Regina - A teacher who just happened to sleep with a certain blonde.
Emma - A teen who'd fallen madly in love with a one night stand, her teacher.
I'm not sure what holidays you have there, but here in Aus I get about a two month summer break for christmas.
I'm using the Australian schooling/weather system.
A|N: The pictures I Am Talking Of Were From The Marynesq Tumblr Blog... so go check her awesomeness out. :)
Oh and I know Emma had Henry at 18 on the show, but I'm making him young on this. Like, just crawling young.
"So, you're ready to go?" Ruby asked, grinning as she walked into her younger sister's bedroom.
"This will be the best Summer break of my life." Emma beamed a smile through the mirror, turning to face her sister.
Ruby fixed Emma's blonde locks, making them cascade over the teen's shoulders.
"Got your ID?" the brunette asked.
The blonde nodded, pulling the fake ID out of her jeans pocket, flashing it to her sister before slipping it back into place. She grabbed her phone off the dressing table, putting it in her bra.
"Money?" Ruby asked.
Emma nodded opening a jewellery box, pulling the bottom of it out and taking a wad of cash out, jamming it in her pocket.
Once in the bar, Ruby spotted her date and Emma smirked, pushing her sister in the direction of whom she was set up with by the blonde herself.
Emma walked to the bar and sat on a stool, not taking notice of the older brunette beside her as she looked over her shoulder to watch her sister.
"First date?" the woman asked and Emma turned to her, smiling softly.
"I set them up. What're you drinking, Beautiful?"
"Apple martini."
"Apple martini and beer," Emma said, pulling some money out of her pocket, slapping it down on the counter. "Name's Emma."
"Regina," the brunette said, sizing Emma up. "Are you of age?" Regina asked, clearly watching if the blondes confidence wavered at the question.
Emma got her ID out and slid it over to Regina. "Wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
Emma hoisted Regina up onto the bathroom counter in the restrooms at the bar, their lips colliding, teeth clashing, hands grabbing as much as they could.
Emma's phone buzzed and she groaned, digging into her pocket to grab the device, her lips attaching to Regina's neck before she saw who was calling, she jumped back, covering Regina's mouth with a wink. "Ruby, now's really not the right time to be calling."
"I just wanted to say thank you, and to not come home, but I guess that wasn't your intention."
Emma bit her lip, her eyes fluttering closed as Regina pulled the blonde closer, her lips attaching to Emma's chest.
"Y-Yeah, I'll not come home. I'll see you tomorrow sometime." Emma ended the call and jammed her phone back in her pocket, grabbing Regina's hand. "Lets go somewhere."
"Ah, doorknob. Fuck," Emma hissed as Regina pinned her too the closed door.
"Are you alright?" Regina asked, pulling Emma away from the door, reaching to lift the blondes shirt up, but Emma stopped her.
"I'm good. There's a door there, though," Emma laughed nervously.
"Let me see. There could be damage."
"I'm fine, really." Emma smiled, kissing Regina hard, spinning them to turn the handle, her lips never leaving the brunettes as they walked into the room.
Regina's knee's hit the side of her Bed and she sat slowly, pulling Emma down by the centre of her shirt.
Emma had never been more thankful that the lights had been left off, as their gasping breaths at every much needed and wanted touches turned into moans, and almost screams of ecstasy.
The next morning, Emma woke before the sun rose. Regina was still passed out, but there was no way the brunette would be waking any time soon after the eventful night they had.
She dressed quickly and found a pen and pad of paper on the nightstand, scribbling down a note.
"Thanks for last night, call me if you want to do it again.
-Emma"
Adding her number to the bottom of the note she tore it off she folded it, slipping it into Regina's hand.
Grabbing Regina's phone off the side table, Emma text herself from the brunettes phone and she saved Regina's number to her own phone so she knew it was the brunette calling and not a random number.
Regina's eyes fluttered briefly as she felt Emma get out of the bed. She caught a glimpse of the blonde dressing and realised why she didn't want her body to be seen in the light, she'd done such a good job of hiding it too until the morning light had flittered through the windows.
When Emma had left, Regina read the note and saved Emma's number to her phone. She opened up a her messages and saw what the blonde had sent to herself,
I realise you're probably wondering why I text myself from your phone, it's so I know that if you do call, I won't reject it cause it's an unknown number, saved you as 'Regina, the goddess from the night I set my sister up with my teacher.' kidding, ;) Have a good day, Regina.
Laughing at the blonde, Regina shook her head. She was about to text the blonde herself, but realised it'd be too soon to set up another night of bliss. That's definitely what Regina felt the whole night, pure bliss. Emma was… amazing.
Regina sighed, getting herself ready for a job interview as a substitute teacher at Storybrooke High.
She got too caught up with being accepted as a teacher. Her life became full of things she had to do, and she only remembered the blonde when she was craving Emma's touch, late at night when she was alone in her own room, thinking it was Emma touching her, calling out her name as she orgasmed, not being able to bring herself to a high enough peak to come without the blonde's real touch.
Emma never heard from Regina, and it hurt her, hitting her hard, so she tried her hardest to move on. She'd never admit it to anyone but her sister, but Emma fell in love with Regina. The sassy woman invaded her thoughts, her dreams, and every time Emma opened her sketchbook, she wound up drawing her, drawing them, in different scenarios, a future with kids, and by the time the blonde realised what she was doing, she didn't stop, couldn't stop even if she tried, 'cause even when she didn't mean to draw them, her thoughts wondered and it always became them.
~Nineteen Months Later ~ July~
"Class, this is Miss Mills, She'll be substituting for Mrs. Power. Be nice," The head master, Mr. Gold, informed the class before stepping back out.
Emma didn't look up, keeping her head down and eyes on her book, she continued to draw on her folder.
"Today we're going to talk about 'sex,' another word for 'coitus,' 'copulation,' 'procreation,' or even what the kids these days like to call it, fu-" The teacher stopped talking when she saw a blonde raised her hand, then her head. "Yes?" she answered with a little nervousness as she saw who she was talking to.
"I'm uncomfortable talking about sex," she said to her substitute Physical Education teacher.
"We have to talk about it. Part of the curriculum. If you don't like it, you may step out," she said, acknowledging Emma's request to not talk about it. Or so she thought.
"Sex could kill you. Do you know what the human body goes through when you have sex? Pupils dilate, arteries constrict, core temperature rises, heart races, blood pressure skyrockets, respiration becomes rapid and shallow, the brain fires bursts of electrical impulses from nowhere to nowhere, and secretions spit out of every gland, and muscles tense and spasm like you're lifting three times your body weight. It's violent, its ugly, and it's messy. And if God hadn't made it so unbelievably fun, the human race would have died out eons ago. Men are lucky they can only have one orgasm. You know that women can have an hour long orgasm, R-Regina. You're a substitute teacher, I-I was just-" When Emma finally realised who she was talking too, she'd tried to apologise for lying about her age, but it was Regina, the woman she fell so hard for within one night, the woman she'd thought about for almost two years. She stood, gathering her backpack and folder, she walked out quickly.
The teachers jaw dropped at the students knowledge, she closed it before clearing her throat. "Class, please talk quietly with yourselves." Regina walked out and saw Emma leaning against a stairwell wall, knees pulled to her chest. "Emma?"
Emma's head shot up and she wiped her eyes. "Regina... I'm sorry, I just, I'm sorry I-I don't know what came over me."
"It's quite alright, Dear. Would you like to talk about what's bothering you?"
"I should go, the bells about to ring and I have lunch detention with Mr. Gold for swearing in home room." Just as Emma finished her sentence, the bell chimed, and she sighed.
"Emma. Wait, come back into the classroom for a minute."
The blonde followed her into the now empty classroom and leaned on the desk. "I noticed you writing through class, but, I didn't assign any work. May I see what you were writing?"
Emma blushed and held the folder tighter against her chest. "I-I don't think you want to see that."
"Emma?"
Emma cleared her throat and looked up to meet her teachers gaze. "Miss Mills, I really don't think you want to see it."
"Please?"
That's all it took and the blonde caved into her lovers- "SHES NOT YOUR LOVER!" Emma yelled at herself herself - request, setting the folder down. "I really have to go to detention, I'll come back for it."
With that she rushed out of the room once more.
Regina opened the folder too find many drawings of herself and Emma in various positions, scenes and her heart skipped. "Could it be she feels the same way? What are you doing Regina, she's a student. It's forbidden."
"Marry me. Let's spend our week nights eating cereal on the floor when there is a perfectly fine table behind us. We can go to the movies and sit in the back row, just to make out like kids falling in love for the first time. Marry me. We'll paint the rooms of our house and get more paint on us than the walls. We can hold hands and go to parties we end up ditching to drink wine out of the bottle in our bathtub. Marry me. We can slow dance with me in our bedroom, with an unmade bed and candles on the nightstand. Let me love you forever, and marry me."
She turned the page and saw Emma's hand writing and someone she wasn't to sure who, but they seemed to be giving Emma advice.
"It's stupid, they're constantly trying to change me."
"People are gonna tell you who you are your whole life. You just gotta punch back and say, 'No, this is who I am.' You want people to look at you differently? Make them! You want to change things, you're gonna have to go out there and change them yourself, because there are no fairy godmothers in this world."
"How am I going to tell her? ... If I finally tell her."
"You must learn her. You must know the reason why she is silent. You must trace her weakest spots. You must write to her. You must remind her that you are there. You must know how long it takes for her to give up. You must be there to hold her when she is about to. You must love her because many have tried and failed. And she wants to know that she is worthy to be loved, that she is worthy to be kept. And, this is how you keep her."
"I'm going to tell her. I love Regina, and I am going to tell her."
"Good luck, Em! xxx"
A knock on the door broke Regina from the reading and she slammed the folder shut, looking up to see Emma at the door. "Emma, did you get off detention early?"
"Actually, lunch ended five minutes ago, I just came to get my folder for English class."
"With Miss French, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you- You're a sub, of course you know all the classes, even though Belle is off sick-" The blonde blushed and reaching for her folder.
"...I'm covering her class," Regina said, cutting her off.
"What- Shouldn't you be going home? You should totally get the last hour of work off."
Regina smiled and stood, handing the folder to Emma. "It's an extra hour I get to see you- I really just said that out loud, didn't I?"
"Could you repeat it, even though you said it clear as fuck?"
"Language, Emma. Wouldn't want detention with me, would you?" Regina winked and walked out of the room, leaving a speechless Emma behind.
Emma ran out after Regina after a minute. "Miss Mills. I just remembered something about Belle... I mean Miss French."
"Oh? And what's that?" Regina asked, briefly glancing at the blonde.
"She's not sick, she's with her girlfriend. My sister Ruby, and her date."
"Are they who told you to not come home the night we... met?" Regina asked curiously.
"Another reason I actually turned up to school was because Ruby and I live together and Belle moved in last month. I didn't want to hear that all day. Ruby's the one that gave me the advice that I know you saw. We we're talking this morning at breakfast, and Belle was on the phone, so we didn't want to be loud, so I just wrote to her and well... I was going to call you tonight, to tell you that you've been on my mind since that night."
"Alright class, there's about ten minutes left of the day. Pens down. I think I've pushed you all enough today."
"Can we go home early, Miss?" Emma asked.
"The rest of the class can, but you still have detention, Emma."
"Fuck," the blonde muttered.
A few of the students laughed among themselves and packed up their stuff, filing out of the classroom.
Emma's phone lit up and buzzed twice. Before the screen faded once more, she saw it in her peripheral vision, but her eyes were focused on Regina, sitting at the teachers desk, looking through the blondes folder at the drawings of them.
"Emma, check your phone if you want. I could hear the vibration from here, while I think over if some of these are actually doable." Regina smirked without looking up.
Emma grabbed her phone, cheeks heating up, checking the instant message that was on her screen.
Unlocking her phone Emma smiled.
3:15PM - Em just saw your class let out. Ruby sent me to pick you up. You in detention again?
3:17PM - Yeah, Belle. Got caught out swearing by Miss Mills. Think you can come bail me out? Pretty please.
3:20PM - Be there in a few. Pack your bag to be ready.
"Regina?"
"Yes, Emma?" Regina said, her voice a little husky.
"As much as I don't mind you looking at my folder, you have about one minute before Belle comes to get me, meaning she could see the folder. Ruby and her know about my feelings, but if they know you know, shit could get awkward."
Emma looked towards the windows and saw Belle walking up the stairs and over the walkway to the classroom.
Emma panicked and slammed the folder shut, tucking it firmly into her arms, hugging it to her chest. "Hey B," Emma said, clearing her throat.
"Hey Em. Miss Mills." Belle smiled softly to her friends crush. "I need to take Emma to her doctors appointment, 'cause her sister got called to work."
"I assume you have a medical note?" Regina asked
"It's the end of the day." Belle pointed out.
"Are you kidding? The appointments tomorrow on the thirteenth."
"Emma, today is the thirteenth. Did you seriously forget the tests you had to do today?" Belle asked, walking over to the blonde. "Did you take your medications?" Emma shook her head and avoided eye contact of both women, finding her graffitied converse much more interesting. "Have you eaten today?"
Emma shook her head again, staying silent.
"Emma, have you.. We should go."
"Belle, I don't want to go. Please."
"Emma, I promised Ruby I'd take you, this is the first time she's trusting me with this. You haven't eaten or taken your medications all day, and if they find out you... they'll take you away from Ruby."
"Belle, please, can you reschedule? I'll talk to Ruby about that thing tonight, just please.. Please don't make me go."
Belle looked at Emma, seeing the puppy eyes and pouted lip, she caved instantly. "Alright, I'll reschedule. But no skipping school for a month and no...for a week please, so those...will be fine you'll be eighteen in October. Em, they can't take you off Ruby then. No one can stop you from dropping out, or getting that dream job you always wanted." Belle brushed some hair out of Emma's face. "Come on. I'll take you to the diner you can talk to Ruby."
"Belle wait, the uh.. cutting needs to stop, I-I should see the doctor about that, you're right, I don't want to disappoint Ruby..."
"Emma what's going on?" Regina asked and Emma jumped
"I forgot you were there. I, uh... Forget what you heard, and those things you saw. I'm fucked up." Emma walked out of the room, leaving Belle and Regina in silence.
Belle turned to Regina and cleared her throat. "I take it she finally told you?" she asked, playing with her car keys.
"I saw the drawings." Regina stood, resting her hands on the desk.
"Regina, I'm sure its a harmless crush that she'll get over. She's seventeen."
"Belle, I... I feel the same way about her."
"Come with me," Belle said softly, turning on her heel to walk out.
"Emma, what are you doing here you're supposed to be at the doctors with Belle," Ruby said when she saw her foster-sister run up to her as she served a customer. Emma grabbed Ruby's hand and pulled her away from everyone and into the back of the diner.
"Ruby, Regina found out how I felt, then she found out about the cutting and medication I take."
"Oh honey, go home take a long shower and get some rest. I'll call Doctor Kelso and reschedule the appointment. Go on."
Emma nodded and walked out the back door of the diner.
Ruby watched her leave before messaging Belle and telling her she sent Emma home and that she was about to reschedule Emma's doctors appointment.
Emma never slept, the blankets were pulled up over her head. She heard her door open, heard the footsteps, and felt the bed shift as someone sat on the bed behind her.
"She didn't take her medications?" Ruby asked with a whisper.
"She told me she didn't," Belle replied with a softly from the doorway.
"I've got to get her to take the medication," Ruby sighed. The sound of a drawer opening caught Emma's attention.
"I already took them," Emma mumbled and rolled over, pulling the blanket off her head.
"Emma are you okay?" Regina asked, worry filling her voice as she stepped out from behind Belle.
"I uh..." Emma made quick work of sitting up, keeping her body covered from her neck down. "I'm fine, thank you for asking."
"Ruby, how about we give them a minute alone. Emma, what would you like for dinner?" Belle asked.
"I'm not hungry." Emma shrugged.
"Pizza it is. Regina, would you like to stay?" Ruby asked, turning to her sisters crush.
"I don't want to intrude," Regina stated.
"You're not. It's no problem." Belle grabbed Ruby's arm and walked out, pulling the door halfway shut behind them. Emma could hear them as they walked back down the stairs, Belle telling Ruby she'd go and pick Henry up from the babysitters. Ruby making a noise of acknowledgment before replying that she'd shower before calling the Pizza Hut.
Emma looked towards Regina before looking around her room. "Sorry about the mess. I wasn't expecting visitors."
Emma grabbed a long sleeved shirt from under the pillow and the blanket fell away, revealing a tank top that barely covered many cuts and scars, one that had drying blood on her bicep. "E-Emma." Regina gasped lightly and reached out, but didn't touch the blonde.
"This is why I'm always in long clothes. The rumors are true." Emma dropped the blanket and stood on the bed, deep cuts and thick scars from her chest down to her knees, on display for Regina to take in.
A tank top and boy-shorts barely covered anything seeing as the shirt had raised to her stomach.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" Regina asked as Emma sat on the edge of the bed beside the brunette.
"If you knew about this before you saw the folder, would you have admitted your feelings?"
"Yes," Regina admitted, not wanting to tell Emma just yet that she already knew about the self-inflicted wounds.
"When Ruby's parents found out, they kicked me out. It was before you and I met that I started."
"Is that why you wouldn't let me look when I ran you into the door?" Regina asked.
Emma nodded and continued to talk. "Ruby followed saying she wouldn't leave me ever. She's helped me, and all I've done is push her away. I push everyone away. Maybe Belle's right about me just crushing on you 'cause you're so nice to me."
"I don't believe that. The drawings, the writing, everything Emma... I don't think that's a teenage crush."
"I don't think it is either, 'cause before I met you I never loved anyone, I'd never trusted anyone, but as soon as I saw you, my heart skipped, I was lost for breath at how unbelievably stunning you are. Then I saw your scar-" As she said it, Emma lifted a hand, running her thumb over the scar on Regina's lip. "I thought about how it happened, if someone did it or if you just tripped and bit your lip." Emma chuckled. "I thought, if someone did that to you and I ever met them, I'd rip them a new one."
"Someone did do it, but you don't have to worry about them. They're out of my life."
"A they them or a one person them and you just don't want me to know?"
"My mother," Regina answered.
"What happened to her?"
"My mother died of a heart attack."
"Is it a recent divorce or did you only recently take the ring off?" Emma asked out of no where.
"How did you...?"
"Tan line." Emma finished Regina's thought off for her, watching as Regina looked down to her hand.
"Recent divorce."
"Were you... when we met?"
Regina shook her head quickly. "No. I'm not like that. I met him after you and I... slept together." She finished quietly.
"Mmmumma!" A little boy crawled into the room, babbling.
"Shit. Sorry Em. I just took my eyes off him for a second," Belle said racing into the room, picking the infant up.
"It's okay. He's probably tired. Did the sitter say that he'd napped or not yet?"
"Nah. He hadn't, said he never took one midday either."
"Mumma!" the boy gurgled and reached for Emma.
"Mamma's here, prince." Emma took the infant and cradled him close. "Thanks B. ETA on food?"
"Uh, about that. Regina, what flavour pizza would you like? We all eat supreme except Emma."
"Ham and pineapple is fine. Thank you, dear," Regina said, not taking her eyes off the boy in Emma's arms. Belle nodded, knowing her queue to leave.
Emma looked up from her son when the room went silent. "Oh. I guess there's much to learn about me." Emma stroked her fingers through Henry's hair.
"His name is Henry. He'll be a year old in October. I didn't want to be pregnant at a young age, but I wouldn't change him for the world, and I wouldn't adopt him out to grow up without knowing his mother like I did. Do you mind if I feed him?"
"Go right ahead." Regina nodded, Emma looked up to realise the door was shut and Belle was gone, she cleared her throat and shifted back against the head board of the bed.
"Make yourself comfortable if you want. I'm sorry if my life freaks you out."
"Emma..." When Regina saw Henry hungrily latch onto the blondes breast, she averted her gaze. "I want to know everything about you."
"He's the child conceived by rape. Ruby never trusted Neal from day one, but I didn't listen. I rebounded onto Neal about a month after you. I couldn't get my mind off you. He forced himself upon me eighteen months ago and as a result, I got Henry."
"He's only nine months old?"
"Yeah. A month after you and I, I couldn't get you out of my head, so I rebounded." Emma stroked Henry's cheek as the boy played with her necklace, a simple gold chain with a golden circle on it. "He's apparently too young to crawl. From what I've seen in movies and children at the sitters, kids usually don't crawl till around a year old."
"Emma, are you... What are you going to say when he asks about the scars when he gets older?" Regina asked, generally curious.
"The truth. Well, the summed up version. I was upset, in pain. This was my release."
"Emma, if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you. Do you understand that?" Regina rested a hand on Emma's thigh sliding a little closer to the blonde.
"Thank you." Emma looked into the brunettes eyes and only saw truth. She wasn't sure why, but she trusted Regina.
"Tell me more about yourself? Please."
"When I was born, I was found on the side of the road. I was bounced from foster home to foster home. When I was three, the Jones' sent me back 'cause they had their own kid, plus I'm glad about that. The older brother there, Killian, he was a creepy fucker."
"They had a child already?" Regina asked, confused.
"Yeah. They wanted another and couldn't conceive…" Emma shrugged "At age seven, I'd given up hope. The Swans were an amazing family, but the mum, she got really sick, and when she passed away, the father, he had his son to look after, so I told him to send me back. Age eleven, I was put into the Lucas'. Ruby was nineteen. The parents found me cutting one day and booted me out, Ruby was at work, at the diner with her Granny, so she never found out till that night, by then I'd already met Neal, and he took me in for the night, and I just fell for his niceness, but it was never love. We made out, and when he tried to take it further, I pushed him away, telling him I wasn't ready, 'cause I'd just met him. I fell asleep on his bed one night and woke up with him..." Emma sniffled and cleared her throat, fixing her shirt up, grabbing a rag from inside a bedside drawer, unfolding it and resting it over her shoulder. She rested Henry's chin on her shoulder and patted his back. "I woke with him over me. One night, about a week after we met, he forced himself upon me, covered my mouth so I wouldn't scream." Emma looked at Henry over her shoulder as she heard his tiny burp.
She laid Henry across her lap, his head cradled on her knee. She used the clean on corner of the cloth and wiped his mouth before tossing it into a dirty wash basket. "Would you like to hold him?"
"I'm not... Okay..." Regina said after a little hesitation.
"But I'm not going to let your shirt get dirty. Over in the closet there should be some bigger sized shirts from when I was pregnant."
Regina stood and went over to the closet, opening it to find it neat, everything hung in mostly colors. She grabbed a large black band shirt and showed it to Emma "This okay?"
"Yea. Not a problem." Emma smiled at her, looking down at Henry to distract herself, changing Herny's diaper whilst Regina changed shirts.
A few minutes later, Regina was sitting on the bed and Emma was buttoning up Henry's jumpsuit, handing him over carefully. "Is he a reason you don't come to school often?"
"He has a sitter, but I miss him a lot when I'm not around him for too long, so I usually stay with him. It's not a money problem, but I'm saving for things Henry might want or need, stuff like that. I want to be prepared."
"Does the school know about this?"
"No, and I prefer if they didn't. When Belle found out I was pregnant, I begged her to not tell the school."
"She agreed?"
"Well, I got Ruby to help her mind change, that's actually how they got together seriously. Before that, it was just casual sex." Emma chuckled as she started cleaning her room, glancing over at Regina as she slowly rocked Henry to sleep.
"How did you get his name?" Regina asked softly.
"Well, I was going to call him Alec, but I met a man when I was in the hospital one day; he was older and caring. I was in there for cutting, and he said his daughter had done it at one stage. I knew Henry was a boy, 'cause Ruby and Belle were dying to find out, and the man said Alec was a great name, but when he was born, he felt more like a Henry. After I gave birth, I went around the hospital looking for Henry - the man, not my kid. I found a nurse, and she said he passed away early morning the day I gave birth. I wanted to find his family and pass on my apologies, but I didn't have my laptop to hack into the hospital files. Henry Mills, I'll never forget that name." She froze for a second, looking to Regina as she heard a sniffle.
"Regina?"
"That's my father." The brunette laid Henry in the center of the bed, laying a pillow on each side of the sleeping infant, grabbing her phone, she unlocked it, showing Emma the image on the screen, a younger Regina and a balding tubby man. "That's my father."
"Henry," Emma whispered, looking up to Regina slowly. "I apologies for your loss. He was an amazing man."
"Every time I visited, he said he'd met this blonde, young, pregnant, but he saw the pain. Emma, you were his only visitor apart from me."
"I'm sorry, Regina."
Ruby knocked on Emma's door lightly and Emma opened it after a minute, the blonde still dressed in tank top and boys shorts. "What's up?" Emma whispered.
"Pizza's here," Ruby said, handing Emma the two boxes, a garlic bread resting on top of it, before holding out two glasses with her free hand, a bottle of non-alcoholic apple cider resting in the crook of the brunettes arm.
"Thanks." Emma went to reach for her wallet but Ruby stopped her.
"No charge, Em. It's my treat." Emma set the pizzas and garlic bread on the end of the bed, then took the glasses and bottle off Ruby.
Ruby shut the door as she left Emma, leaving Regina and Henry alone once more.
Emma set the glasses and bottle of the bedside table, sitting on the side of the bed, resting a hand on Regina's shoulder, shaking her slightly. "Regina?"
Regina's eyes fluttered open and she looked around, trying to remember where she was before sitting up. "Emma?"
"Pizza just arrived."
"I didn't mean to fall asleep. Sorry."
"Don't stress it, beautiful. I uh, do you like apple cider?"
"I do... Why?"
"Ruby bought me a bottle of the non-alcoholic stuff for while we eat."
"I must thank her before I go."
Emma's smile instantly disappeared at Regina's mentioning leaving.
Regina saw the expression instantly change, and she reached forward. "Emma?"
"I'm fin. It's just... I wish you didn't have to go."
"I'm teaching at your school again tomorrow."
"I'm not going tomorrow. I've got to watch Henry. Ruby has work and Belle can't take the day off, 'cause she's got the eighth form excursion to go on to the zoo."
"Then I'll take the day off too. I enjoy spending time with you, Emma."
"Do you have any allergies?" Emma asked as she flipped open the lids of the pizza boxes, the smell making her stomach growl.
"No, yourself?"
"Not that I know of." Emma smiled before picking up a slice of her pizza and biting into it.
Emma woke the next morning at four o'clock. She sighed and got up, looking the source of what awoke her and checked Henry's diaper. Kissing his head, she instantly soothed his cries by unhooking her bra and coaxing his mouth closed by placing her nipple in it.
Henry made a few noises before settling on his food source.
"What time is it?" asked a husky voice from beside Emma.
"A little after four. Go back to sleep, Regina," Emma whispered.
"Henry sure knows how to wake someone. I'm surprised Ruby and Belle didn't wake or come in."
"Belles a pretty heavy sleeper, won't hear him unless he's in their room, but Ruby would have heard him."
As Emma finished talking, the door opened and a very sleepy Ruby walked in, instantly going over to the changing table.
Regina and Emma both watched her, the blonde supporting an amused smile as Ruby instinctively grabbed a clean diaper, wipes, and a new jumpsuit for just in case and walked to the bed. "If you're still awake, wake me at six, please. Granny will kill me if I'm late again."
"Go back to bed, Rubes. I'll come get you at six."
"You're the best. I shall bring you your favorite black roses. Happy V day, baby sis," Ruby muttered before walking out of the room and closing the door behind her.
Emma's eyes widened and she looked at Regina. "I'm taking Henry out into the city today. Would you like to join me?"
"I'd love to, but you do know that places will be packed with couples for the most annoying day of the year."
Emma laughed softly. "I'm so glad you hate valentines day too. Now I don't have to pretend."
Regina smiled and rested her forehead on Emma's shoulder.
"Regina, go back to sleep, please. You'll need your energy."
"We'll have to stop at my place to get some clothes. It's only a few minutes up the road."
"Alright. Just get some rest."
Emma was definitely awake at six. Regina fell back asleep, a secure arm around the blonde's son. Emma pulled the blanket up over the two and put her pillow where she was laying incase Henry moved.
Silently moving down the stairs, Emma went to the kitchen, putting the kettle on before moving to her sisters room. Peaking her head in, she spotted one of Henry's toys just inside the door and picked up the bear, throwing it at Ruby.
Ruby sat up quickly and glared at her sister. "I'm awake, bitch," Ruby mumbled, getting out of bed quietly.
"Coffee's almost ready," Emma said, heading back over to the kitchen.
Seven AM came all to quickly and Emma was walking out of her home-a small two bedroom one bathroom, small kitchen place, but it was home to her.
She held Henry firmly in one arm as she expertly unfolded the stroller with her free hand and her foot before putting him in it, strapping him in.
Regina stepped beside the blonde, and Emma wasn't sure what to do. She was always alone on her days off of school.
"Which way is your place?" Emma asked, sitting her water bottle in the cup holder of the stroller.
"Past the main street up on Mifflin."
"M-Mifflin?" Emma stuttered out, not sure if she heard her right. "As in, the rich part of town Mifflin?"
Regina sighed softly and nodded. "Yes, but..."
"There's only one house on Mifflin, and that's the mansion. Ever since I moved to this town, I used to sneak out late and look at the house, wondering what it'd be like to live somewhere like that."
"It's nice, but living alone gets, well, lonely. You don't remember from our first night together?"
"No, I was basking in the bliss still when I was leaving..." Emma chuckled as they walked.
They arrived at Regina's in minutes, and Emma kept Henry quiet in the family room whilst Regina went to shower and change.
A minute after, Emma heard a door close upstairs. Henry woke from his nap and started to cry. She took him out of the stroller and held him close, rocking him back and forth in her arms, but that didn't soothe him like it usually would. Standing, Emma rested his chin on her shoulder and rubbed his back, making sure he didn't have some more gas left over from his feeding.
When he was still crying, Emma checked his diaper even though she just put a fresh one on him before they left her house.
Finding that clean, she buttoned his jumpsuit back up and rested her forefinger's knuckle against his bottom gums, checking if he was hungry, when he didn't suck on them she only had one thing left to do.
Looking up the stairs to see if Regina was coming, Emma bit her lip nervously, hoping the brunette wouldn't walk in on this due to how self conscious the blonde was.
Emma paced slowly back and forth across the family room floor and started to hum, before her voice reached Henry's ears an. Started to soothe him down to whimpers and blubbering sniffles.
She started to sing the first song that was in her phone as she searched through her music. She only had instrumentals on it, but she'd memorized every lyric to all the songs on her phone. It may not have been her usual lullaby, but it was working, and that's all that mattered for now - keeping Henry happy.
"I can't sleep tonight, wide awake and so confused, every things in line, but I am bruised. I need a voice to echo, I need a light to take me home, I kinda need a hero, is it you?"
She checked the stairs once more before continuing.
"I'll never see the forest for the trees, I could really use your melody, baby I'm a little blind, I think it's time, for you to find me. Can you be my nightingale, sing to me I know you're there, you could be, my sanity, bring me peace, sing me to sleep, say you'll be my nightingale. Somebody speak to me, cause I'm feeling like hell, need you to answer me, I'm overwhelmed, I need a voice to echo, I need a light to take me home, I need a star to follow, I don't know. I'd never seen the forest for the trees, I could really use your melody, baby I'm a little blind, I think it's time, for you to find me."
Hearing footsteps, she stopped singing, pausing the music. Henry instantly started crying once more and Emma cleared her throat, pushing down her nerves and continued on with the way to settle her prince down.
She turned her back to the doorway and pretended no one was there but herself and Henry, .
She played the music once more, instantly picking up where she left off. She laid him in the stroller and laid the seat back before strapping him in, stroking his forehead, beginning to rock the stroller back and forth at an arm's length.
"Can you be my nightingale, sing to me, I know you're there, you could be my sanity, bring me peace sing me to sleep, say you'll be my nightingale. I don't know what I'd do without you, your words are like a whisper cutting through, as long as you are with me here tonight, I'm good. Can you be my nightingale, feel so close I know you're there, ohhh, nightingale, sing to me I know you're there, cause baby you're my sanity, you bring me peace, sing lame to sleep, say you'll be my nightingale, oh, mmm..." From the dead silence, she knew Henry had fallen asleep.
"Sleep well, my prince," she whispered before leaning down to kiss Henry's forehead.
"You have a lovely voice," Regina whispered from the doorway.
Emma turned to the brunette and blushed, biting her lip nervously. "Are you ready to go?"
"I am. Are you?"
Emma nodded and smiled softly.
"I'd suggest we take my car, but there's the issue of the fact that I don't have a child seat."
"Henry's stroller comes apart, but are you sure you want us in your car?"
Picking up her keys, she nodded.
Emma wasn't sure what to think. She was madly in love with this woman before her, but she wasn't sure what to do.
She reached forward, using the soft pad of her thumb to wipe some whipped cream from Regina's cappuccino off the brunettes lip before licking her thumb clean with a subconscious wink that made Regina blush.
"Emma, are you behind in any of your classes?" Regina asked out of the blue.
"No. I do online courses to keep my grades up. The school thinks I'm just sick, so I get away with it." Emma shrugged, biting into her cinnamon toast.
"What would you like to do after we finish here, shopping maybe?" Emma asked.
"There is this one shop I've been wanting to go to, but you can choose."
"I'm fine. I've only got to buy the groceries for the week. We have time to waste." Emma got her wallet out and put a fifty dollar note on the table and stood. "I'm just going to the bathroom. Would you mind watching Henry for a second?"
"Not a problem, but I can pay for myself, Emma."
"I invited you out. I'll pay." Emma smirked and walked to the amenities.