina sighed and gave up the fight. She handed the teen her plate, but she made sure to lock eyes with the blonde and let her know without words just how much it meant that Emma thought to help out instead of just leave her to do everything on her own. 

"Thank you," Regina said before Emma turned away with a smile on her face and disappeared into the kitchen.

Most people didn't consider the work, the effort, that went into the things she did and she barely even heard a thank you from those she did it to assist, as was most common with Snow. Emma on the other hand always offered to do something with or for her. She either did what she could in the kitchen or she offered to clean up when everything was finished. It might have been Emma trying not to be too dependent on her and maybe her way of relieving some of the strain the teen thought taking care of her caused Regina, but whatever it was it was something to be appreciated.

She shifted in her seat and toyed with the napkin in her lap just as she cleared her throat and looked down at the table cloth. When she looked up again, she saw Snow and David staring at her with slightly wide eyes filled with what Regina guessed was disbelief or at least something similar.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you that staring isn't polite," Regina asked after a moment of feeling overly scrutinized and unsure as to why.

Snow sighed and blinked until her eyes were their usual size. The other woman looked a little defeated once she'd been called out for her staring, but she wasn't defeated at all. Her tone when she next spoke, however, was a little softer than normal and Regina realized that the woman was just tired and having a difficult time connecting with Emma, which had been apparent to everyone all evening long.

"She seems well," Snow said. "I... We shouldn't have pushed her and...we should have believed you. Believed that you were helping and not...keeping her from us."

"That's really what you thought, isn't it," Regina asked. "You thought the only reason I allowed her to stay here was just to spite you?"

"You have to admit that you've given us plenty of reasons over the years to think that was a possibility," David replied. "You stormed into our castle the day of Emma's birth and demanded to know where she was. We weren't sure then what exactly you would have done to her, but we trust that it wouldn't have been anything good."

Snow nodded and added, "It's part of why we put her in the wardrobe in the first place. And now that she's young again... Well, we could have had a second chance. We could have helped her and been her parents for at least a little while. You never gave us the chance to be her parents before casting the curse so we always thought this was another way to deny us that again. She's never had people that love and care about her until she came here and even now that she knows we're her parents, it's never... We've hardly had any opportunities to be there for her as parents."

"The fact that we're all the same age makes it even harder," David confessed. "She met us during the curse when she didn't believe it could be possible for us to be her parents and it's not like we knew who we were so we couldn't help her believe. And then she and Mary Margaret were friends and roommates so the transition to mother and daughter hasn't exactly been easy."

"I understand that I'm partly at fault for some of what's happened to Emma," Regina said. "But being a parent to any child no matter how old you are or how old they are and how you met... It's never easy. There are plenty of books on the subject of parenting, but they're only guidelines. You can read as many of them as you want, but at the end of the day you just have to do what you think is best. And even though you're the parent, you still need to listen to them." She looked beside her at Henry who sat and watched the conversation with rapt attention and then continued. "I didn't listen to Henry and it nearly shattered everything we had. After almost losing him several times either by my own fault or someone snatching him away, I've learned to listen more and listen better. I've listened to Emma and now you need to listen to her as well."

"So you've said before," Charming said a little regretfully like he was finally starting to grasp that she hadn't in fact kept Emma to herself just to hurt them. "I guess you’ve been a better parent to her than we have."

Regina scrunched up her nose and her entire expression turned sour. "I'm not trying to be a parent to her. That's your job. I'm just doing what I can and being here for her. You don't have to be a parent to do that. That’s what friends do."

"So...that's what you two are," Snow asked. "Friends?"

"I...I think we are," Regina said and looked away, uncomfortable.

"You don’t know," David asked with audible confusion.

Henry placed a hand on her arm and reassuringly smiled at her before he answered for her. "They're friends.”

She felt her heart soar at the simple defense and brightly smiled at him as she reached up and stroked her thumb over his temple and through some of his hair.

David cleared his throat before he pushed his chair out and stood. "I'm gonna see if Emma needs any help in the kitchen."

"Oh," Snow started to get up, but David put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.

"I know you and the baby are fine, but you should still take it easy," David said. "It’s not like Emma's going to be in the kitchen all night. You'll see her again and have a chance to talk to her soon enough."

"You should rest," Regina agreed and in an instant she had the attention of everyone at the table. "You really scared Emma when she had to take you to the hospital. If you do anything to endanger your health again, she'll be furious."

"She... Really," Snow asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"Yes, really. As you've mentioned many times before you're her parents and we all know she's not used to that, but she wants to get used to it. You'd know that yourself if you would just listen."

David nodded and gently squeezed Snow's shoulder before he went into the kitchen.

Regina looked from Snow to Henry and when she saw her son she immediately saw the large smile on his face. He glowed with happiness. It was an expression she hadn't seen on Henry in years, since sometime before finding out he was adopted and then finding the story book filled with fairy tales he just knew had to be real.

As soon as David left the room, the three that remained at the table fell silent again and waited.

[---]

"Hey, kiddo," David greeted.

Emma jumped the second she heard his voice, caught off guard by his presence since she hadn't heard him come in over the sound of the sink. She relaxed and set the plate in her hands onto the drying rack with a few other dishes before she shut off the water and turned to face him. "Hey," she replied. "Is everything okay? You're not leaving, are you?"

"No. No," he was quick, and genuine, to assure her. "I just wanted to see if you needed any help."

"Oh, uh, no. I'm actually just about done. But...thanks."

David awkwardly stuffed his hands into his pockets and carefully crept toward her. He left enough space between them that allowed Emma plenty of room to slip past him and out of the kitchen if she chose to leave, but made sure it was clear he still wanted to be there even if he wasn't needed. "So...I don't want to speak for your mother because she'll want to talk to you herself, but while I've got you here I just want to say...I'm sorry. I...I shouldn't have pushed you as hard I have been and I should have believed you when you said Regina understood what we didn't."

Emma swallowed and looked down at the floor for a moment before she turned and wiped her wet hands on the nearest towel. When they were dry, she slid them down over her denim covered thighs and tried to stay calm as she listened to David's apology.

"It hasn't been easy for us. Any of us," he continued. "Not just your mother and I, but you as well. We just...we didn’t see that and we didn't know how to fix it."

"Maybe...maybe you didn’t need to fix it. Regina didn't fix anything. She's just there when I need her," Emma quietly confessed.

David nodded. "That's what she's been trying to tell us. She's still trying to tell us. We, your mother and I, haven't had a lot of experience with babies or teenagers. We barely know or understand you as an adult. And that's no excuse, because we haven't been trying as hard as we could be, but...I want to try. Your mother wants to try. We just... We love you and we want to try to make things okay between the three of us."

"You could have started making things okay a lot sooner if you'd just let Regina do what she's been doing."

"I know."

"She's doing a lot. Just because she hasn't spent every waking hour focused on trying to undo the spell doesn't mean she hasn't been doing her best. Because what she's doing works."

David frowned and furrowed his brow. "What-?"

"The other night I walked in on her buried in a spellbook," she explained. Her expression was firm, but not upset. She just wanted to be clear. "As far as I know, she hasn't been staring at books for the better part of a month trying to find the magical cure to my issue. Then we see you at the diner and suddenly she's back in research mode."

"I didn't-"

"You didn't have to demand her to do it," Emma cut him off before he could try to explain himself. "If you said anything to her that made her feel like what she's been doing hasn't been enough or was only her being selfish or whatever, you had to know she'd do it."

"What do you mean? She... Regina went back to the books to try to find a way to change you back," he asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean."

"But...she never listens to us."

Emma scoffed and shook her head. "Yes, she does. She takes everything we say to heart and if she feels any little bit of doubt about herself because of what we say to her, she does what she can to make it better or make herself feel better. She kills herself trying to prove she's worthy of...I don’t really know what, but it's what she does. She doesn't deserve to go through that torture. She's doing everything she needs to do."

"That's...a lot of insight for someone that doesn't remember her history with Regina prior to the spell," David slowly said as he seemed to try to work some things out in his head.

Emma didn't react. She just took another breath and added, "I'm not gonna yell at you or tell you that I don't want to come over for Christmas, but I just want you to understand that Regina's off limits. You can't make her feel like that anymore. I've felt worthless plenty of times in my life and it sucks so I want to make sure you know she's not worthless and shouldn't feel worthless, especially not because of something either you or Mary Margaret said. Got it?"

David stood still for a moment and took in what Emma had said before he nodded and said, "Got it."

"Good, because that's step one."

"Step one?"

"If you can manage not to bother or hurt Regina, you're taking the first step to repairing whatever relationship we had or should have had before the spell," Emma elaborated.

David's eyebrows jumped up toward his hairline and after a few seconds he relaxed when he understood there was still a chance. He smiled and nodded again before he removed his hands from his pockets. "That's... Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not giving up on us."

Emma flashed a quick smile that vanished just before she said, "Regina and Henry have never given up on me. So I don't think it would be fair to give up on you."

David's smile morphed into something soft and almost teary looking. Emma wasn't sure what it meant or how he felt in that moment, but it looked like something finally clicked in his mind.

"Well, if you don't need me I'll be out in the dining room with the others," he said and hitched a thumb over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You can go. I'll be out in a second," Emma said and David then slowly started to back out of the kitchen.

She turned to the sink again and cleaned all the silverware before she set them in the basket section of the drying rack meant specifically for utensils. It only took about a minute before she followed after David and joined the group at the table once again. When she walked back into the dining room, she noticed things were slightly less tense than they had been before she'd gone to the kitchen and wondered if David had said anything upon his return. She didn't waste too much time thinking about it, however, and instead took her seat next to Regina again.

The brunette leaned in toward her and then quietly asked, "Is everything okay?"

Emma looked at Regina and then again at her parents before her eyes slid over to Henry who was smiling at her. She smiled back at him and the smile remained on her face as she looked again at Regina and answered, "It's starting to be."