"Oh man, this is so cool!" Henry said for the tenth time in five minutes. He was practically vibrating with excitement. "Look at the wall! It doesn't look that big on TV!"
Emma nodded agreement. "And look – there is salmon ladder!"
Regina smiled at them fondly, shaking her head.
"Mom! Are you looking?" Henry demanded.
"Yes, dear. Very cool," she said agreeably. She would agree that watching paint dry was thrilling if it made Henry this happy.
"We are so lucky that they are filming in Boston this week!" Emma said. "Good job finding out about this, kid!"
Henry grinned. "Thanks for trading with me, Mom."
"Of course, dear. We couldn't miss this – and the museums will be there tomorrow," she replied. Regina had decided to take Henry to Boston for a week in celebration of school being out and Henry had enlisted Emma's help in deciding what they should do. Somehow, she was still not quite sure how, that had turned into Emma going with them. While she had pretended otherwise for sake of appearances, she really didn't mind. Being out in the "real" world always made her feel somewhat uneasy and having the blond with them made her feel better. Not that she would ever admit that, of course. But trying to find activities that all three of them liked turned out to be extremely difficult until they finally decided that everyone would get to plan what they did on two days – though she insisted on keeping veto power. In the end, she hadn't needed it.
Henry had decided upon a day at the Boston zoo for one day; and splitting the second between bicycle tour of Boston and going to "PlayPlex" – an indoor gaming space with laser tag, batting cages, bowling, putt putt and arcade games. Emma had decided upon a boat ride around Boston Harbor and baseball game on one day, and giving them a tour of all her favorite spots from when she lived here the next. She had decided to try to make it somewhat educational with a walking tour of the traditional Boston historical spots like the Old North Church and a recreation of Paul Revere's silver shop on one day, and visits to several museums – including one that had an exhibit of comic book art that she knew Henry was going to love – the next.
The trip had been well planned out in advance. However when Henry had discovered that one of his favorite TV shows was shooting on Boston Pier for only one more day she willingly swapped days with her son.
"Hey – anyone can run the obstacles between ten and four today! And you get points for every obstacle you start and you can use the points to get prizes. Oh – for seven points you can get a T-shirt! Oh – that would be so awesome. No one else would have one of those!" Henry said. "Can I do it?"
"Can't we just buy you a T-shirt?" Regina asked doubtfully, looking over at the obstacles. There was plenty of padding around everything and she had seen several people fall without injury – but Henry was not the most athletic of children.
"Not these! You can only win these," Henry explained. "Can I do it? Please? You get a point for just trying an obstacle– then 2 more if you complete the obstacle. The first obstacle is the steps - I think I can do those. Even if I can't win a T-shirt I bet I could get enough for a hat."
Emma had taken the pamphlet and was reading it. "Afraid not, kid. You have to be eighteen."
"Oh, that sucks," he said dejectedly.
"Hey – I'll win you a shirt," Emma said quickly.
"Really?" Henry asked, smiling widely.
"I don't think that is a good idea," Regina objected.
"I can do this. Make sure you take pictures, Henry," Emma said – turning over her phone to the boy and moving over to the line where people were waiting for their turn.
"Good luck!" Henry called out.
"This isn't going to go well," Regina said, shaking her head.
"You wait – she's got this!" Henry said with assurance.
Regina forced herself to keep the frown off her face. It was irritating the faith that Henry had in the blonde. Though Emma did typically come through for him.
Emma had to wait about thirty minutes – but finally it was her turn. She turned to wave to Henry – who excitedly waved back. She started the quintuple steps – stumbling several times and almost losing her balance, but she made it across at last. She fist pumped and turned to wave to Henry- who was cheering. She moved over to the suspension bridge – basically a bridge made up of rubber bands. She took three steps before falling down but she managed to grab onto the bridge and basically scoot to the ledge where she crawled onto solid footing. The next obstacle was the log roll. She grabbed on, hugging it as hard as she could with both her arms and legs. She kicked off – and managed to hold on for one rotation before falling off into the padding below. She came up laughing.
She walked over to Henry with a sheepish shrug. "It's harder than it looks on TV."
"That's okay – you tried," Henry said, forcing a smile.
"I got seven points – how much is the T-shirt again?"
"Eight."
"Maybe I can try it again," Emma suggested.
"No – one try per person."
"Damn – one point," Emma mused, looking over to Regina.
Henry noticed where Emma was looking, and his eyes lit up and he turned to his brunette mother.
She noticed their gazes. "Absolutely not."
"Oh, come one. All you have to do is start the steps, then you can hop down and you get the point. That's all we need. One point," Emma wheedled.
"I am not running an obstacle course," Regina said, crossing her arms across her chest.
"You are even dressed for it," Emma pointed out – gesturing at the cargo shorts, linen shirt over a dark t-shirt and tennis shoes the mayor was wearing.
"I agreed to a bicycle tour of Boston. I did not agree to that!" she said, pointing to the course.
"Come on, Mom. Please?" Henry begged.
"I am not making a fool out of myself, Henry. No."
Emma smirked. "Your Mom is right. She would look silly."
"But Emma.."
"She's just not athletic like I am. She sits behind a desk all day," Emma said, winking at her son.
"Are you insinuating that I am not in excellent shape?"
"Oh no. You look good," Emma said. "For your age."
"For my age?" she asked icily.
"You did not just go there," Henry said, shaking his head.
"I will have you know that I run three times a week, as well as swimming and doing yoga."
"So you could do the obstacle course if you wanted to?" Emma challenged.
"I could do as well as you did. Better than you did," Regina replied. She was well aware of what the blonde was trying to do, but found she couldn't help but respond.
"Yeah? Prove it!" Emma challenged.
"If you think I am going to allow you to goad me into doing this, you are mistaken, Miss Swan. I have nothing to prove."
"Yeah? Tell you what – you get further than I did and you can decide what to do on my day. But when you fail – I get to decide what to do on one of yours."
"I am not taking a ridiculous bet…"
"Both my days versus one of yours," Emma continued.
"I …"
"Or you can just admit that I am better than you," Emma said with a smirk.
"Very well. You have a bet, Miss Swan," Regina said angrily – she stalked over to the sign-up line.
"I can't believe you got her to do it!" Henry said.
"I know – and it's a double-win. We just got out of a day of art museums and educational activities!" she said with a grin. She high-fived her son.
Regina was fuming. She knew she had been manipulated, and when she had glanced back she saw her son high-fiving the blonde sheriff. She could imagine them already planning what to do when she lost. She would make that impossible woman pay.
The line moved more slowly – it took nearly forty-five minutes before it was her turn. But Regina used the time wisely – observing the other runners make their attempts. One gentleman made it all the way to the sixth obstacle before falling off the hanging doors.
She was familiar with the obstacles – having watched the American Ninja Warrior show with Henry many times. She actually liked the show. It reminded her of the tournament contests back in the Enchanted Forest – but without the bloodshed that she had never really enjoyed. But now she was watching from a completely different point of view. She had to find a technique that would work for her.
She knew herself – her strengths and her weaknesses. She had an excellent sense of balance and was very agile. And while she was not as physically strong as someone like Emma Swan, she was stronger than she looked. But there was no way she could complete the obstacles that relied on upper body strength. Luckily the first few obstacles – the quintuple steps, the rubber-band bridge, log roll and even the cargo net weren't the obstacles that tested upper body strength.
She was small – far shorter than most competitors. That would be a problem on the quintuple steps. She would need to take them slowly – the distance between each step meaning she would need to jump more than taller competitors.
However on the rubber band bridge her size should actually work to her advantage. She was smaller and weighed less – which meant the bridge would be more stable for her. It looked as long as you stayed in the center it should be fairly easy to complete.
The log roll – that one would also be more difficult because of her size. In theory you were supposed to wrap your legs completely around the log and hold on tightly with both sets of limbs – but her legs weren't nearly long enough to be able to lock her ankles around each other as the taller competitors did. However her years of experience, and the muscles she had built, riding horses should more than offset the disadvantage of her shorter reach.
The next obstacle was the cargo net. The competitor had to swing on a rope and grab hold of a cargo net, then climb down the outside of the net to the next platform. In theory it the swinging part would be the hardest part. Catching hold of the cargo net should be as simple as allowing herself to get tangled into it – at least in theory. If she actually did that – then the climbing portion should be rather simple. She just needed to remember to use her legs and not rely on her upper body.
After that it was the salmon ladder. She had no chance of completing that obstacle and had no intention of trying. Besides – getting that far would mean that she had completed twice the number of obstacles as Emma. That was her goal.
She waved to Henry, who – to her dismay – was filming her run just as he had Emma Swan's earlier. The closer she got – the steeper those steps looked. This looked so simple on television. She took them slowly – jumping from one to the next only after making sure she had her footing. She made it to the end.
She couldn't help but grin as she heard Henry cheering for her. "Go Mom!"
Emma watched Regina make it through the first obstacle. She had gone slowly – much slower than Emma had – but she made it through.
That bridge had been a bitch. It had been like trying to walk … well on rubber bands. To Emma's dismay, Regina walked regally across the bridge – her head held high. She looked like she was walking across her office. If she hadn't known it was impossible Emma would have sworn that Regina had used magic to make the bridge solid. The brunette was moving to the log roll.
"No way she makes it," Emma said – almost to herself.
"Uhm – you do know she rides horses? Like a lot?" Henry pointed out.
Emma stared at him, a funny feeling in her stomach. "Oh, crap."
The brunette took her time setting her grip on the log roll. She finally kicked off. The log went around once. Twice. Three times – finally coming to a stop at the end. Regina dropped off and quickly made it back to her feet, stumbling slightly as she regained her balance.
She turned to look directly at Emma and smiled. She very deliberately pumped her fist. The gesture looked completely wrong coming from her.
"Oh man. That means two extra days of museums," Henry groaned. "And no baseball."
"Oh – my baseball game," Emma said. She had planned an afternoon at the ballpark. She could already taste the hot dogs. Nothing tasted like a hot dog at a ball game.
Meanwhile, Regina hadn't stopped. She moved to the next obstacle – the cargo net. "Why is she still going?" Emma asked. "She already won."
"You called her old."
"I did not!"
"You implied it."
Emma watched as Regina swung across – grabbing the cargo net. The woman was definitely agile. She scrambled across the cargo net – coming across the other side.
The next obstacle was the salmon ladder. Regina looked at it then shook her head. She waived to the officials, indicating that she was done before walking back toward them.
"Oh man! That was great Mom! You rocked!"
"Yeah – well done, Regina. Congrats. You won," Emma said – trying and mostly succeeding to be gracious.
"Thank you, Miss Swan. Not bad for an old, out of shape lady, wouldn't you say?"
"I have that coming," Emma said with a nod.
"Yes, you do."
"So two extra days of museums. Great," Emma said.
"Oh, no, Miss Swan. I don't think we need to spend both days in museums," Regina said.
"Really?" Emma asked, relieved.
"Of course not. I was thinking we should spend at least one of them shopping. Boston has excellent shoe stores."
"Mom!" Henry whined.
"I saw the two of you high-fiving. No doubt celebrating my loss and starting to plan what to do with the extra day," Regina said, staring at her son.
Both Henry and Emma looked away guiltily.
"You should both know better than to underestimate me," she said haughtily.
Henry grinned. "Yeah – you are the American Ninja Mom!'