The best thing about falling out of love with someone, is falling back into it. It had been almost a year since she'd left Regina and somehow the woman still had a certain charm about her. That certain charm that had drawn Emma to the woman in the first place, was the same charm that was bringing her back. She'd run into Regina at Granny's, the woman seemed to be moving about as if nothing had ever occurred at all. Emma supposed that it would have been pretty easy to do, after all, their divorce had gone without any hiccups. Aside from that it was happening at all. Henry would have a month with Emma in Boston and then a month with Regina in Storybrooke and repeat. Emma took what was hers and Regina took what belonged to her. Any item that they'd bought together Regina gave to Emma; partially to be done with it all and partially because she knew she had more money to replace whatever item it was. Emma also got the sense that Regina simply didn't want the memories. The more Emma looked at things Regina had bought her, the more she realized that she didn't want the memories either; she wanted the real deal. She wanted Regina back. Somehow, she would do it, somehow they would fall back in love.
Presently Emma was parked—not very subtly—just near Regina's driveway. She'd ditched secrecy for conspicuousicy long ago. Her bright yellow bug wouldn't allow her to do anything else anyways and she was hoping for Regina to come out and confront her. But if Regina had noticed her, she hadn't made it known. Henry on the other hand came rushing out of the house. "Mom! Are you and…mom, getting along again?"
"I'm hoping." Emma replied. She thought back to the fight that started the end. Emma had a day of fun with Henry, she'd gotten caught up in the euphoria and gotten careless. The two had been doing some pretty reckless things that day—all in good fun. One such thing was doing circles in the car in abandoned parking lots and on gravel roads. Or Emma had thought that they were abandoned, she'd gotten a rude awakening when she plowed the car Regina brought her right into another car. The collision had landed Henry in the hospital and sent the two of them back to square one; Regina screaming about how she'd been right all along, that Emma really wasn't fit to take care of her son. And at first Emma could scarcely blame her, she'd been stupid and immature. She acted Henry's age and not her own. But even though Henry came out with just a broken arm and a few scrapes, Regina wouldn't let up. Emma had made a mistake and Regina used it big time to win any future argument. Eventually Regina dropped the 'my son' spiel again, but she hovered. Emma could never take Henry anywhere without her begin there. Still Emma tried being patient and understanding; of course Regina was still weary, Emma would have been too. She figured that Regina would eventually come around. But as weeks passed, she didn't seem to even make the effort. After some time, Regina confessed that she was just so afraid to lose Henry, that she couldn't bear to lose any more people she loved. Emma had almost cried that night when she saw the tears glistening in Regina's eyes. After that things seemed to grow steady again, Emma could take Henry for walks or drop him off at school without Regina breathing down her neck. But the minute a disagreement sparked and grew heated Regina would always circle back to the same argument, "at least I didn't almost kill our son!" "Kill him? Now you're just exaggerating," Emma would holler back. By the time they noticed Henry sitting in the stairs it was too late to take anything back.
She could see it in his eyes then, and she could see it in them now. He blamed himself. The kid has been going to such great lengths to try to push them back together…
To fix what he blamed himself for breaking.
No matter how hard Regina and Emma—sometimes even working together—tried to convince that it wasn't his fault, he still lugged around the guilt like a second backpack. The truth of the matter was that Regina and Emma had been falling out of love long before that. Living together had brought to the surface all of those little tics and habits that annoyed each other. That no longer made them compatible.
"Swan, I still have three days left with Henry, wait your turn." Regina appeared just as Henry left, he was probably the one who told her to go outside.
"I'm not here for Henry." Emma replied. "I just…wanted to see how you're doing I guess." She stumbled to find the words. "What's all of this?" She motioned to all of the decorations, banners, and tables of food in her yard.
"I'm having a re-election party. It was a tough run this year with Gold as the competition. But I promised Storybrooke a vote this year." Regina stated causally. "It's tonight." She looked skyward, as if thinking. "Since you're already here, parked so comfortably by my house, I suppose you're invited."
Emma gave her a half smile. "You're the best Mayor Mills." She dared to smile wider, "if I'd have known I would have brought some fun dip or something."
Emma noticed Regina's fleeting grin, but it was satisfactory enough. She almost wished Regina a happy re-election party, got in her car, and drove off. But instead she turned to the woman and took another risk, "if this party goes well…will you let me treat you to a Boston style dinner?"
"Emma, I'm not sure if I know what that even means." Regina crinkled her brows. Emma didn't realize just how much she missed the woman's puzzled scrunchy face. Or how much she missed hearing her name on Regina's lips, instead of her last name.
"I don't think I do either. But we can find out together." She was quick to add, "you know, if tonight goes well."
Regina folded her arms over her chest, "I suppose we can give it a try, dear."
Emma looked over her shoulder to see Henry beaming from ear to ear. The crafty kid was eavesdropping the whole time! For the first time in a long time, he liked what he was hearing. For the first time in a long time, Emma had hope.