After their return from Neverland, Emma and Regina had expected their lives to fall relatively quiet without any hidden surprises. Little did they know, the dark curse wasn't the only thing Storybrooke needed to worry about; because now, there's a new villain in town. Nothing will ever be the same again.
Set around S3x08. Everyone has just returned to Storybrooke from Neverland; Henry is living with Regina, Pan is in the hands of Rumple and everything is getting back to 'reality'. I've gone through the entire story trying to edit out any mistakes and cover up any inconsistencies! Hopefully they're all gone, and I hope you enjoy reading this story!
CHAPTER ONE- Family Night
"Hey, mom, I'm home!" Henry bellowed as he threw himself through the door of the mayoral mansion. Henry had returned to live with Regina when they arrived back in Storybrooke after their Neverland adventure and Emma came to her senses that Regina really wasn't a bad mother.
Pounding his way through the hallway, Henry ran into the living room to find both Emma and Regina laughing on the couch, each with a glass of wine in their hands. Neither of them noticed his entrance, so any sudden movement from him would have been enough for either of them to react.
"Hey..." Henry said after he cleared his throat quiet enough not to startle his mothers.
"Oh, hello dear." Regina said, turning around to see her son standing in the doorway. "How was your first day back?"
"It was great! I just wish that it wasn't a Friday so I could go back again tomorrow..." Henry started before getting overly excited and talking through word vomit. "My new teacher let me tell the entire class about what happened in Neverland, and how you two defeated Pan and rescued me, and how Grandpa almost died, and how Pan is actually my great grandfather and-"
"You told them that!?" Emma cut him off, beginning to regret that she had actually told him about his entire family on the Jolly Rodger during their return.
"Yeah!" Henry said, still too excited about telling them the story of his day to calm down. "It was great, I had to draw out my family tree on the whiteboard because everyone got confused. My teacher did too!"
"I bet she did," Regina muttered under her breath so it was loud enough for Emma to catch it and scoff, but quiet enough that Henry would just ignore his slightly amused mothers.
"So, what are you doing here, Emma?" Henry wondered, realising that the two women sat on the couch was an odd sight to see.
"What? Do you not want me here?" Emma teased. "Your mom invited me for dinner so the three of us could spend some time together."
"Really!?" Henry beamed before running at Regina with a huge hug.
"Hey, kid, don't I get one?" Emma poked, making Regina let out a quiet, breathy laugh.
To Emma's surprise, Henry stuck out his arm to invite his birth mother into the hug that he still hadn't broken with Regina. Obeying her child, she wrapped her arm around his waist and hugged him, being careful not to touch Regina, just in case she decided to flip out and cancel their entire night together. There always had to be precautions with Regina.
"Okay, before you can sit down to watch some TV, you need to make sure your homework is done, Henry." Regina dictated as she wedged herself out of her son's tight grasp, which told him to let go of Emma too.
"But can't I-" Henry started before noticing that Regina was glaring at him. "Fine. But can I ask what you two were laughing so hard at when I got home?"
"You." Emma smiled, "We were laughing about you. Obviously I never got to see what you were like as you were growing up, so your mom thought I would like to hear some funny stories about you."
Henry's cheeks turned bright red at the thought of what Regina may have told Emma while he was at school. The look of horror on his face made his blonde mother almost erupt with laughter. Regina on the other hand, was fighting away her chuckles in order to keep a straight face.
"Which stories did you tell her...?" He questioned, standing frozen like a statue in front of his mothers.
"Well," Regina quickly glanced at Emma who was biting her bottom lip to hide the huge smile across her face before looking back to her impatiently blushing son. "Do you remember that time where I took you to the pond to feed the ducks?"
Henry's face looked puzzled. Clearly she hadn't told him this little story.
"Rather than letting go of the piece of bread that you had in your hand, you threw yourself into the pond along with the bread." Henry's eyes widened with embarrassment as Regina began to continue with the list of stories she had. "Then I told her about a few mishaps we had during your potty training-"
"Oh my god!" Henry yelled to cut off his mother from saying anything else and threw his hands over his ears, "Mom you're so embarrassing! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about those stories!"
With the sound of Emma hysterically laughing by the side of her, Regina couldn't help but join in, but with a slightly calmer and more elegant approach, making Henry grow redder and redder before running out of the room and up the stairs to his bedroom. Emma continued to chuckle as she sipped at her wine to calm herself and began to question if the wine was making her incredibly giggly or if it was just the nerves of being alone with Regina.
"Sometimes I wish I was there to see him grow up. Watching him grow up now has made me realise how much important stuff I've missed." Emma sighed and placed the wine glass on the table in front of them. "You did an amazing job though, raising him, I mean. He's a great kid Regina, and I just want to thank you for the life you've given him. Everything he has here is everything I could never give him."
Regina looked at Emma in disbelief that the daughter of Snow White was actually thanking her for doing something right. "Thank you, Miss Swan. However, in the eyes of many people, the life that he lived over the last month or so has most certainly been an unsafe one and I can't help but feel responsible for everything that happened."
"You can't blame yourself for that. Technically, it was August's fault for what he did in Hong Kong when he met Tamara. But then there's also the fact that Neal dated the woman and brought her to Storybrooke..." Emma almost felt to blame when she looked back on the situation. Not only was she connected to Neal, but also if August hadn't travelled with her through the tree, none of this would have happened. "If anything, I'm more to blame than you are; I shouldn't have brought Neal to Storybrooke. I think it would be safe to begin to highly dislike and distrust men after this situation." Emma laughed and made Regina smile.
"I couldn't agree with you any more, dear." Regina said as she took another sip of her wine.
Emma coughed at the sound of Regina agreeing with something she said and stared at her in a state of exaggerated shock.
"What on earth are you gawping at, Miss Swan?" Regina said, using her index finger to push up Emma's jaw that had dropped with a comical look.
"Are you feeling okay?" Emma reached up to Regina's forehead and pressed her fingers against it. "You just agreed with something that I said – you must be sick."
"Very funny, dear. You have your moments of glory, dear, and that was something I completely agree with." Regina raised an eyebrow at the immature blonde sat before her and watched her process the thoughts streaming through her mind.
"Well then," Emma started before picking up her wine glass. "Let's toast: here's to not trusting men again. Well, for a little while at least."
Regina smiled and clinked her wine glass with Emma's and look a large swig before setting it down on the table in front of her. Then she looked down at her watch to find that it was later than she expected and brushed off the invisible dust on her slacks before standing.
"I'm going to start dinner. You're welcome to put the television on if you wish." Regina said as she started to leave the living room, stopping abruptly to turn on her heel to face Emma. "Just don't spill any of that wine on my couch."
Emma raised an eyebrow at Regina's childish expectations and decided to join the brunette in the kitchen. After spending so much time with Regina, Emma knew that she wasn't as bad as she, and everyone else in town, had previously thought. She was just incredibly uptight and damaged - two things that Emma completely understood.
"What are we having?" Emma asked as she leaned on the marble counter in Regina's kitchen, swirling the red wine around her glass.
"Since I know how much you enjoyed my lasagna at your welcome home party at Granny's, I thought I might to make another for you." Regina remembered how awkward that party had actually been for her. The only people that wanted her there were Emma and Henry, while everyone else just gave her disgusting looks throughout the night.
"Any poison in it this time, your majesty?" Emma teased, almost hitting a nerve in the brunette, who caught the childish glint in Emma's eyes.
"Very funny, Miss Swan. You know full well that my chili flakes are the only suspicious substance in the entire recipe." Regina said with a smug smile.
"Nope, I'm positive there's a hint of sarcasm in there too."
"Miss Swan, you should know that I am not afraid to hit you with this towel." Regina held up the kitchen towel that she had been using to put the lasagna in the oven and twirled it a little to frighten the blonde.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Emma said throwing her hands in the air to surrender with a light laugh.
"I thought you might be."
Regina continued to prepare the meal as Emma leaned on the counter, watching every move Regina made. The woman moved with such elegance and regality that Emma couldn't take her eyes off her as she flitted around the kitchen. It was the first time she had ever been able to appreciate how beautiful Regina really was. She already knew the woman was attractive - gods, she was completely in love with her anyway, but seeing the usually terrifying woman in the most domestic scene ever, Emma thought she was going to start drooling.
Neither of them had realised that they had been standing in the kitchen in complete silence for at least fifteen minutes. There hadn't really been any need to talk, as both women felt comfortable with the company of the other without feeling awkward in any way. They occasionally made eye contact and shared light smiles, yet not a single word was spoken between them.
Breaking their silence by running down the stairs with a heavy-footed stride, Henry was feeling far too excited about spending some quality time with both of his mothers.
"Hey, Emma, wanna go watch some tv?" Henry said as he jumped through the doorway of the kitchen.
"Hold up, I need the two of you to set the table." Regina interrupted before Emma could answer and handed the blonde a tray of condiments, cutlery and placemats. "Dinner will be ready by the time the two of you have finished."
Henry's shoulders lowered as he slumped away into the dining room. Emma followed behind and gently nudged her son in acknowledgement of spotting his tiny little tantrum.
"Hey, don't show off, kid. She's good to you. Besides, all she asked you to do was to set the table and she even sent me to help. If it was me, I would have made you do it all on your own!" Emma poked out her tongue and tickled Henry's ribs.
Squirming under the tickles, Henry let out a loud laugh. He hadn't realised how much he had missed having Emma around and now that Regina was willing to invite his birth over to spend time with him made him really appreciate everything that she did for him.
The two quickly set the table in anticipation of tucking into what Regina had prepared. This meal would be the first home cooked meal that Emma had eaten since returning from Neverland. She had spent the entire time eating take-out food from Granny's or asking her mother to heat up a frozen pizza for her. Cooking her own food was way too far out of her comfort zone - she could do it, of course, but she would much rather avoid the risk of food poisoning.
"Here you go, Henry." Regina said as she handed Henry his dinner plate when he arrived in the kitchen with Emma once again. "And this one is yours, Miss Swan." She handed Emma her plate with a smile, which Emma returned immediately when she noticed her place was stacked almost twice as full as Henry's.
"Thanks, Regina." Emma said, still smiling at the brunette. "It smells delicious."
"And it's going to get cold too, if you don't stop standing there and grinning at me like you're a six-year-old who has just been given a bag of candy."
Emma rolled her eyes and joined Henry in the dining room, who had already started eating his food.
"Wow, someone's eager." Emma laughed at her son who was shoveling his lasagna into his mouth faster than anyone she's ever seen. "Henry slow down. You're going to make yourself sick."
"No way, Mom's lasagna is the best." Henry said through a full mouth.
Emma waited for Regina's arrival in the dining room to actually start eating her food, unlike Henry, who was almost finished and probably feeling sick. When Emma looked up to find Regina in the doorway carrying her plate, a bottle of wine and two more wine glasses, she couldn't help but rush over to help her by taking the wine and the glasses out of her hands.
"Thank you, Miss Swan." Regina let out a sigh of relief at the fact that she didn't smash anything.
Regina sat herself on the end of the long, rectangular table with Henry to her left and Emma on her right. Before starting her food, she poured two glasses of red wine and handed one to Emma, keeping the other for herself.
Henry, on the other hand, had taken a can of sugar-free soda from the fridge before running into the dining room to completely destroy the food on his plate. As disgusting as that was, Regina couldn't help but stifle a laugh when she noticed the similarities between Henry and his birth mother. The only difference between the two of them was how much Henry looked like his grandmother; with his thick dark hair, distinctively pink lips and pale skin, it was almost unmissable. Whereas Emma's light hair, graceful features and gangly limbs made her resemble her father more than anything.
The three sat in silence until Henry had almost cleared his plate and decided that there should have been an ongoing conversation between the three of them. So that's exactly what he tried to create.
"This is a stupid question, I know," Henry stalled, grabbing the attention of both of his mothers. "Are you two friends now?"
The question caught both Emma and Regina completely off guard. Neither had even thought about a possible friendship between the two of them. They both felt obliged to hate each other from day one, especially due to the fact that not only was Emma Henry's birth mother, but she was also the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White - the Evil Queen's arch enemies. Neither of them had actually considered getting to know the other before deciding that they disliked each other. But now, after spending so much time together, both women knew that they would probably have to attempt to be civil, just because they were Henry's parents.
"Um, I guess so." Emma stuttered and looked towards Regina for an approval.
"Yes, Henry. Emma and I are friends now." Regina said confidently. "Emma and I spent a lot of time together on Neverland whilst looking for you and over time we got to get to know and understand each other a lot more than previously."
Emma shot a grateful smile at Regina before returning to her food that was indeed getting cold.
"So does that mean that you're going to be friends with grandma and gramps?" Henry quizzed with an overly hopeful look on his face.
"Um, well, I don't really-" Regina stuttered, feeling speechless for the first time in years.
"They're going to try to get along, Henry." Emma interrupted, as soon as she spotted Regina become flustered under the pressure of the question. Even Emma knew that befriending her parents was far too large a step for a woman that could still barely tolerate her. "You see, your mom and my mom have never really gotten along, so it's gonna be difficult for them to get used to having each other around again."
"But you will try though, won't you, mom?" Henry pleaded with a glimmer of hope remaining in his eyes.
"Yes, Henry. The Charmings and I are going to attempt to get along." She muttered in a regrettable tone that was completely undetected by Henry. She still despised the idea of having the Charmings in her life again, almost as much as she hated the fact that she had somehow fallen into the trap of having feelings for their daughter.
Henry grinned at his mothers, who were both nervously swigging their wine to avoid any more questions about Regina's relationship with Emma's parents. Little did he know, there was a lot more going on behind their eyes than they were willing to show.
"Okay," He said, still smiling. "Can I go watch tv now?"
"Of course," Regina sighed. "But take your plate into the kitchen and rinse it so I can wash it later."
Henry grabbed his plate as fast as he could and ran into the kitchen, leaving Emma and Regina alone in silence, with only their thoughts echoing louder than anything they had ever imagined.
"Did you actually tell your mother that I had invited you for dinner?" Regina eventually asked, filling the silence.
"Yeah," Emma began and noticed the comic look on Regina's face. "She was actually really concerned. She thought you were going to attempt to kill me or something. I think she would have preferred to have heard me telling her that I was going on a date with Hook instead."
"Oh, she's an idiot." Regina snorted before changing her tone to sound surprisingly concerned. "Do you actually see anything in that man?"
"No, not really." Emma laughed, feeling as though the question Regina had asked had a fairly obvious answer. "He just doesn't like to take no for an answer, you know?"
"I would love to cut off that other hand of his. I'd like to see how smug he would be completely handless." Regina smiled a sinister smile at the image of Killian Jones waving around two silver hooks on his wrists.
"I'm surprised that you didn't stick to his clichéd fairytale story and choose to cut off his leg and watch him hop around with a wooden stump as well." Emma scoffed.
"Surprisingly, I now have a mental image of Jones waddling around with a wooden leg and two hook hands while he tries to chase down a rollaway bottle of really bad rum." Regina laughed and took another sip of her wine.
The two fell into another short silence until they had both finished their meal, to which Emma was most grateful for. She knew that will all of the wine she had already drank tonight, she would probably make a fool out of herself just because of the situation they were in. It felt like a date, it looked like a date, yet Emma knew that what they were doing was far from having a date.
"Thank you, Regina." Emma said as soon as she had finished. "I'd almost forgotten how good your lasagna was."
Regina merely smiled at the blonde's compliment; still unsure whether whatever she said was the honest truth. She had finished her meal almost momentarily after Emma and was feeling rather eager for the two of them to join their son in front of the television before his bedtime; any more time alone and Regina was pretty sure she would end up doing or saying something she would regret.
Removing the napkin she had placed upon her lap and dabbing her mouth with it, Regina stood and reached for Emma's plate. To her surprise, her hand was swatted away and Emma picked up both her own and Regina's plates off the table and headed for the kitchen. Instead of arguing, Regina picked up the half-full wine glasses from the table and followed in silence.
"Do you two have some sort of routine where one washes and the other dries?" Emma asked as she gently set the plates down on the counter next to the sink and turned to look at Regina.
"I usually wash and Henry usually dries." She replied, handing the blonde the wine glass without the red lipstick stains.
"Okay, then I'll take Henry's place." Emma said and picked up the kitchen towel that Regina had threatened to hit her with shortly before sitting down to their meal. "Now I have the control." Emma croaked in her Gollum imitation as she repeated the same action that Regina had by swirling the towel to a point.
"Are you sure you want to do that, Miss Swan?" Regina held a smug grin on her face as she raised her empty hand and quickly formed a fireball in her palm.
"That's totally not fair, Madam Mayor!" Emma shouted and tried to find cover by hiding under the breakfast bar, gripping the towel as if it was actually going to save her from an oncoming fireball attack.
"Oh, come on, saviour. You and I both know that you can and have used magic once you set your mind to it."
"Easy for you to say, your majesty. Not all of us were raised in the Enchanted Forest while being magic tutored by Rumplestiltskin." Emma shouted up to Regina as she twirled the towel a little more before grabbing the other end and stood from underneath the breakfast bar. "So, you have an unfair advantage!"
"What are you going to do, call your mommy?" Regina pouted and tilted her head as she placed her wine glass out of reach.
"I don't know, maybe my dad would bring the White Knight her sword." Emma boasted with a cocky stance.
"Oh yes, isn't that the sword that you just so aimlessly wave around praying that you're going to hit someone or something, just so you can tell everyone about it?" Regina mocked, knowing how clumsy and inexperienced Emma was with both magic and sword fighting. "Who would have thought that Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, the Saviour, would be so terrible at defending herself?"
By now Emma was feeling agitated and really wanted to use magic to prove Regina wrong, but every time she had actually attempted to use magic, it either backfired or she had the help of either Regina or Rumplestiltskin. She knew that magic came with a price, and messing with it would probably have some serious consequences.
"Fine. Let's do this." Emma said and threw the towel onto the floor and stared straight at Regina, damning every consequence she could think of.
"Just remember: think hard and powerful at what you want to happen, and if you're doing it right, it will actually happen, Miss Swan. Trust me." Regina said calmly, as if Emma's magical incapabilities didn't faze her for a second, but inside, she was terrified. She was terrified because only she truly knew how powerful Emma was. Not even Emma understood the power of the magical energy that freely flowed through her veins.
Emma stood in the middle of the kitchen with her legs at shoulders width apart, with her arms by her side. Her shoulders back and a stare on her face that made even Regina begin to feel slightly concerned. When she tried, Emma could look like the most powerful person in the room and right now, that was one thing she could say she had over Regina. Taking a deep breath, Emma closed her eyes and thought harder than ever before, causing her entire body to begin to shake and pulsate. Slowly, she opened her eyes again, bringing forward every ounce of emotion she had in her body to her green eyes.
"War is on." She growled and lifted her right hand into a claw shape, ready to conjure the same ball of fire that Regina was still holding in her own hand.
Still waiting, Regina was beginning to worry that Emma would think too hard and cause the entire house to go up in flames with the three of them still inside. She continued to watch Emma close her eyes once again, cautiously putting out the fireball in her own hand, just in case. 'No way is she going to do this.' Regina thought to herself.
A huge white puff of smoke shook Regina from her thoughts and Emma's eyes shot open. It had taken Regina a few moments to realise what had just happened right in front of her eyes. Not only had the blonde performed magic, oh no. Somehow, the blonde had performed magic to create the giant, frosting covered cupcake that weighed down heavily in her hand.
"What the fuck?" Emma shouted before whacking her free hand at her mouth, hoping that Henry didn't hear her language, or Regina for that matter.
"Oh, congratulations, Miss Swan." Regina chuckled. "You're about as talented as your mother."
"Hey, I could still throw this at you, you know." Emma said, raising the cupcake a little higher. "You told me that it was going to work and I ended up conjuring a freaking cupcake! You caused this, didn't you?"
"I had nothing to do with your wonderful incapabilities, dear. I merely stood here and witnessed the Charming gene's idiocy firsthand."
By now the sound of Regina's laughter had echoed through the entire house causing Henry to come rushing into the kitchen to find Regina sipping the remains of the wine in her glass to drown out the sounds of her laughter and Emma still holding a gigantic cupcake with a befuddled look across her face.
"Were you two just using magic...?" Henry asked as he pointed at the giant cupcake.
"It was your mom's fault!" Emma yelled before realising what she had just said.
"You are actually like a child, Miss Swan." Regina said as she rolled her eyes. "What really happened Henry, is that your mother decided that she wanted to whip me with a towel. In retaliation, I conjured a fireball to scare her, thus causing the situation to escalate to the point where she almost killed me... with a cupcake." The smile on Regina's face only grew more as she tormented Emma, whose facial expression changed from a scowl to a murderous glare. "Actually, it's a good job you can't conjure those fireballs, dear, otherwise we would have an awful lot of frosting all over my kitchen floor, and without magic, I don't know how long that would take you to clean!"
"Mom, stop teasing her! She's still learning, and I thought you two had promised to stop using magic to harm anyone. You both lied to me. Again." Henry shouted as he flashed a disapproving look to both of his mothers.
"Henry, no one was harmed. It was just a little fun with no malicious intent." Regina said, crossing the room and placing her hand on Henry's shoulder. "We wouldn't lie to you about this, sweetheart."
He narrowed his eyes at his brunette mother before peering over her shoulder to give Emma the same contemplating look. Over the last few months, he had learnt that his mothers needed a tense moment or two before they considered something.
"Fine. I will only trust the two of you if I can have the entire cupcake." Henry bargained. "To myself."
"No way!" Emma protested as Regina rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Henry. You can have the entire cupcake. But you can't eat it all at once." Regina said before turning to Emma who was still holding the cupcake in her hand. "And the only reason you don't want Henry to have it all 'to himself' is because you want it, don't you, sheriff?"
Emma's face turned bright red, almost the same colour that Henry's had turned earlier in the evening, making Regina smirk at how well she knew the other woman. Emma was a walking, talking, twenty-eight year old child and Regina was determined to never let her forget that.
"I'm sure I could conjure myself another one, why would I want Henry's?" Emma said, raising her eyebrows and passing the giant cupcake to their son before becoming face to face with Regina. "You're only reacting like this because you thought that I couldn't perform any sort of magic on my own, aren't you, Madam Mayor?"
"Ha! Of course not, Miss Swan. I knew you could perform magic on your own, I just didn't expect it to have been so... what's the word? Oh, dangerous." Regina smirked.
Within a matter of seconds, Emma had gone from standing face to face with Regina Mills to running across the kitchen to grab the towel that she threw on the floor before her little fiasco. When noticing what Emma had done, Regina's face turned a horrible shade of grey.
"Don't even think about it, Miss Swan!" She shouted and pointed at Emma who was once again twirling the towel around and getting ready to flick it.
By now, Henry had become slightly bored with their playful feud and left the two of them to get off their high horses so he could enjoy his gigantic cupcake in peace in front of the tv.
"What are you going to do if I actually do it, Mayor Mills? Punish me?" Emma flashed a wicked smile at Regina and ran towards her with the towel.
"No! Don't you dare, Swan."
"Say it, Regina."
"Say what?" Regina bit, feeling slightly confused and rather anxious about her skin bruising from a whack with a dish towel.
"You know exactly what I mean, Regina. Say it. Say those two little words that you never want to say, especially to me." Emma said as she took a step towards Regina with a raised eyebrow and a daring mirth in her eye.
"Fine!" She shouted and held up her hands. "You...w..." She muttered.
"I'm sorry, madam mayor, I don't think I caught that."
"You win! Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?" Regina said, feeling her cheeks flush into a bright red colour, ironically the same way both Emma and Henry's had turned that evening.
"Thank you!" Emma smiled and wandered back to the kitchen sink and waited for Regina to start washing the dishes for her to dry.
"You are unbelievable." Regina sighed and joined Emma at the sink. "I'm positive that Henry is more mature than you are."
"Says the queen who just so happened to join in with that little turn of events." Emma smirked and took a dripping wet plate from Regina's hand.
"Miss Swan, we're not even going to continue this conversation, okay?" Regina said sternly, just to make sure that Emma knew where she stood.
With a slight nod and a suppressed chuckle, Emma continued to dry the dishes that Regina was handing over to her in utter silence until they had finished and put all of the cleaned items in their designated areas. Regina looked at the clock on the wall that read; 9:10pm. There was only twenty minutes left until Henry's bedtime, in which Regina was hoping to take advantage of. Any time spent with her son was valuable time - and that's what this evening was all about, right?
"Shall we join Henry with another glass of wine, Miss Swan?" Regina questioned, breaking their long silence. "When he lived with me his bedtime was always 9:30 and I would rather stick to old routine."
"Yeah, I'd like that. Whenever Henry stays at the apartment, his bedtime has always been 9:30, whether he liked it or not. The poor kid couldn't keep his eyes open any longer than that." Emma laughed, remembering how innocent he would look when he fell asleep in her father's arms as they watched tv just after his bedtime.
"I don't even want to think about his sleeping schedule in Neverland. No doubt he passed out a few times in the middle of their camp from lack of sleep." Regina said as she poured two more glasses of wine and still feeling guilty about Henry's journey to an island that doesn't actually exist.
With their fresh glasses of wine, Emma and Regina returned to the living room to find Henry fast asleep on the couch and covered in white and blue frosting. He had eaten the entire cupcake and left crumbs everywhere.
"Clearly ignorance is something in the genes." Regina muttered as she tried to clean up the mess around her son.
"This is a Neverland habit." Emma admitted, not even bothering to argue with what Regina had just said. "Before all of that happened he wouldn't have dared to eat the entire thing and for him to leave such a big mess? That is something he's recently picked up on because he surely didn't catch that from either of us."
Regina agreed and waved her arm over their son, causing purple smoke to appear once again and within seconds, he had disappeared.
"Regina, what did you do...?" Emma asked in a slow and calm manner in hope that Regina wouldn't accuse her of blaming her for hurting Henry.
"He's currently in bed, in his pyjamas and fast asleep, Miss Swan." Regina said as she took a seat on the couch in front of the tv with her glass of wine. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to join me?"
"I'm sorry," Emma said, shaking her head. "I just... I thought tonight was about spending time between the three of us." She muttered with a yawn as she sat beside Regina and cradled the glass of wine in her hands. "But in reality, the two of us have spent more time together than we have with Henry all night."
Regina knew that Emma was right, but she also knew that the two of them needed to spend some time together before actually diving straight into this 'co-parenting' thing. In the several hours that Regina had spent with Emma, she learnt more about the birth mother of her child than she ever thought she would. In fact, in such a short space of time, she had learnt more about Emma than when she camped with her and her parents in the middle of Neverland for a week.
"Are you not satisfied with my company, Miss Swan?" Regina raised an eyebrow at the blonde who yawned again as she shook her head.
"I never said that." Emma rubbed her eyes like a child.
"So now I know where our son gets it from. Without adrenaline or caffeine, you're incapable of staying awake any longer than an eleven-year-old." Regina smirked at the blonde's heavy eyelids as she watched the woman attempt to keep herself as alert as possible. "You're also incapable of holding a wine glass straight when you're tired, Miss Swan."
Emma looked down at the tilted wine glass to find that it was almost spilling onto Regina's couch and straightened it before quickly resting it on the coffee table in front of them. Regina rolled her eyes at the blonde and followed suit to reach for the television remote.
"I don't actually watch television." Regina admitted as she flicked through the endless number of channels. "It was an apparent luxury when we arrived in Storybrooke, but I was never one to take to the idea."
"Oh, the Walking Dead is on! You should totally watch it, it's about surviving a zombie apocalypse." Emma excitedly pointed at the screen, completely forgetting how tired she was and paid no attention to how Regina was reminiscing.
"Well, that's terribly morbid." Regina muttered as she took a sip of wine and passed the remote to Emma.
"I could have sworn that you were into things that involved death, your majesty." Emma said, which earned her a glare from the woman sitting next to her.
Emma knew that she was beginning to enjoy Regina's company, even if they did spend the majority of their time together bickering like an old married couple. Neither of them really felt the need to talk when they were together, the silence was enough for both of them to understand and appreciate the company of the other.
After being glued to the show on the television screen for all of ten minutes, Regina felt her own eyes begin to get heavy. She didn't even have the energy nor will power to actually tell Emma to go home, who was in fact still yawning and rubbing her eyes with her feet curled up on the couch under her bottom.
Failing to fight off her exhaustion, Regina gave in and let her eyelids slowly close and encase her in a deep sleep.
