Chapter 1: Awkward Morning

The morning light filtered through Regina's bedroom window casting a beam that ultimately woke the brunette. The first thing she noticed was the enormous headache that almost made it unbearably difficult to move her head and that her mouth felt extremely dry. Was someone pounding a bass drum on the other side of her bedroom?

She tried to move the slightest inch but was impeded by something heavy draped over her. She concluded that it was not a something but a someone. "Robin?" she managed from her parched lips. No, she realized it couldn't be as she woke a bit more. Robin had crossed the town line yesterday with his wife and son, never able to return. A stirring beside her propelled thoughts of Robin out of her mind and demanded that she deal with the matter at hand.

Slowly, she opened one eye first and then the other while placing a shaky hand to her forehead. What in the world…? Regina gradually moved her eyes lower where she could see her torso unclothed and a smooth feminine arm crossed under her breasts. Gradually, her eyes followed the path of blonde locks that came with the arm and she found herself staring straight at the sleeping face of Emma Swan! Emma was half buried comfortably in the crook of her neck and Regina could feel the warm breath enticing her skin. Regina stilled as she cast her eyes immediately to the ceiling in shock.

Oh my God!

At that moment, Emma absently snuggled closer and lightly sucked Regina's earlobe into her warm soft mouth, nibbling gently, which caused Regina's nipples to traitorously harden. The blonde gave a satisfied moan afterwards and seemed to fall back to sleep.

Oh my GOD!

""Eh-mma," she more cleared her throat than spoke, "Emma."

Emma threw her leg more securely around Regina and trembled when her slick heat made contact with the top of Regina's thigh. Regina could feel Emma's essence on herself and she felt her own arousal spike and betray her.

A hand suddenly moved to caress her breast, "Mmmm…" Emma smiled and then she massaged the turgid peak lovingly and Regina was mortified at herself for not putting a stop to this. Regina gulped hoping that would somehow give her resolve to move away but then Emma's fingers tweaked and pulled and Regina could not help the groan that escaped from her mouth, or the pull she felt at the apex of her thighs. It was then that she noticed that the fondling turned to more evaluating squeezes and when she looked over she saw Emma with her eyes closed but frowning. Regina knew she only had seconds to gather herself, prepare for the obvious exchange that was about to happen, because clearly, it seemed that Emma would be just as surprised to be waking up naked next to her. As usual, Regina put on her best regal queen look and when Emma opened her eyes Regina mocked, "Looking for grungy pirate chest hair, Miss Swan?"

Startled Emma gasped, tore her hand from Regina's breast as if bitten and backed away causing the blanket to drop away from both their bodies leaving them to stare openly at each other's nakedness. The blonde's mouth opened and closed and then her eyes goggled at Regina's firm distended nipples. The poor blonde looked like she was trying to gulp moisture into her throat. Regina, suddenly, wasn't sure whether she should take it as a compliment or an insult, but had no time to ponder it further as they both covered themselves quickly.

"REGINA! What the hell…?" Emma fisted her hair in pain, "Ow, ow… make it stop."

The brunette narrowed her eyes and coolly retaliated, "I don't like being here like this anymore than you do."

"No! The headache. Make it…" Emma started to clarify and then she stopped, "Wait, you don't?"

"What?" Regina was confused.

"What?" Emma asked.

Then there was a knock at the door. "Mom?"

Their wide eyed gazes locked and they both whispered in unison, "Henry!" Then the bed was shaking with nervous fidgeting and they were both looking for clothes.

"Mom?"

"Don't come in Henry, " Regina sputtered, "I'm not… decent!" With that, Regina grabbed a handful of the bed sheet and pulled it insistently away from Emma and wrapped herself up in it, leaving Emma to teeter naked on the edge of the bed. The blonde yelped before she toppled over onto the floor with a resounding thud.

"Mom!" Henry was now concerned. "Did you fall? Are you okay? What's going on?"

"Yes. Yes." Regina assured as she held the sheets all around her and looked around. Why, oh WHY was this happening to her? "I uh…I'm fine."

"Did you fall?"

"No. Yes."

"I'm coming in."

"NO!" Regina panicked and then tried to recover. "I mean, no. I didn't fall. I'm fine."

"Then what was that sound?"

Regina's eyes darted to Emma in alarm. The blond peeked over the top of the mattress, seemingly trying to hide herself, most of which Regina had already seen… and felt. She only gave Regina a shrug. "Uh… a cat."

Emma frowned incredulously, "Cat?" she mouthed and it was Regina's turn for a bewildered shrug.

"Uh, we don't have a cat." Regina could already see her son's know-it-all grin. Another minute of this and Henry would know something was amiss. He probably knew now.

"It was a neighborhood stray. I left my window open last night and he just crawled right in." Regina caught Emma palm her face and shake her head.

"You left your window open at night this time of year?"

Regina's headache returned in full force. She was usually mentally quick on her feet but nothing about this morning was boding well for her at all. She was always in pristine control of her life and she never woke up completely naked beside someone without any memory of what transpired the night before. She glanced at Emma as Emma was nodding proudly at the door.

"That's my boy," she preened quietly as Regina glared and then rolled her eyes.

"Bathroom," Regina instructed in hushed tones, "Go!" Emma gestured at her nakedness.

"I'm naked!"

"Really, Miss Swan, I've already seen you. Let's not be bashful." The last comment was dripping with sarcasm.

"Says the woman who's wrapped up like a burrito."

"TODAY, Miss Swan!"

It was Emma's turn to roll her eyes and Regina looked away as Emma hurried past her and then she disappeared into the bathroom. Regina wasn't sure of much last night, but one thing was for certain in her mind. Whatever happened, it was all Emma's fault.

Emma stood behind the bathroom door so she could hear what Regina and Henry were saying. She could not believe the predicament in which she had found herself in this morning. Did she and Regina… did they…? She and REGINA?! Emma had done a lot of crazy things in the past, even had a few drunken one-nighters, but never had she gotten so drunk that she couldn't remember what happened the night before, let alone being so drunk that she would bed the other mother of her son; the son that sounded slightly confused and concerned just behind the door.

"So are you sure you're alright, mom. You look a little… green."

"What? No, Henry, I assure you I am fine. Er, well, maybe not feeling so well, stomach-wise."

Emma heard Henry scoff. "Yeah, I bet. You guys were acting pretty wild last night."

Regina's breath hitched. "We… we were?"

"Yeah. Loud, wild, crazy. I had to put my headphones in to get some sleep. I had no idea that you were such a party animal, Mom."

Emma leaned her forehead against the door and shut her eyes tightly. What the hell happened last night?! She remembered they had all returned to Regina's house after leaving the mansion where they found the hidden library and the blank fairytale books. She had joined Operation Mongoose gladly to help Regina find her happy ending. Regina's smile at her vow was all Emma needed for thanks. She wasn't exactly sure when Regina's happiness meant so much to her but she knows for sure that it was before she had brought Marian back and essentially almost ruined things between them. If Emma was committed to make anyone happy, besides her son, it was Regina.

"Mom?" Henry's tone changed from light hearted joking to seriousness. "You look like you are going to be sick or something." Emma opened her eyes are stared at the crack trying to listen more closely to Regina's reply.

"I'm fine, Henry. Um, did you want something?"

"Oh yeah," Henry brightened and Emma heard footsteps getting closer, "I'm out of toothpaste so I wanted to get some from you."

Emma darted from the door to the center of the room and searched for a hiding place. The thought of her son catching her stark naked in the middle of his mother's bathroom terrified her. She grabbed Regina's bath towel and quickly wrapped herself in it. Against the wall was a large walk-in shower with multiple shower jets mounted on the back and adjacent walls and a full glass window separating the shower from the rest of the it, there was a Jacuzzi style bath tub. This was certainly the most luxurious bathroom she had ever been was just about to dive into what looked like Regina's walk-in closet when she heard Regina's voice.

"There's an extra tube in the hall closet. I picked it up some time ago."

"Oh," Henry said and Emma breathed a sigh of relief, "You amaze me, mom."

"Hmmm, and why is that, Henry?" Emma could hear Regina sincerely fishing for Henry's admiration, though she would never admit it. Emma's heart pulled at that. Despite being the haughty royal pain in the ass Regina often was, she was starving for love and praise like anyone else.

"Because, with witches and snow queens and curses and near death experiences, you still find time to grocery shop and make sure everything is taken care of." Emma couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"I –" Regina sounded gob smacked at the recognition, "I take care of you, Henry. It's what I do." There was a silence then but Emma cold only imagine the looks of love and gratitude passing between both mother and son and she couldn't help but feel the stab of guilt for wanting to take Henry back to New York not so long ago. She knew now that she could never separate them. "I take care of you, Henry. It's what I do."

After a few more minutes Henry asked, "So where's Ma?" Emma bit her bottom lip as she moved her ear closer to the crack in the door.

"Hmmm?"

"Emma. Her car is still outside."

"Oh. Well she's not here… in front of us." Regina answered quickly. "Maybe she stepped out."

"Barefoot? Her boots are downstairs." Emma, while proud of her son's quick mind a moment ago, was now less than thrilled with his powers of deduction.

She and Regina must have been on the same wavelength because she heard Regina huff impatiently, "Henry, I am not your mother's keeper. I don't need to know what she's doing and where she is doing it every second of the day. I am, however, yours. Go wash up and get dressed. I will make you breakfast and we can start our day, okay?"

"Okay, okay." She heard Henry move toward the bedroom door and then his steps halted. "Will you make blueberry pancakes?" She could hear the grin on his face and envisioned the smile Regina must have returned.

"Absolutely."

"Awesome."

They really were a cute pair, Regina and Henry. When she had given Henry up for adoption so long ago, never in her wildest dreams did she think he would be adopted by the Evil Queen from the Enchanted Forest. One would think that it would have been a disaster to find that out but in retrospect, Henry was loved, well-adjusted and a good kid. Regina did that. She had encountered so many troubled kids in the system to know that it could have been a lot worse.

Emma was too busy being thankful that Henry wasn't a drug addict or a teen sex slave on the street that she did not hear Regina approaching until it was too late. The door flew open smacking her straight in the forehead.

"What the –" Regina questioned in surprise as Emma swore. Emma stepped back and was rubbing her forehead with her palm. She noticed that Regina had slipped into a thin silk magenta robe that fell to mid-thigh. Regina's hair was slightly disheveled. Her eye make-up, left over from last night, a little smudged but gave her that sexy, smokey eyed look. Her lips, however, were absent of their usual red lipstick and she suddenly found herself wishing she could remember what those lips had tasted like. She found her mouth dry and thirsty again. It should be a sin for someone to look that good in the midst of a hangover.

Emma inquired sheepishly, "So now what?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

"Do you think Henry suspects anything?"

"Maybe. I did raise him to be quite the clever individual." Regina smiled and then pinned Emma with a look of merriment. "However he does have your genes and at the moment is thinking with his stomach too much to care."

"I could eat," Emma shrugged and earned an astonished look from Regina.

"Are you serious? Aren't you hungover?"

"I could always eat. But you wouldn't happen to have any aspirin for the headache would you?"

"In the medicine cabinet," Regina answered and pointed over to the long luxurious mirror hanging over the double sink counter. "Well then, I guess that is our next step."

"What is that?"

"We find our clothes, get dressed and have blueberry pancakes." Emma's stomach growled in response and a bright smile blossomed on her lips. If Regina's pancakes tasted as scrumptiously as the rest of her cooking, the day was already vastly improving. She caught Regina studying her intently causing Emma's smile to slip just a bit.

"What?"

Suddenly the air between them was charged with something undefinable. It felt almost like a magnetic pull of some kind. Regina blinked opened her mouth as if she was going to say something and hesitated, seeming to think better of it. Emma's eyebrows rose in question.

"I'll try and find your clothes," and with that Regina was gone.