Hide-and-Seek
"Hide-and-seek?" Emma asked in disbelief. "Really, Kid?"
"C'mon!" Henry whined, looking around the room at everyone, his family and Hook. "It's Hide-and-Seek in the dark, it'll be fun!"
"If it's in the dark, how do we locate the hidden?" Hook asked, confusion etched into his features.
"The ones looking use flashlights. And you don't have to stay hidden in one spot, you can run around to different hiding spots if you want. That's what makes it fun."
"Flashlights?" Hook was genuinely confused. "What's a flashlight?"
"Okay, so Hook obviously isn't looking." Regina rolled her eyes.
"What, you're playing too?" Emma asked, surprised.
"Surprising as that may seem, Miss Swan, I do play outdoor games with my son." Regina said snarkily.
"Yeah, Mom's really good at hiding!" Henry said happily.
"Yeah, but she's not particularly good at finding people." Mary Margaret said offhandedly. Her eyes widened when she realized what she had said, and everyone froze, eyes on Regina.
Regina was silent as she registered what Mary Margaret had said, and when it finally dawned on her, to everyone's surprise, she began to laugh. "Well, as much as I loathe to admit it, that's very true. It's why I always hide." She winked at Mary Margaret, and turned to walk towards the kitchen for some flashlights.
"Okay, so who is going to be searching for everyone? Are we doing teams?" Emma suggested.
"If we do have teams, Mary Margaret and David have to be on the same team, they can't be looking for each other on opposite teams." Regina returned with some two flashlights, her statement causing everyone to look at her in confusion.
"Why can't we be on opposite teams?" David asked.
"Because you two always find each other." Regina said sarcastically, handing the flashlights to the Charmings. "So you two can search together. The rest of us will hide."
"Fine." Snow said in a mockingly bitter tone, taking a flashlight from Regina, the other one being handed to David.
"This is gonna be so much fun!" Henry said, excitedly. He turned to face the Charmings. "You two stay in here and count to sixty. Then come look for us!" He grabbed Regina's hand, and started racing toward the front door of the mansion, Emma and Hook following close behind.
As soon as Emma's feet hit the outside ground, she knew where she wanted to hide. "Hook, come give me a boost into Regina's tree!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Swan?" He asked, jogging after her.
"It's alright, I'm not trying to chainsaw it down anymore, come on!"
"Chainsaw? What is that?"
"Forget the stupid chainsaw, help me!"
Hook knelt down, sticking out one knee like he was proposing to someone, and glanced back at the house. "How long do you think it's been?"
"Who knows." Emma wrapped her arms around the lowest tree branch, put one foot on Hook's knee and the other one on the hammock hanging from the tree. She lifted her foot from the hammock and started to push off from Hook's knee when the front door to Regina's mansion opened and beams from the flashlights appeared in the distance.
The sudden noise of the door swinging shut startled Hook and Emma, and Hook suddenly stood up straight, causing Emma's grip to slip from the tree a little, and her ankle suddenly twisted in the hammock.
Hook cast her an apologetic look, and shrugged, before offering her a hushed "Sorry, Swan." Suddenly he was gone, and she was left alone dangling from a tree branch with her foot caught up in a hammock.
"Hook!" She hissed into the darkness. "Hook, get back here and help me! Killian, I swear to God, if you don't get back here, I'll cut off another limb of yours, but this time it won't be your hand!"
"Miss Swan, I'm not sure if that's an appropriate thing to say, considering our twelve year old son could be lurking about anywhere in the darkness." Regina's voice came from somewhere behind Emma.
"Regina? Thank God! Help me down." The bark from the branch had begun digging into Emma's hands, and there was no way she could just simply drop from the tree with hurting her ankle that was tangled in the hammock.
"How on Earth did you ever manage to get yourself into a position like that?"
Emma could just feel the judgment coming off of Regina, and she was fairly certain that she had crossed her arms.
"Stupid Hook saw the flashlights and decided him hiding and winning the game is more important than making sure I'm not simply dangling from a tree. And when did you get a hammock?"
"Your foot is caught in it, isn't it?" Regina sighed.
"Yes, now could you quit talking and help me down please?"
"If you insist."
Emma heard Regina walk closer, and soon her voice floated up from directly underneath her. "Drop."
"What?" Emma squeaked. "I'll just fall onto the ground!"
Regina sighed irritably again. "I'll catch you, Miss Swan."
"Are you sure? Because you could just-"
"Just let go of the branch, Emma." Regina demanded.
At the sound of her first name coming out of the mayor's mouth, Emma was shocked enough into letting go of the branch. She fell roughly into Regina's arms, causing her to stumble back a little bit, but Regina quickly regained her balance.
"Are you alright, Emma?"
"Uh, yeah. I think so. Except my ankle is still caught in the hammock." Emma winced when she tugged on her foot. "And I think I sprained it or something."
"Of course you did." Regina carried her over and set her gently on the opposite end of the hammock. She went down to Emma's ankle and began untangling it from the hammock ropes.
When Emma's ankle was free, she immediately stood up, feeling like she had to get away from Regina. Between the first name basis and being held in her arms, butterflies had erupted in her stomach and they hadn't gone away. Feelings had surfaced, feelings she had been certain were under control until now, and she didn't feel like dealing with them now.
But as soon as she took one step forward, her ankle collapsed, and down she went. The next thing she knew, Regina was pulling her up, and wrapping an arm around her waist, helping her walk.
Emma closed her eyes and tried not to enjoy the feeling of Regina's arm around her waist, or the smell of Regina's perfume, which, by the way, smelled like cinnamon and apples.
"So which of Hook's limbs were you planning to detach from his body?" Regina asked as they made their way to the front of the house.
"Oh, I was thinking the tiny one right between his legs." Emma growled, limping with every step and leaning heavily on Regina.
Regina shook her head. "How did I know you would say that, Miss Swan?"
"Emma."
"What?"
"Call me Emma. Not Miss Swan. It's too formal. Besides...we're friends now, right?"
"Yes, I suppose we are." Regina said slowly.
They found themselves at the bottom of the steps in front of the mansion.
"Can you make it up the stairs?" Regina looked down at Emma's ankle.
"I doubt it. But I can sit here while you go get David to carry me up the stairs."
"Don't be silly." Regina knelt down and suddenly Emma was in her arms again, being carried up the stairs. Regina opened the door, and all too soon, Emma was being set down on a couch in the huge living room that they started out in.
"I'm going to go get some ice for your ankle, don't go anywhere." Regina commanded.
Emma rolled her eyes. "As if I even could."
Regina rolled her eyes as well, and disappeared into the kitchen.
Emma could feel the urge to say something completely stupid to Regina coming on, but this time, she was trapped. Whenever she wanted to confess her feelings, she would simply make an excuse to leave and get the hell out of there; but now she was trapped and it was all that stupid pirate's fault.
Sure enough, as soon as Regina entered the living room with an ice pack, the words were out of Emma's mouth before she could stop them. "I want to be more than friends with you."
Regina froze, the ice pack falling from her hands. It hit the floor with a thud, but she stared at Emma, mouth partly open, brown eyes wide with confusion. "You...what?"
"I, uh. I want to be more than friends. With you." Emma added lamely as if that needed clarifying. There was nothing she wanted more in the world than to crawl into a hole and die.
But then when Regina crossed the room in two strides, and planted her lips on Emma's, she figured she could postpone the dying for a bit.