Work Text:
Regina was not in a good mood.
When was she in a good mood at the moment, though? Certainly not often.
Work was hellish, as per usual, but everyone had just been grating on her for the past few days - it wasn’t really due to anything, she supposed, she was just meeting her bullshit limit for this week.
So she decided after work today she was going to do something calming. She hadn’t decided what yet, but she was going to find something. Read a book, take a bath, anything.
So when she got through the door of 108 Mifflin Street at 10pm that Thursday night, she had set her bag down, and exhaled slowly through her nose.
‘Calm.’ she reminded herself as she stepped into the kitchen.
Emma wasn’t home yet, and Henry had already put himself to bed. She was proud of him - he was so much more mature than he was only a year ago. At 15, his parents couldn’t have been more proud of him.
It was a little concerning that Emma wasn’t home yet, considering it was literally 10pm, but it wasn’t exactly unusual. Which possibly made it worse, actually. Anyways, Regina knew she would be home eventually.
She made herself a coffee, relishing in the silence of the house. She felt like she’d heard a lot of background noise today - the room next to her office had held some sort of conference for half the day, and she was sick of the man’s voice by hour 2. She was grateful for the quiet.
Right. Calming. She knew what to do to calm herself, right? She remembered?
She did, in fact, not remember. She had tried taking a bath… which she had run too cold by accident, but decided to suffer through it in order to not waste water.
She had tried to read a book… but had found herself bored within two pages. She had even tried to watch some TV - a mindless baking show that she could look at without paying much attention to the people. But even that had failed.
She hadn’t been this frustrated in a while.
It was now 11:30pm, and Emma still wasn’t home. It would be really great if she could just, you know, be home?? So that Regina had someone to complain to??
She tried to focus on the baking show again - but then realised all it was doing was making her hungry. Damn it all, and now she was hungry!!
She could not win. She had forgotten what relaxed her - forgot how to relax in general. Was she always this pathetic??
The door lock clicking pulled her attention away from herself, and she lit up a little at the thought of Emma coming home. She had missed her - the easy way they interacted, the familiarity of her touch, of her. And now she was home.
She stood to meet her in the foyer, because she really just needed a hug. And she also needed some pastries or something- damn the Great British Bake Off! She couldn’t believe this. She needed Emma sweetened up if she was going to send her to the grocery store at nearly midnight.
The blonde walked into the room looking absolutely wrecked. Her hair had escaped her ponytail so much that it was practically loose, a hair tie in the mess somewhere. She had dark eyebags beneath her eyes due to the fact that she had managed a 6am-12am shift. She was so tired. But! She had come bearing gifts!
They’d had her favourite apple pie in the gas station today (besides her girlfriend’s own apple pie… which she has a little bit of PTSD over, but it was whatever) - yes, it was crappy, no she wasn’t proud of it, but! Regina would probably forgive her if she forked a bit over. Admittedly, she had eaten nearly ¾ of the pan because she had forgotten to eat lunch and breakfast, but that still left ¼ for her wonderful girlfriend.
She saw Regina in the foyer as she took off her shoes and her leather jacket. She smiled, and gave the other woman a shy wave - mainly because she was currently preoccupied and couldn’t come over to give her a kiss, yet she was feeling weirdly watched. She shrugged the feeling off, and set down her grocery bag, before she walked over to her girlfriend and practically fell into her chest. She was tired, Regina was warm and she smelt really good.
Regina pulled the blonde in without a second thought. She held her for a few minutes, standing in the foyer in the peaceful silence that came with mutual exhaustion. She had noticed the grocery bag, but decided not to comment on it just yet. They had a moment, until Emma pulled away and pressed a soft kiss to Regina’s lips.
“Hey. Sorry I got home so late… the dwarves decided that today was a good day to make me give out a bunch of drunk and disorderlies.” she huffed, walking over to grab her grocery bag.
“It’s alright, darling. A call would’ve been appreciated, but I understand that you might not have had the time.” she chuckled quietly, following the blonde into the kitchen. She was nosy, and she wanted to know if there was anything for her in there.
And now it was time for Emma to face the music.
“Don’t get mad at me.” she started off, which immediately made Regina narrow her eyes. That was a horrible way to start a conversation. But she supposed she would hear her out.
“What have you done this time, my dear?” her tone had accidentally came out a little too Evil-Queen for her liking, but it certainly got the point across. She was really not in the mood for any form of news that she wouldn’t find pleasing.
“I may - or may not - have bought one of those gas station apple pies again.” she said quickly, as if trying to slip it past her. She pulled out the large plastic container, a sheepish expression on her face.
Regina was in shock. She didn’t really care about the apple pie - in fact, she had literally been craving something sweet - and she didn’t say anything about the fact that only about ¼ of it was left - but the fact that Emma seemed to worry about telling her something as simple as that?
“Darling, why do you seem so sheepish? It’s okay to buy things with your own money, you know. Even if it is an apple pie that doesn’t taste half as good as mine.” she wondered softly, coming up behind her girlfriend and wrapping her arms around her waist carefully.
Emma smiled, successfully calmed down.
“I didn’t want you to be mad that I betrayed your ultimately better cooking skills. Or that I ate most of the pie. Sorry, I skipped breakfast and lunch… but, I saved you a piece!”
God, Regina loved this woman.
And so, that is how Regina Mills and Emma Swan ended up draped across each other on the couch, eating apple pie and watching the GBBO - Regina successfully relaxed, and Emma happy.