Hi! This fic is gonna be six chapters long, each chapter including a situation where someone thinks Emma and Regina are a couple. Enjoy!
I don't own OUAT.
Thanks to my beta, Ari! She's amazing.
The first person who told Regina that she and Emma looked like a couple was their son.
At the time, Henry wasn't aware that Regina was his mother, but that didn't seem to keep him from creating theories including her and his other mother. This time his theories didn't revolve around fairytale characters and far off lands, but Henry suspected his birth mother and Regina had a history that went deeper than just friendship.
It started innocently enough, Regina taking Henry to the town for an ice cream and conversing about his life in New York. As they walked around a pond, Henry mentioned a boyfriend of Emma's that had proposed to her. Regina's first reaction was to make sure that Henry was comfortable with the situation, her second was the fear that Emma having a fiancé in New York was another reason for her to go back and take Henry with her, and her third reaction… She couldn't – or didn't want to – put it into words, but it was too similar to the feeling she had when saw Emma around that lovesick pirate.
She shrugged the feeling off quickly enough. "I think one day you'll have more family than you know what to do with," she said, unable to hold back a comment that meant so much more than Henry knew. She really hoped it was true, too, because she couldn't live in a world where Henry didn't remember her. Even him hating her felt like a better option now.
"You think so?" he asked, completely oblivious to the significance of the sentence.
"I really do," she answered and was happy to see Henry smiling back at her.
"So, Mayor Mills, can I ask you something?" Henry asked uncertainly.
The formal title broke Regina's heart every time Henry used it. How could she ever get used to the most important person in her life not knowing her? She was his mother. She just wanted to talk to her son who knew her.
"Of course, Henry. I don't mind. You can ask me anything," she replied with the calmest expression she could manage. She wanted Henry to be able to confide in her. She wanted to be as much of his mother as she could considering the current circumstances.
"Okay, so, were you and my mom ever together?"
Regina stayed silent for a moment. The wording of the question was odd. She had spent many moments with Emma, many of them together with Henry, too, but she could hardly tell him that.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean."
"Like, dating. Romantic stuff. I feel like there's something between you guys and Mom won't tell me what it is. She just said something about a shared history and nothing I should worry about. She's so mysterious about everything, and no one seems to tell me the truth. The way you communicate even without words, I just kinda thought…"
She was speechless. Maybe Henry had such a far-fetched interpretation of the situation because he had to make sense of it somehow. She knew for a fact that he had a very vivid imagination. Although, now that she thought about it, he had been right the last time he had a theory.
"No, Henry, I've never dated your mother."
Well, that was a sentence she had never thought she would say.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or upset you, Mayor Mills. I just feel… She never even looked at Walsh that way she looked at you yesterday when you were at Mary Margaret's. And she introduced you to me straight away, when it took her weeks to introduce me to Walsh. I'm sorry, I'll let it be. I just don't know what to think. I can't seem to get a straight answer out of my mom about anything anymore." Henry let out a weak slightly amused chuckle.
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She wasn't sure if Henry was being extremely observant or just had his mind set on a hunch he had again.
Sure, she might've looked at Emma like she was the only person who made sense to her and didn't drive her up the wall, but that didn't have to mean anything. She could very well ignore feelings she may or may not have had in increasing amounts ever since Emma had climbed out of that well and a wave of relief had washed over her when seeing the blonde alive. Giving Emma and Henry new good memories and not being annoyed by the blonde's presence when she was fed up with everyone else – apart from their shared son – didn't have to mean absolutely anything.
Besides, had she had feelings for Emma, that wouldn't have mattered anyway since Emma obviously didn't feel that way about her. Sure, Emma looked like an excited puppy around her sometimes, and she supported her and believed in her like no one else did. But the Savior looked at everyone that way, didn't she? Emma might as well have told the clock tower of Storybrooke that she always knew when it was lying. It didn't mean Emma would reciprocate the feelings Regina may or may not have had.
"Mayor Mills?" Henry's voice pulled her from her thoughts.
"Yes, sorry, did you say something, dear?"
"Nah, I was just thanking you again for the ice cream," Henry said and gave her a small smile.
"You're welcome, dear, " she replied and returned the smile. She supposed their conversation about Emma's love life was over, so she decided to change the topic. "So, Emma told me you like comic books."