A/N: this is not beta-ed so all mistakes are mine. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do writing it:)

Emma tried to grab the door before it closed hard but it was too late.

"Emma?" Snow's voice came from somewhere in the house and Emma closed her eyes, silently praying for her mother to just let go but, of course, she didn't. "Emma, is that you?" she called again.

The sheriff sighed and leaned on the door, "Yeah." She heard steps coming from upstairs, hurrying to the main floor.

Snow appeared and sighed with relief before inquiring, "Where were you?" The question made Emma's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Seriously?"

Her mother placed her hands on her waist and raised an eyebrow, "Well?" Rolling her eyes, Emma walked past her mother and towards her bedroom; she thanked Henry was at school as she shouted over her shoulder, "I'm not a child anymore."

When Emma opened the door of her room, she stilled, watching her things scattered on the floor. Emma wasn't tidy, but this was too much. She walked downstairs and looked at her mother in shock, "Did you do that?! Why?"

Snow took a step back. "You didn't spend the night at home," she said as if that could explain it all. "I just thought I would find something there…"

"You could've called, you know?" Emma said running a hand through her head; in the scale to 1 to 10, this was 100 unbelievable.

"I did, but you didn't answer."

Emma looked at her and nodded. Then, she remembered her phone had gone off when she was having dinner. "Yeah, okay. Anyways, the town isn't that big."

This time, Snow looked down at her hands and shrugged, "I was just worried. The last time you disappeared you were with…"

"Regina. You can say her name, it's not like if she was Voldemort," she snarled. "And yes, I was with her." It was Emma who took a step back this time, "We were preparing a surprise for Henry's birthday."

Snow's face softened for a moment but then her expression changed to a more severe one, "All night?" Emma blushed slightly and shifted her weight from leg to leg. "You're getting too close to her. She's dangerous, Emma. She's got magic, dark magic."

"I've got magic as well and so does Gold but you don't worry about him, do you?"

"He's family."

Emma snorted, "And so is Regina."

"It's different," Snow said, trying to convince Emma. "I'm not saying we should kill her but we must stay away from her."

Emma took a breath and then let out the air. Taking a step closer to her mother she said, "I never thought I would say this but once you get to know her Regina is pretty nice. I like spending time with her and it seems she does too and that could be good for Henry. We could get along so just let this happen, okay?"

Snow narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, "Let what happen, Emma?"

The blonde clapped her hands together and shrugged, "I honestly don't know. And before you say something, let me save you the saliva. I don't care. You're my mother, and I love you, but whatever happens, it will happen."

Mother and daughter stood quietly on the kitchen. Snow couldn't understand why Emma didn't see what everyone saw. She had given Regina many chances along the years and she recognizes she shouldn't have; Regina was just evil.

On her side, Emma couldn't understand why everyone was so fond of turning their backs to Regina. Yeah, she had had many chances along the years, but this time was different. This time she had Henry and Emma was a 100% sure Regina wouldn't mess everything up just to not to lose him again. At least, not intentionally. At the end of the day, for Emma, Regina was just a mother who had her past, had made the wrong choices but was trying to amend her mistakes for her son.

Emma shifted again; geez, she thought, this time she had spent with Regina had really made her change her mind about her. She thought about the first days, when they would just sit together and let Henry talk on their occasional suppers. Then, one day, Emma had offered herself to clean up the kitchen so Regina could go upstairs and tuck Henry in on the few nights he stayed at her house. That had made the Mayor's wall start to fall.

Eventually, they would stay talking after dinner and one time Emma had eaten too much and her stomach had started to hurt, Regina had let her stay. When Emma woke up she found the house empty but a note on the fridge reminding her not to take too many liberties in her house. And the on the ps she had reminded Emma to take the medicine she had left next to the coffee machine.

Since then, Emma had spent many nights at the Mayor's house. When her parents asked her –which was often- she said that she had drank too much or that she had just fallen asleep, which sometimes was true, but there were times in which they had stayed up all night just talking. Emma had learned about Regina as much as Regina had learned about Emma. And that, Emma thought, is probably worse than having sex. They had somehow connected in much more an intimate level. However, Emma didn't want to push Regina, afraid she would walk away.

Still, she didn't expect her mother or anyone to understand.

Snow cleared her throat and nodded, "I guess I can't stop you."

"You can't," Emma confirmed.

"Be careful, okay?" Snow caressed her daughter's arm and gave it a friendly squeeze as Emma nodded with a smile.

As Emma came back to her bedroom, Snow pulled out the coffee pot of the cupboard, frowning deeply as she thought if her daughter would ever forgive her for what she was about to do.

When Emma finished tidying up her room- or what she considered tidying up- her stomach mumbled and she realized she hadn't eaten anything since the night before. She was surprised to find the house empty but shrugged and took the chance to attack the fridge.

After picking up the juice and the leftovers, she heard her phone ringing so she left the food on the counter and reached for it. When she read the incoming text from Regina she couldn't help the smile on her face.

Henry's going to love it. Tomorrow evening is okay for dinner?

Sure. I'll bring Henry too.

Emma could almost see Regina rolling her eyes on the other side of town.

"I don't know, Snow." David tried to catch up with his wife, who was almost running down the street. "Emma knows what she's doing and we already talked about this and discarded the plan. It's not okay."

Snow stopped and turned to look at David, "I know, but I don't have a good feeling about it. I don't want Emma to get hurt and this plan is the only way, David."

The former prince stared at her and sighed, "Okay."

Then, both of them entered Mr. Gold's shop. Inside, Gold was giving his back to the door, cleaning something the couple couldn't quite see. He turned and raised an eyebrow as he saw them approaching.

"It will be done," Snow just said.

Gold tilted his head. "I thought we had decided it wouldn't," he said looking at David.

"Can you do it or not?" Snow insisted. Gold now looked at her from behind the counter and nodded, "Tomorrow."

"I thought it needed time," David interrupted, frowning.

"It does but something told me I would need it in the future. There's no bad on being long- sighted."

David turned to his wife and whispered to her, "Tell me again why we trust him." Snow ignored him and nodded to Gold, "Tomorrow it is. Tell the rest of them but don't let Emma, Henry or Regina know."

Gold nodded and smiled at the charming couple. They left the shop and Gold turned to go back to his work. "These people will never learn from their mistakes," he murmured as he continued to clean a showcase with a pen inside.