Regina swirled the wine around her glass absent-mindedly. It wasn't that she didn't care about the animals at the shelter… ah who was she kidding. She didn't. A parrot's wing fixed itself. Whoop-de-doo. Alert the press.
"…and she was flying around the ceiling for hours before she stopped to sleep. Even then, it took three of us to get her down!"
Regina threw back the rest of her red wine before mustering a smile for her husband, and making to clear the plates away. When had life gotten so… boring.
"Here, let me help."
He smiled at her kindly. Whether ignorant to what was going on, or too afraid to ask why she was more distant than usual, he silently followed out to the kitchen with his arms laden with bits and pieces.
She was just internally debating whether to treat herself to mini marshmallows in her late night hot chocolate when she tuned into what David was actually saying.
"…so I said she could go."
"Pardon?"
"Millie. I said she could go on a date with this boy."
She took a moment to gain her composure, before turning to lean against the table and face him. A raised eyebrow was all he really needed to start talking.
"Well, she likes him and he likes her. Who are we to stand in the way?"
"The parents of an eleven year old girl?! David, you can't just let her go off on her own to… Where are they going?"
"A baseball match."
There was a pause, in which Regina's forehead creased before she caught her husband's eye again.
"Storybrooke doesn't have a baseball team."
David scratched the back of his neck.
"Well…"
"You didn't."
"New York's not that far away really."
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You're letting our daughter go with some boy we've never met, to another state, New York no less, on a date? Do you see all the flaws in this plan?" She debated physical violence for a moment before throwing her hands up in the air. "It has more holes than Swiss cheese!"
"Regina…"
He tried to reach out for her arm but she was already walking out the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Where do you think? To book an extra ticket to that damn baseball game."
David grinned.
On the other side of town…
Emma plonked herself down on the sofa next to Henry.
"So."
"So?"
"How did it go?"
"How did what go?"
Emma threw a bit of popcorn at her ever-annoying younger brother.
"Applying to NASA," Henry rolled his eyes "asking Millie out of course! What happened lil dude?"
Henry couldn't help the smile that light up his eyes and as he cheeks flushed at the mention of his crush.
"She said yes."
"Congrats! I knew she would, didn't I tell you to just be brave."
She glanced sideways at him briefly before grinning and nudging his side 'til he nearly fell over.
"Well, she still has to ask her parents. But she said they'd be cool, so yeah… we're meeting this Saturday."
"Where are you taking her?"
"A Yankees game."
Henry winced as Emma paused her munching. Nothing stood between Emma and her snacks, this was definitely not good.
"And where is this Yankees game? How did you even get tickets…"
Henry mumbled something about not really wanting to watch a film anyway, and it was probably past his bed time and…
"You're taking her out the state on your first date? Setting the bar pretty high there."
Emma contemplated for a moment before she went back to munching. The popcorn was already running low and they hadn't even started the movie yet.
"You're okay with this?"
"Oh yeah. I mean, you're gonna have to try harder to impress her next time though. You know that, right?"
"Right."
"And you know I'll be coming along too, right?"
Henry sighed. It could've gone a lot worse. Emma could've invited their adoptive mother.
"Right."
"So you coming back to watch Fantastic Four or off to prepare for Saturday already?"
Emma wiggled her eyebrows. Teasing him about this was going to be fun.
"Only if you promise not to add in commentary."
"But it's the Fantastic Four… You're not watching it properly unless you say 'it's clobbering time' at least once..."
Emma's puppy dog eyes did not work on Henry. Neither did attempting to bribe him with the pathetic handful of popcorn she had left.
"Fine. Although my commentary is highly entertaining and you know it."
Henry looked at her.
"Okay okay, spoilsport. Geez, you're no fun past your bedtime."
She threw one of her precious bits of popcorn at him, which accidentally started a tickle war.
Henry won.