This is for Swan Queen Week Summer 2014 Day 6 Truth Serum. I hope you guys enjoy and review if so inclined.

Regina dug around in her mother's stash of potions ingredients. She was sure that the older woman had the thing she was looking for. It was standard fare as far as magic went. But finding unicorn horn in this world without magic was completely impossible. Regina had run out of her own stash long before and the protection spell she was casting on Henry required it.

She looked through bottles and vials and flasks of all shapes and sizes, squinting to read the faded and scrawling hand of her mother. She would rather prefer the horns not be ground, but she would take what she would get at this point. How her mother had thought it practical to travel with such a large assortment of luggage was beyond her, even if it was handy in this instance.

Regina picked up one bottle whose label was practically nonexistent. She held it up to the light and turned it this way and that to see if she could read any of it, but couldn't. Whatever was inside was lost to the ravages of time unless Regina wanted to do a few diagnostic spells to determine what it was. She made a move to put it back. She'd only do that if she really needed to.

Half way back to its place though, the bottle slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor. The old, brittle glass shattered, scattering dust and glass everywhere. Regina cursed under her breath. Well, that was one less ingredient she might have to the future. Shame. She waved her hand and cleaned up the mess before continuing to look for the unicorn horn.

A few minutes later she held up a rather large container filled with whole horns. She was ever so glad her mother loved to be prepared. She tucked the container in her bag and walked from her dungeon. A little weight was off her shoulders now. Henry already had so many protection spells on him, but after the events as of late she wanted to add one more that she was sure would cover every single magical outcome that she could think of. No one would get his heart again, no one would erase his memories, no one would ever hurt him with magic period.

She teleported home once she was out of the vault. Regina set to work immediately on the potion and had it finished shortly. She had added everything she'd needed before she'd discovered she was out of unicorn horn. She had no idea what she was going to do when she finally ran out. There would be a myriad of spells and potions that would be forever useless to her unless Rumple conjured one from thin air.

She bottled the potion and pulled out her cell phone. She hit the second speed dial and held her phone up to her ear.

"What's up, Regina?" Emma asked after the second ring.

"That potion I talked about making to protect Henry is done. Perhaps you could bring him over shortly?"

"We're at Granny's right now, why don't you come grab dinner with us? You can give Henry the potion while you're here."

"That's amiable, dear, as long as your mother isn't there. We have a truce now, but there really still is only a certain amount I can take of her." Regina scowled. She hadn't meant to say half of that.

"Uh, yeah, no, she's not here. You're good."

"Then I'll be there shortly."

"Cool, see you then."

She heard the click of Emma hanging up and slipped her phone back in her pocket. Why in the world had she gone on that little gab spree with Emma Swan of all people? She rolled her eyes. It didn't matter. She was going to see her son.

She shrugged on her coat and grabbed her car keys before heading out of her house, potion bottle still in hand.

Granny's was as crowded as normal when she arrived. She saw Emma and Henry in their usual booth and walked over, smiling when Henry looked up. She slipped into beside him and looked across the table at Emma.

"Hey," Emma said, shoving a French fry into her mouth.

"Exceptional table manners, dear, really I applaud you."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, nice to see you too."

Regina turned to Henry and handed him the potion bottle. "Drink this for me, Henry. I know that I've already cast more than a few protection spells on you since magic has come back, but this latest bout of trouble has me wanting to make sure. I'd be heartbroken if something happened to you."

She looked at her son for a long second before looking away, a blush creeping up her cheeks. There she went again, saying more than she meant to. She had always had a great filter between her thoughts and what came out of her mouth but for some reason it was on the fritz today.

Regina cleared her throat and looked down at her hands. Henry picked up the bottle, downed it like a shot, and almost gagged. He slid the empty bottle back over to his mother.

"Why do potions taste so nasty? Cherry flavoring would be cool."

"Many potion ingredients are basic in character so they taste very bitter. As for cherry flavoring, well that might change the magical outcome or completely invalidate the magic period."

Henry looked at her a little confused but nodded. "Oh."

Ruby chose that moment to show up at their table. "What can I get you, Regina? The usual?"

"No, Ruby, I really only order that because of societal standards that were forced upon me in the Enchanted Forest and I've seen no real reason to change them here, especially since even more of a premium is placed on appearance than ever was back there, especially for women. But today, I think I'll have a burger instead with fries and a chocolate shake just to keep things classic."

Ruby just stared at her for a long moment. "Uh, ok. Coming right up?" She turned and walked away slowly, like she wasn't quite sure if she was awake or asleep.

"Uh, Regina, what's with the random feminist and societal commentary?" Emma asked. "Not, like, I don't agree, but you're usually not one for going off on tangents."

"I seem to not be able to control what's coming out of my mouth. I don't quite understand why."

"Right, ok, probably more magical fuckery."

"I do not appreciate you using such language around our son. While I'm well aware that he probably hears such things on a regular basis, he should not be hearing it from you."

"Well, that's at least par for the course, if a little more long winded than normal."

"I seem to literally be saying whatever is on my mind."

"This is a little weird, Mom." Henry looked over at her like she'd grown three heads.

"Believe me, Henry, if I could stop I would, because I'm not fond of the looks people have given me so far. If many more people look at me like I'm insane I might be inclined to throw a fireball their way."

"Mom!"

"I didn't say I would hit them, dear."

"Mom."

"Surely instilling a tiny bit of fear into people isn't that evil. I rather like that I can get whatever I need by glaring. As long as I have my family around me I need no one else to approve of me."

Henry sighed heavily and went back to his meal, saving the argument for another day.

"Well, ok, Regina remind me not to get on your bad side."

"You've already been there. I would think that you of all people would already know not to go there. You were included in the mention of family anyway."

"Yeah, right, but you know, figure of speech. And I'm your family."

"Of course. You're Henry's other mother and my friend, though I quite wish you were more than that."

Regina clapped her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. Everything so far had been rather annoying as a confession, but nothing that anyone couldn't deduce by knowing her. That, though, was her deepest secret that she had never wanted to reveal. Love did not go well for her, why should she risk herself like that again. And yet, here she was, looking desperately over at Emma hoping she didn't decide to take that little piece of ill-gotten information and use it against her, keeping up her bad luck streak with anything resembling love.

"Man the table for a little bit, kid." Emma grabbed Regina's wrist and Regina followed along bonelessly. Surely Emma was taking her elsewhere so no one else witnessed her humiliation. Regina had always been fond of the other woman's fierce caring streak.

Emma led her outside and drug her off to the side, well out of sight of the windows of Granny's. She felt Emma give her a once over after they stopped. Regina felt like shifting from foot to foot nervously, but while she had no control over what she said it seemed, she still had prefect control over the rest of her body and she wasn't going to give away any more than she had to right then.

"So, you meant that?" Emma finally asked.

Regina wanted to deny it, to say that it was all a fluke, just whatever was causing her to babble like an idiot, instead of the truth, but she couldn't. The words stuck in her throat and wouldn't come out. She tried to find ways around it, to phrase it different, but nothing worked. Of course whatever had ahold of her also had to prevent her from lying. Of course.

"Yes," Regina finally said, looking at the ground.

Emma's fingers came up under her chin and lifted her face so Regina was looking at her. "Really?" There was such a look of hope in Emma's eyes.

"Yes, really, Emma, I don't see why you have a predilection to ask questions with rather obvious answers."

The corners of Emma's mouth twitched up. "Well, better safe than sorry."

Regina just looked at her. "I suppose."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because why would I? You already have everything that you could want. Why would you ever want me? No one could ever love me. I'm always deeply grateful that Henry does."

"You're his mother, of course he loves you. Regina, you're one of the most loving people I know. I don't understand why you don't think people could love you, or maybe I do considering what little of your history I do know, but I think you would be one of the easiest people in this town to love. Everyone else is so stuck in their ways and stuck on the idea that all there is, is good and evil and that love is the end of the story. Those things aren't ever true. You of all people understand that there are so many shades of grey and that people who to fight for love even after the happily ever after."

"What are you saying? You're rambling more than I am, and I'm the one under some sort of spell."

"What I'm saying, Regina, is that while I would have loved for you to tell me that you wanted to be more than friends of your own free will and not because of some magical hocus pocus, I'm still glad I know now. Because the person in town that I could love isn't Hook, it's you."

Regina just looked at Emma for a long moment. "I…Where does that even leave us? From that statement it's clear that you don't love me, so I'm not quite sure what the next logical step is."

Emma just shrugged. "I love you as a friend right now, but I think it could be something more. Why don't we just see where it goes for now?"

"Then won't everything just stay the same?"

"Maybe, but I don't think rushing into things will be good for either of us, either, you know?"

Regina nodded. "Ok."

Emma smiled at her. "Ok. Now let's get back in there. I want to see just how in the world you manage to fit a burger, fries, and a shake in that tiny body of yours."

"You seem to be able to do it quite well."

"Yeah, well I've had more than a little practice."

"You know little of my eating practices."

"Maybe we could start having family dinner once a week to change that?"

Regina smiled over at Emma. "I'd like that."

"So would I." Emma grabbed her hand again and pulled her back into the restaurant. Regina's heart almost burst out of her chest when Emma's fingers laced with hers. She felt like an idiotic school girl. But she found she didn't mind so much.

"So how long do you think this whole spewing every single thought you have thing is going to last?" Emma asked pulling her into the side of the booth she was sitting on.

"I have no idea. When I was going through my mother's potion ingredients I must have come across something. Most of these spells wear off within twenty-four hours, but perhaps since it was my mother I should go to Rumple though I hate that idea more than I do telling the truth the rest of my life."

"You'd hate going to the blue fairy even more."

"You have a point. That blue idiot knows absolutely nothing about magic."

Emma laughed. "Yeah, well, maybe they make up for it with the ability to fly."

"Hardly."

Ruby came with her food and set in front of her, eyeing her position beside Emma with interest. "Here you go, Regina. Let me know if you need anything else."

Regina nodded. Her mouth watered at the food in front of her. God, she was starving. Perhaps a burger every now and then wasn't such a bad idea.

Emma stole a fry from her, grinning. Regina slapped her hand away went she moved in to do it again.

"You've already had your meal. Leave mine alone."

"Surely Madam Mayor needs help with all of that food."

"Wouldn't it negate your curiosity at whether I can eat this much food if you ate half of it as well?"

"Maybe, but Granny makes killer French fries."

Regina rolled her eyes. "Right."

This time when Emma stole a french fry she didn't make a move to stop her. She ate everything on her plate neatly with the best of table manners. Emma scoffed at the fact that she didn't get ketchup everywhere, saying it wasn't a real burger experiences unless you made some sort of mess. Regina just threw a fry at her.

When she was done the three of them walked out of the restaurant together in the brisk fall night. Emma threw the keys to Henry.

"Go start up the Bug, kid. It's cold out here."

Henry ran off with an excited shout at being given a task that had anything to do with a car.

"Are you sure he'll be ok doing that? He did run over a mail box in your father's truck."

"Yeah, well, after that I gave him a couple lessons to make sure he didn't vandalize public property anymore. Besides, he can't go anywhere, the emergency brake is on and I haven't taught him how to disengage that yet."

"If you say so. He is a clever boy."

"Trust me, there's a trick to it in the Bug." Emma shuffled her feet for a few seconds. "So, um, do you think you'd like to get coffee on Friday after work?"

"Just you and I?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, Henry usually stays late to help Snow after school and just goes home with her, so we'd have some free time to ourselves."

"Is this a date, Miss Swan?"

Emma blushed a little. "If you want it to be."

"Of course I do. I don't see why you're blushing, you're not the one who admitted her feelings because of some sort of truth serum."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't have to make sense."

Regina shook her head. "Of course not." She started to walk to her own car. "See you on Friday, Emma. I'll text you to let you know when I'm done for the day."

She heard Emma's mumbled "I can't believe she said yes," and smiled all the way back to her Benz.