"Roll up, roll up and enjoy the enchanting Storybrooke town fair, one day only folks," a brightly decorated clown rallied from a podium in front of the fair. The sickly smells of cotton candy, motor oil, and fried foods wafted through the air; usually Regina would have been too repulsed by the fair to attend but when Henry had begged her to go she couldn't let him down.
"Regina." Emma stated shocked.
"Miss Swan." Regina responded coolly, equally as shocked under her calm exterior.
Henry watched the interaction between the two, hoping that his plan to make them get along would be successful.
"Mom I invited mom, is that ok?" He asked deviously, never letting on to which he had invited first.
"Sure," "Of course," they both answered at the same time, each sounding slightly forced.
"Great, then let's go," he ran ahead, eager to sample everything the fair had to offer.
"Smart kid," Emma offered, trying to break the ice and make peace with the idea of a day spent with Regina.
"Yes, he is. Well then, shall we go Miss Swan?"
"We've got the whole day together Regina, you may as well call me Emma, otherwise this is going to be a very long day."
"Very well Miss S- Emma," she corrected herself.
Henry spent the day trying to act like a normal family would, finding new situations to push his moms into. Such instances included various fair game competitions, most of which Emma won much to the chagrin of Regina, seeing who could find the funniest reflection in the 'Hall of Magic Mirrors', and finally trying to get both women on all of the rides; so far Emma had been on all they'd passed and Regina had avoided them all with tactful excuses.
Regina's eyes never left Emma as she attempted to win Henry a prize teddy bear at the balloon dart game; no doubt she would win. "She makes a good mother," the thought caught Regina by surprise, had their really been a point that she had questioned Emma's parenting skills? She thought back to when they had first met all those months ago, in truth the answer was no; although it may have seemed like she'd questioned Emma's parenting she had really just been scared that given the opportunity Emma would have proven to be a better parent then her. Looking at the day spent together she realised with a quiet dignity that there had never been anything to fear, "I can't believe I didn't see it before, Henry loves both of us equally. Why shouldn't he have room for a second parent, every normal child does. And as far as parenting goes Miss Swan- no, Emma- has proven herself reliable, capable, loving, loyal, beautiful-" Regina broke herself out of the spiralling thoughts. "No," she told herself, "I merely admire her parental skills, it's nothing more than that."
"Mom, look what Emma won me," Henry placed a giant lion teddy on the table for Regina to behold.
"Well that is quite… impressive," Regina enthused, "Does he have a name?".
"Hmm, how about… Richard."
"Why Richard?" Emma chipped in.
"You know, like Richard the lion heart."
Both women shared a blank look of confusion.
"He was the king of England in Robin Hood."
"Naturally," "How could we forget," they both agreed in unison.
"So mom," he addressed Regina, "We noticed that you hadn't been on any rides yet."
"Oh Henry, of course I have."
"No you haven't, come on at least try one."
"I don't think so."
"We thought you'd say that, so we came up with an idea, if you can beat Emma at the bottle toss then you have to go on one ride of my choice."
"Oh Henry, I wouldn't-"
"What's the matter Regina, scared you'll lose?" Emma provoked in a friendly manner.
"What I was going to say Swan is that I wouldn't want to embarrass you," Regina improvised, incensed.
"Well then let's go," she replied, getting unnecessarily close to her counterpart's face.
That was how the former 'Evil Queen' had gotten herself into the awkward situation of queueing for a ride that she knew nothing about, the queue was so long that she couldn't even see the name of her new-found terror. Henry looked up to the nervous face of his mother and spoke up in a reassuring tone, "Don't worry, I picked out one of the smallest ones."
"I wasn't worried," was the rushed reply.
Henry and Emma exchanged a sceptical look gaining an offended look from Regina, "I mean it, I'm not worried."
From there on the line seemed to move fairly quickly, the three kept occupied by swapping stories; most pertaining to Henry's childhood. Within no time at all a man in a striped vest and bowtie was ushering Emma and Regina onto a small boat, "Sorry ladies, only two riders per boat," he gestured towards Henry.
"Oh darn," Henry stated in a clearly rehearsed, monotonous tone, "Well I can't pick between the two of you so I'll catch the next one, see you at the end, bye." He pushed the pair on before they had a chance to back out, ecstatic to see his plan coming together.
The boat moved at a steady pace into a dark tunnel, after a few moments spent in the darkness the formal evil queen and the saviour were bathed in a soft pink glow while the Frank Sinatra classic 'Moonlight Serenade' hummed gently in the background. Regina looked at Emma with an expression of unmasked horror and shock, Emma returned the look, her mouth agape before she broke out into fits of uncontrolled laughter.
Seeing Emma in such a laughable mood soon brought a smile to Regina's face, "Did you know about this?" she asked casually.
"Not at all, Henry sure is one cunning kid."
"Indeed. Surely he knows that we are not suited to each other."
"Why-" The conversation was brought to an abrupt halt as the boat jerked and stopped abruptly.
An automated voice echoed over the tannoy system, "Ladies and gentlemen, due to maintenance issues this ride has come to a temporary stop, we will have this ride up and running again soon, please remain seated. We apologise for any inconvenience, thank you for your patience."
"It looks like we'll be here for a while," Regina observed, "Please continue."
"Never mind, it doesn't matter anyway."
"You were going to ask something; I would like to know what."
One look at Regina's set jaw and Emma knew she wouldn't drop the subject easily, "It's stupid really, but if you insist. All I was going to say is why don't you think we're suited? I mean I can see why we're not together but I think we complement each other pretty well."
"Well for one thing… I mean you're completely… I'm sure that…"
"Drawing blanks?"
"Give me a minute. Ah-ha, you were born to be the paragon of good, the saviour, I on the other hand was the evil queen, the very opposite of everything you stand for."
"That doesn't count, the things that you did in the past don't matter anymore, especially since you're trying to make up for them now; so unless you can think of another reason…" She trailed off.
"Why are you so set on finding reasons we'd be good together?" Regina demanded incensed.
"Why are you so set on proving we wouldn't be?" Emma countered.
Both women sighed in indignation, turning away from each other. The silence only lasted a few seconds before Emma spoke up in a small voice, "Henry was asking about it- he was asking why we don't get along and then I realised, I couldn't give him an answer. You're amazing, you raised our son on your own, you provided everything any child could want or need, you've been trying to prove yourself for a long time now and I can't understand why people can't see that you are intelligent, caring, and despite everything that goes against you, you keep moving forward. I admire that, I admire you."
Regina snapped back to face Emma, confusion plastered over her face, "What are you saying Swan?"
"I'm saying that we already have a son together, we may as well give it a shot."
The pair sat frozen in time, one waiting patiently for a response, the other unsure of what to do or say; Regina found it an unusual feeling, a terrifying feeling, someone finally desiring to be with her despite all of the awful things she'd done in the past.
When provided with no response Emma continued, "Look, I don't expect an answer right now and if you don't feel the same way then please, just tell me when you're ready. I know this a lot to take in and-"
"Stop talking." Regina took a few deep breaths to quell the sickly feeling that had engulfed her, "Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, we 'may as well give it a shot' as you so eloquently put it."
A bright smile reached Emma's face "Really?"
"Really."
Emma pinched the bridge of her nose, laughing awkwardly, her new-found partner stared uncomfortably now unsure of whether this had been some sort of sick joke, "What? What is it?"
"Nothing major, it's just that I can't believe how corny this is," she motioned to the surrounding area which was still aglow and playing cheesy love songs, "I just asked you out in a tunnel of love for god's sake."
Regina nodded slowly, pursing her lips, "While it can't be denied that this was certainly corny, it also can't be denied that it was also incredibly sweet," she placed one hand on Emma's and planted a hesitant kiss on her cheek.
Henry watched the exchange on the tunnels' CCTV cameras grinning from ear to ear before turning to leave. "Okay Leroy, you can start the ride up again," he yelled happily.