"We should go on a vacation!" Henry's face lit up. "All of us!"
Emma looked around dubiously at the other three adults in the room. Snow and Charming both glanced at Regina and then shared a worried look at each other. Regina looked like she'd just bitten into a lemon.
"Henry, I don't know..." Emma began. Henry's face fell.
"Of course we can," Regina interrupted, one of her overly polite Cheshire cat grins pasted on her face. "Where would you like to go?"
Henry's face lit back up, "Yes!" He ran and hugged Regina in a bear hug. Regina's face softened and a real smile crossed her face. Henry pulled away. "I don't know where to go though. I've only been outside of Storybrooke once and all I got to see was Emma's apartment."
They all looked at Emma. "Do you have any ideas, Emma?" Snow asked her daughter.
Emma glanced at all of them. "Um, I guess maybe an amusement park. Like Disneyland or something?" Emma suggested hesitantly. She hadn't exactly been on many vacations growing up in the foster system.
"Disneyland?" Snow and Charming both asked.
"Where's that?" Henry asked. "Is it nearby?"
Emma looked around at the blank looks on everyone's face as it sank in just how big of an adventure - and probably headache - this would really be. "Uh, well Disneyland is this place where people go, especially families with kids, to ride rides and watch shows and meet all of their favorite fairyta..."Emma stopped abruptly as she realized who she was talking to. "You know what?" Emma pasted on a Regina-worthy smile, "I heard Disneyland's not that great. Maybe a cruise or something? Or camping?"
"A cruise?" Henry asked. Emma looked up to see them all staring again.
"Yeah..." Emma trailed off. She had a feeling this trip was going to involve lots of babysitting. Three clueless adults and one excited 10-year old didn't sound like fun to her. "I really don't think this is a great idea, Henry," she tried again to dissuade him.
"But she said we could!" Henry pouted.
"Emma, we should do something to celebrate Mr. Gold finding a way for us to cross the town line," Snow encouraged. "I'd love to see the outside for once. I've been here for 28 years and I've seen all there is to see."
"It'd be like an adventure!" Henry said again.
Emma looked at Henry again and hesitated a moment. "Okay, okay!" Emma threw her hands up. "I'll take care of planning it. You guys just show up and be on your best behavior," she eyed Regina meaningfully. Regina rolled her eyes.
"Of course," Snow smiled. She and Charming looked almost as excited a Henry.
"I'll buy the plane tickets online and we can leave tomorrow," Emma said.
"Actually Miss Swan, I can take care of that. I think my budget might be a little bigger than yours," Regina paused, "I am not even sure I actually pay you."
"I'll help you order them, then" Emma said grateful for the offer.
"What's a plane?" Charming said, confused.
Regina, Snow, and Emma all looked at him. "Oh, boy," Emma muttered. Having spent most of the last 28 years in a coma, he was the most out-of-touch with this world.
"This is so great! All of us going on a vacation together!" Henry beamed at them all.
"Yeah, kid," Emma said sounding less than thrilled. She turned toward her parents, "Mom, Dad, can you take Henry to get some dinner and then go home to pack some clothes and things while Regina and I get the tickets situated?" Emma asked.
"Absolutely!" Snow took Henry's hand and they said their goodbyes.
"Don't forget your toothbrush," Regina called as Henry left with his grandparents.
Emma and Regina looked at each other warily. "Shall we?" Regina forced a smile and held out a hand to usher Emma into her office.
Regina let Emma sit at her desk and then leaned over the computer to log in. Emma felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand up. She didn't think she'd ever been this close to the woman who not long ago had been hell-bent on making her life, and the lives of all the other town residents, miserable. She could almost feel the heat radiating off of her.
Regina leaned back once she had typed in the password. "You find the tickets and I'll be back to purchase them." She hesitated. "I've never bought anything on the computer before."
"Do you have a credit card?" Emma asked. "We'll probably need it to buy them online."
"Of course I do," Regina said crisply. "Although I can't say I've ever had to use it before."
"Good. Then I'll start looking."
Regina nodded and then, as an afterthought, "If you go through any of my personal documents on there I will make sure it's the last thing you ever do," she threatened.
Emma rolled her eyes. She knew Regina couldn't be civil for long. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Regina left the room and Emma began looking up possible destinations.
15 minutes later as Emma was looking into cruises, after deciding she really didn't want to be stuck in a tent with Regina and her parents, the door creaked open and Regina came in carrying two plates with sandwiches.
"I thought you might be hungry," she placed a plate by Emma on the desk and then perched on the corner with her own plate. "It's turkey."
"Thanks," Emma was unused to any type of kind gestures from the mayor. Regina seemed almost civil.
Regina waved her hand and two glasses appeared in a cloud of purple smoke. She reached for the bottle of her famous hard apple cider and poured a little into both glasses. "We might need this to survive the next week." She said putting the bottle back on the desk.
"Did you just make a joke?" Emma teased.
Regina rolled her eyes but Emma saw the corner of her mouth turn up slightly.
Emma took a couple huge bites and then turned toward Regina. "So how about a cruise starting along the Maine coast? I am thinking all of us stuck together on a plane might not be the best idea." She said, mouth full of turkey, lettuce, and tomato.
"I am not sure a boat is any better," Regina sipped her drink and frowned in disapproval at Emma's bad table manners.
"At least we don't have to spend hours sitting next to each other."
"The less time sitting next to you and your parents the better," Regina agreed.
"Hey now, the one condition for this trip is that everyone just be civil and get along for one week. Do it for Henry."
Regina sighed, "For Henry."
"Anyway," Emma washed down her sandwich with the apple cider. She felt it burn as it went down, " I found a cruise that takes off not far from here tomorrow afternoon that has a couple rooms available. Looks like a pretty big boat, lots of stuff to do." She rolled her chair off to the side. "Want to take a peak?" She offered.
Regina craned her neck to glance at the screen. "I am sure that's fine," she said, feigning disinterest, although Emma could tell she was curious.
"Okay, well we just need to order them then," Emma clicked on something on the screen before her and began typing but stopped abruptly as Regina waved her hand. Five tickets appeared on the desk before her in another cloud of smoke.
Emma looked at Regina slack-jawed, "Regina!"
"It's much easier this way. And cheaper," Regina glanced at her watch. "It's getting late. Shouldn't you be getting back to your parents'."
"You can't just use magic to get whatever you want!"
"That's where you're wrong, Miss Swan. I find that it works quite well actually." Her tone reverted back into its usual cool politeness.
Emma shook her head, deciding to pick her battles. "You know you won't have any magic once we leave town, right?"
"I'm quite aware of that, thank you," Regina said curtly. She got off the desk and began collecting their plates. Their time to be civil was obviously over.
Sighing, Emma got up too, and followed Regina out of the room. Regina set the dishes down on a side table and walked to the front door. "I will see you tomorrow then, Miss Swan," Regina opened the door and stood to the side to let Emma pass.
"Good night, Regina," Emma said reluctantly, meeting Regina's chocolate brown stare but unable to analyze the emotions, if there were any, behind the gaze. And as she walked to her car she looked back to see Regina closing the door to her big, empty mansion and couldn't help but feel a twinge of empathy for the former evil-queen. As well as a little bit of guilt. Emma knew better than anyone how it felt to be alone and she couldn't help but second guess her decision to keep Henry from his adoptive mother. Regina may hide behind her power but Emma was all too familiar with the effects loneliness and isolation can have on somebody who has no one in their corner. She vowed to herself that as long as Regina kept her promise to be good, she would let her see Henry more. Maybe a couple more dinner dates during the week.
She shook it off as she got in her car and headed for home. Emma knew this was going to be grueling and could only imagine how fun it would be tomorrow trying to get everyone ready. And how it would be even more fun trying to keep everyone from each others throats for a whole week. She was going to need a vacation from this vacation.
