There is time
Fingers tapped the surface of the glass quickly, nervously, the clicking of a ring making the surface tremble and with its content.
Steady hands grabbed Regina's as she eyed the front door of the mansion for what seemed to be the hundredth time in less than a minute.
"Relax" Emma's voice was soft and relaxed, a smile cracking wrinkles around her eyes and mouth in a way the brunette felt the need to map. "He will be here in no time, the barrier has been left, they won't have any problems"
"I know that" Regina scoffed as she focused her gaze back to her wife's green eyes. Putting the glass back to the wooden table she had closer to her she returned her hands back to the blonde's, smiling slightly as she noticed the reassuring pressure the younger woman put on her grasp. "He just sounded very excited over the phone… and I want to make him proud"
"Trust me, if the kid is bringing someone here knowing what kind of overbearing people live here like his grandmother, his mothers and half this city I think we already make feel proud."
Snorting at the blonde's words Regina bite her bottom lip, remembering the deep tone, the one she still had problems recognizing as Henry, that had floated at the other end of the mansion's phone when Henry had told her how he wanted to do a quick visit to Storybrooke before his scheduled visit.
"Something happened?" She had asked while searching Emma's eyes, the blonde quickly leaving behind the TV remote and moving next to her, a steady hand at her back and the tickling of her long tresses caressing Regina's cheek. "Is there any problem?"
A deep chuckle, something Regina was a hundred percent sure Emma was responsible for making him inherit such trait, rumbled its way through the phone. "No mom… is just that I want to introduce you guys to someone"
"Someone?"
The stuttering answer, something that changed far too quickly to slightly amused to downright nervous made Emma to smirk and Regina to worry her lips, her mind racing already.
"Listen, I don't want to make a big deal, ok? So don't tell grandma or grandpa. I just want you to… meet. Would that be okay?"
And so there they were, waiting not so patiently for the clock to hit four o'clock with already a few sips of cider on their system. (Regina at least)
"Any minute now" She murmured while Emma picked up the cider she had left and took a sip of her own.
"Relax, he will be here in not time. I wonder what kind of girl he is going to bring"
"And how are you so sure there will be a she?"
Emma rolled her eyes good-naturedly and approached Regina once again, kissing her on the lips while chuckling, her lips still moist with the alcohol. "Whatever it is, it will be fine. I'm sure of it."
"Let's cross our fingers…" Regina quipped feeling not entirely sure herself. It had been a while since the last magical mishap but destiny, unforgiven or not, seemed to a have knack to start bothering whenever it was less needed.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a nervous knowing and the sound of a key rustling on the main door, a tall shadow silhouetting itself between the doorframes in no time.
"Mom? Ma?"
Henry needed a haircut, Regina resumed as Emma first approached the now tall boy and gave him a bear sized hug. Perhaps the blonde was less vocal about how much she missed the dark haired young man but it was in moments like this when Regina felt the need to take as much pictures as possible.
"You keep growing whenever we aren't looking or something?" Emma joked poking Henry before taking a step back, her hands now on the back pockets of her jeans. Henry rolled his eyes at the statement but rising above the two of them it was certainly obvious that he wasn't Regina's little prince anymore.
Which, even as much as pouted, loved to see. There had been a time she had even doubted she would be able to do such a thing after all.
Smiling warmly and letting Henry embrace her strongly before kissing him she caressed the boy's cheek noticing the stubble that scratched her fingertips.
"You need…"
".. a haircut, I know, I know" The boy replied swiftly while motioning to the still ajar door. "I told you she was going to say that, didn't I?"
An equally tall, slender girl with almost black eyes and an equally dark hair smiled quickly before grasping her hands in a way Regina remembered Emma doing those first dates when they had started seeing each other.
"Henry Daniel Mills, where are your modals?" She chastised before approaching the girl, her nerves completely lost for the time being. "Do you plan on introducing us?"
"Sorry…" The boy replied while scratching the back of his neck, Emma smirking at his side. She knew by now the many ways Regina's had at reflecting her own nervousness on others and having been a politician for so many years had certainly left an imprint on the woman who preferred to focus on tasks instead of dwelling on nerves. "Mom, ma, this is Agatha. We are in the same literature course…"
"It's a pleasure to meet you" The girl, Agatha, said with a very soft voice that seemed to grow in strength as she took on the friendly smile of both Regina and Emma. The brunette kissed the girl's cheeks before moving back to let Emma do the same. The blonde, however, offered the girl her hand before quickly giving her a one-sided hug.
"Sorry, force of habit" She apologized while winking at the young girl, eliciting a smile from her son and something that could have been a quiet groan from Regina. "But please, walk inside… I think Henry need to tell us much more than just your name"
Regina grabbed Henry's forearm as they both followed the other two, a passing look of understanding crossing Emma's features when she eyed at her back for a second. The last bit of her final sentence floated down the hallway when both Regina and Henry stopped and the former queen couldn't stop herself from snorting when Emma's offer to show Agatha some of Henry's older pictures arrived at her ears.
"She is going to make me want to hide under a rock, isn't she?" Henry said mortified and with a touch of red already dusting his cheeks.
"It's just the way she has to make you think twice before needing so long to present us your girlfriend dear" Regina replied, her hands letting go the boy's arm as she eyed him; even though the stubble and the probably far too long hair the Henry's clothes were well kept and -thank goddess- not a piece of leather has seeped its way in his wardrobe. "We have been missing a few calls here and there"
Henry blushed harder before he shrugged. "I just wanted to be sure that everything could work out. Agatha doesn't know about… well, what is this place but I still wanted to wait, see…"
"You and I are far too alike" Regina surmised with a fond smile. "I needed a long time before I thought I could be able to love your mother"
"Don't make remember" Henry replied while groaning; the memory of stupid quarrels and equally stupid made-up excuses ringing on his ears. "Still, I always thought that you would be the one… being like this" He finished while pointing at the interior of the house.
Regina smirked, red lips parting quickly before she came closer to her son, relishing on the moment of having him home, of having him next to her, before she spoke once again. "Give me a minute and I will be"
"Mooom"
The whining, the pout… yes, there were some things that never changed.
And with that in mind Regina kissed the man's cheek and turned; she had defeated realms and reigns. Still… where had Emma left her glass of cider?