A few weeks pass and Regina occasionally bumps into Emma while the blonde is on her way out. They smile and say hi and sometimes they have brief conversations about how it's too early to be awake or about the weather or about what kind of day they predict to have. It's all very casual and while Regina sent Emma a text so the blonde had her number, they haven't messaged each other since.

Until today.

Regina? It's Henry. Borrowed my mom's phone. She needs a favor, but doesn't want to ask you.

Regina reads Henry's name and she presses a hand to the place above her heart. She wasn't expecting a text from Emma let alone Henry. Although, the text left out a lot of information so while she was surprised and happy, she was also confused. Regina doesn't waste any more time before she sends a reply.

What's the favor?

Another text comes in within the next couple of minutes.

I'm twelve, but apparently I still need a babysitter.

Of course you do! It's New York City. Anyone can break in. Still not seeing why you're texting me.

My mom doesn't have a lot of friends. She's going out with Gavin so she can't ask him.

Are you asking me to watch you?

Just for tonight. If you say no I'll probably get stuck with Mrs. Winters. She's the elderly lady on the floor below and she's strict and cranky and her apartment smells funny.

Regina chuckles before she can send a response.

Well we can't have that. I suppose if your mother says it's alright I don't see why I can't watch you.

Great! I'll tell her you said yes.

She wants to correct him that she didn't actually say yes, but her nerves get the best of her. She distracts herself with the thought that she might get more time with Henry, but it means they'll be alone together and as far as he remembers, Emma is his only mother. It means she'll have to change her behavior around him. When she was with him and Emma it was easier. She was able to quickly remind herself her place with the two of them because Emma was there to playfully scold him and ruffle his hair and talk about his friends and tease him about cute girls he could potentially like. Without Emma, she worries she'll act how she always did with him: like she's his mother.

She's about to think of how to talk to him and what they can do together that won't be weird for him considering the only time they hung out was when they walked around the city, but she doesn't get far before there's a loud, repetitive knock on her door. She's not expecting anyone, just a text about how and when or if she'll be looking after Henry, so when she opens the door she's startled to see Henry and Emma.

Henry has a bag slung over his shoulder and a smile on his face. He waits less than two seconds before he walks right into Regina's apartment and Regina wants to laugh at his boldness.

He truly is Emma's son, she thinks, because Emma certainly has a knack for making herself comfortable even in places she doesn't always have the right to be in.

"Henry," Emma yells after him then sighs when she realizes it's useless. "Sorry. He does that sometimes. Just charges in like he owns the place."

"He's more than welcome if he wants to be here," Regina cordially smiles and looks over Emma's attire. "You look…"

She fails to find a word that best describes the way Emma looks that also sounds appropriate out of a new friend's mouth. Emma's hair is curled like it was the first few months Emma came to live in Storybrooke and her dress is tight and short. The dark blue material stops mid-thigh and the neckline dips in a V-shape. Her arms are bared by the sleeves that don't come past the rounded edges of her shoulders and Regina notices Emma's been exercising a little more since they saw each other at the town line.

"Muy bonita," Henry exclaims from the couch with an accent that needs improvement.

Emma and Regina look at him. Emma's not pleased and Regina's stifling a laugh but not a smile.

"He's spent the last week learning and using a few phrases just to annoy me," Emma informs her.

"It's genius, really," Regina says and looks back at Henry to see him grin bright and wide. "Muy bueno, Henry."

"Gracias!"

Emma rolls her eyes.

"Great, soon you'll be able to have secret conversations with my son and they'll probably be about me."

"The better to watch you squirm, my dear," Regina teases like a line from the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood.

"Damn. That might be hotter than the Spanish," Emma says quietly enough that only Regina hears her.

Regina smirks and this part is easy. She likes to think that had Pan's curse not made everything so difficult she would have eventually found herself in the same position with Emma. They would have shared Henry and a few jokes and if what she just did counts as flirting then maybe on some level she would have playfully flirted with Emma when the opportunity arose.

"Okay," Emma breaks through the tension. "I'm gonna go meet my boyfriend for my date before I do something really stupid. You don't mind watching him, right? He kind of just pushed you into this. I saw the texts."

"Oh, no. It's fine. I don't mind at all and he'll be in good hands."

"Thank you. So much. Uh, here," Emma says and fishes out a key. "It's the spare to my place in case you need extra food or snacks or something while he's here."

"We'll be fine, Emma," Regina assures with a smile. "Go have a nice night."

"Thanks. I owe you. Bye, Henry! Behave."

"Uh huh," Henry responds, detached, and puts his feet on the fancy, dark colored wooden edged coffee table with a glass center.

Regina watches Emma dash off to the elevator in her three inch black heels. Her ass looks incredible in the dress and when she jogs, Regina takes pleasure in the sight of it jiggling in time with her steps. It's a pleasure she shouldn't experience, but for some reason couldn't ignore.

This time Emma looks back before she gets into the elevator and she smiles and waves at Regina before she slips into the elevator.

Regina closes the door with a fading smile and takes a moment to collect herself after that particular run in with the blonde. When she's ready to handle Henry, she takes a deep breath and exhales before she moves away from the door. She looks over at the couch and sees Henry's feet—shoes included—on the coffee table and an open bag of Twizzlers in his hand.

"What do you think you're doing," Regina asks as she approaches him.

"Uh, eating," Henry asks like he's not sure that's the right answer.

Regina remembers this all too well and it's a good thing, but it's something that triggers the hurt she feels in connection with losing her son that day an entire year ago.

"It's only seven. Have you even had dinner yet?"

"Nope."

"Why don't you leave the Twizzlers alone and let me make us something filling?"

"I guess that'd be okay."

Henry closes the bag of Twizzlers and places it in the backpack he brought over. He zips it up and leaves it on the couch while he walks into the kitchen and stands beside Regina.

"You look like you want to help," Regina notes with a smile.

"Can I?"

"I don't know. Can you?"

Henry laughs and once Regina explains what she's doing, the two of them work well together to make Regina's specialty: lasagna.

Before she puts the dish in the oven, Regina sprinkles her not so secret ingredient over the uncooked food.

"Red pepper flakes?"

They've had this conversation before of course, but Henry doesn't remember. She does and it tugs at her heart because it's like she gets a do-over with him. But he doesn't love her and he's not technically her son anymore, not in his mind at least, but always in hers.

"I find it gives the lasagna some kick. I think you'll like it."

Once it's done, Regina pulls the pan out of the oven and sets it down on the kitchen island. Henry stares at it with a watering mouth and longing. Regina knowingly smirks, and Henry does indeed like it. She knew he would. He liked it the first time she fed it to him and he defended it against every other lasagna every time after. He doesn't talk much while he eats, but Regina suspected that would be the case too.

When they clean up together, Henry finally speaks up now that he's satisfied his hunger.

"That lasagna was awesome. Thanks, Regina."

"You're quite welcome."

"So, you really get to my mom," Henry comes out with it.

Regina frowns.

"In a good way," Henry adds. "It's not just about the Spanish either."

"But…she has a boyfriend. And I'm a woman."

Henry laughs, but Regina doesn't understand what's funny.

"She might not have the best relationships with women and compared to the number of guys she's dated it's not very convincing, but she does like and date them."

That's something Regina didn't know. Her eyebrows shoot into her hairline and she has no verbal response to that news.

"She didn't want you to watch me because she doesn't want to dump me on you. You guys barely know each other and I think she doesn't want to ruin whatever friendship she might have with you."

"Well, I don't think she has anything to worry about. She's not dumping you on me and she gets to me too. In a good way."

She grins and winks at him and Henry chuckles.

"Will you teach me some Spanish," he asks.

"To tease your mother more?"

"Yeah, and because I like the language. It's kind of…soothing. I don't know. Plus, I'm working on this comic book type story and I don't want all the characters to be white. I want diversity. So maybe one of the main characters knows Spanish. Maybe she's Latina."

"You're working on a book?"

Henry nods and smiles.

"And one of your main characters is a woman? A woman you want to write as Latina?"

"Yeah. Is…that okay?"

"It's great," Regina says and flashes her teeth in a bright smile. "Although, if I'm going to teach you Spanish I'm going to help you work on your accent too, not just the words."

"Okay," Henry agrees, still smiling, and Regina starts teaching him basic phrases and sentences.

At nine o'clock there's no word from Emma and Henry's still in her apartment so she makes him hot cocoa and only adds the cinnamon when he asks her for it. She finds a Friends rerun on Nick Nite and lets Henry get comfortable on her couch, even gets him a fluffy, green blanket. At nine thirty he's asleep, snoring lighting all curled up under the blanket with his chin tucked against his shoulder.

She texts Emma, asks when she can expect her, and after six minutes the other woman replies.

Sorry I'm so late. Give me another half hour?

There's no way Regina can say no so she responds with: See you then.

Thirty minutes pass and Regina's curled up on the chair in the living room with a good book and a glass of red wine when there's a knock on the door. She sets down the book on the end table next to her wine and smiles at the still sleeping Henry on the way to the door. She answers in a pair of slimming black sweatpants and a cardigan draped over a loose fitting shirt and Emma's still dressed up, but her curls are a little flat and she seems disheveled in other aspects as well.

"Hey, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to take so long," Emma says as soon as Regina sees her. "Nice glasses."

"Oh," Regina reaches up and pulls off her reading glasses, which she forgot to remove when she put down the book.

"You don't have to take them off. You look good."

"Thank you."

Regina keeps the glasses off and slips them into a pocket in her cardigan while she steps aside and Emma walks in.

"I hope it wasn't too much to leave him there this late."

"Not at all. Are you…are you okay?"

"I just want to get back to the apartment, go to bed."

"Emma, what's going on?"

Emma quietly and humorlessly laughs and shakes her head.

"Am I that transparent?"

"I…I knew someone like you once. Very closed off and strong-willed. I became fairly good at being able to tell when something bothered her."

Emma stands up straight and moves closer to Regina and away from the couch.

"Guess that means you know me," Emma jokes. "Yeah, uh, I just…had a rough end of the night and needed to process it before I grabbed Henry."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Definitely not."

"It might help."

Emma sighs and fidgets in place.

"The last two weeks have been…difficult with Gavin. He's been picking up more shifts, working longer hours and he's part of a task force for a pretty tough case. He's been moody because of it. This was our first date in a little over a week and things were fine at the restaurant, but—"

Emma cuts herself off.

"But," Regina carefully asks her, encourages her to finish her retelling of events.

Emma nervously licks her lips and continues.

"But…after dinner we came back here and I was gonna end the date in the lobby and come get Henry. Gavin insisted on walking me up and he got me to my door with a few smooth words and lots of kisses.

"I told him I wasn't gonna leave Henry here overnight because that's not something you and I agreed on before I went out, but he kept saying it was fine and that Henry was fine."

Emma stops again and she looks pissed and ready to cry at the same time.

"Did he try to force you into…" Regina looks over at Henry, who's still asleep on the couch, and speaks quieter when she finishes, "into having sex with him?"

"A little, but I kept saying no and I pushed him away and once I did that he backed off. He was pissed and he dumped me. He wasn't like this before. He's always been so nice and sweet and never put any focus on the sexual part of our relationship. I mean, yeah, we slept together, but our relationship wasn't all about the sex, you know?"

"I'm so sorry," Regina says.

"Yeah, well, I guess the tougher things got at work the more stress relief he wanted and since I'm the girlfriend—was the girlfriend—he came to me to get it."

Emma looks so downtrodden and Regina wonders if Emma blames herself.

"He wasn't always like that, though. That's what you said. There's no way you could have predicted his behavior."

Regina immediately and instinctively pours Emma a glass of wine and comfortingly rubs the blonde's back, knowing firsthand what it's like to be pressured into sex whether the sex even happens or not. Regina's there to listen, but Emma doesn't share anymore. And that's okay because she doesn't need to. Regina knows Emma well enough given the few passing but very revealing conversations had in Neverland. She knows that Emma wants to be wanted and for a lot more than her body. She's never been picked first or put first—not until Storybrooke, which she doesn't currently have any knowledge of—so of course Emma being viewed and attempted to be used solely as a source for sexual and stress release is hard for the blonde when she thought she had a keeper.

After forty minutes of drinking and not talking, Regina guides Emma to her bed. She sits her down and tells her to get cozy and get some sleep.

"But if I'm in your bed and Henry's on the couch, where will you sleep? This is a one bedroom, right?"

"It is. I can sleep in the chair or on the rug in the living room."

"What? No. No, this is your place. I'll just…wake Henry and walk down the hall."

"You're exhausted and you probably shouldn't be alone right now. Henry's deep asleep and I don't trust that ex-boyfriend of yours to not come back drunk and angry after the bars close."

"That…is definitely a possibility I didn't consider."

"Get some rest."

"Wait. Regina, this is a queen size bed. There's no reason we can't share."

"Emma," Regina warns.

"I don't want to put you out. You've been really nice to me and you watched Henry and you're letting him sleep on your couch. Most people here wouldn't bother."

"Yes, well, I think we've established I'm not most people. I'm not even from here."

"Right. Must be that Maine hospitality," Emma smiles.

Regina smiles back.

Emma takes off her shoes, Regina lends her something to sleep in that isn't a dress, and she quickly finds out that Emma's apparently not the shy type. Emma strips right in front of Regina who respectfully looks away. Soon enough, Emma's changed and back in Regina's bed.

"I promise to keep my hands to myself," Emma raises the hands in question in a motion of surrender while she lays back.

Regina rolls her eyes. Same old Emma. She gets in bed anyway and though she's sure this is a bad idea, she settles under the covers and lets sleep overtake her.

In the morning, Regina finds out that Emma can't actually keep her hands to herself like she promised last night. She's not in a very compromising position and Emma's hands aren't anywhere that make Regina uncomfortable, but they aren't on their own sides of the bed anymore.

Emma's calf lays over Regina's shin and her arm is loosely draped over Regina's stomach. Her forehead rests against the rounded edge of Regina's shoulder and top of her bicep. The blonde's hand doesn't even reach Regina's other side, just rests slightly above Regina's hip. That's how Henry finds them when he walks in on them.

"Regina?"

"Good morning, Henry," Regina groggily greets with a smile.

"I can't believe we slept here," Henry says and looks at Emma. "Are you two…?"

Regina's eyes go to Emma then back to Henry.

"No. She came to pick you up, but she and I talked a little, it got late, we were both tired and you were on the couch so I let her stay here. There wasn't anywhere else for either of us to go except the chair or the floor so we shared this space. Your mother's idea, not mine."

Henry smiled.

"Yeah, I bet it was. She's a cuddler."

"What?"

"Last time I came into her room after a nightmare or a bad day she clung to me."

"Clung to you?"

"Like a koala bear," Henry replies and nods. "She's like that. Distant on the outside, but deep down if she's comfortable with someone she'll open up. She doesn't always open up with her words either."

"Good to know, though we've only known each other a short time so I don't know how she could felt comfortable around me."

"Maybe she just feels good about you, like she can trust you. I know that's how I feel."

Regina almost breaks down and cries, happy to hear such a thing, but she smiles instead.

"I'm glad you feel that way," she says.

"Hey, other people in the room," Emma grumbles, her eyes still closed. "It's early so shhhh."

"Uh, Mom? You're in bed with our neighbor. It's not too early."

Emma's eyes shoot open and she looks up at Regina before she looks at her position and her current hand placement. In an instant, she bolts upright.

"Uh, sorry," Emma apologizes.

"It's alright," Regina soothingly assures. "No harm done."

Emma smiles and her cheeks and chest turn red.

"I promise I'm not always like this."

"Henry tells me otherwise," Regina teases.

Emma glares at Henry with a slack jaw, though she still looks tired so it doesn't have much of an intimidating effect.

"You sold me out," Emma asks him.

"I want nothing to do with your lady drama," Henry holds up his hands in surrender and spins around just before he exits the room.

"It appears you have 'lady drama' with me," Regina smirks at Emma.

"Only if you don't let me get away with this," Emma says and grabs the pillow from behind herself.

Emma gently smacks the pillow against Regina's face.

Regina gasps while Emma chuckles and after a moment, the brunette gives a verbal response.

"In what world would you think I—I mean, someone like me, would let you get away with that unpunished?"

Regina takes Emma's pillow and bops her in the face with it.

Emma laughs a little louder.

They only stay in bed for another moment or two and then move out to the main room with Henry. Regina offers to make them breakfast and Emma argues that she's been too kind and so, so helpful already. Regina insists and Henry backs her up because if her breakfast is as good as her lasagna he doesn't want to miss out. He also says Emma won't want to miss out either if that's true. So they eat breakfast, share a few fun and few personal—but not sad or upsetting—stories and start the day off right.

Emma forgets to ask for her spare key back when she and Henry leave, but Regina doesn't even remember she has it until she sees it on the counter where she left it last night. She doesn't hurry to return it, but she does send a text to Emma to let the blonde know she has it. Emma tells her to hang on to it for a while and Regina continues to possess the key for the next month.

Every other weekend she watches Henry while Emma picks up an extra case and uses the weekends that Henry's with Regina to collect information on her target then sometimes follows the bail jumper around for several hours. During the time in between, on week days mostly, Emma asks Regina over for dinner and on other nights Regina asks Emma and Henry over for a movie and some snacks or sometimes desserts.

Dinners at Emma's doesn't always mean Emma cooks because Henry vouches for Regina's skills in the kitchen enough times and Emma sometimes burns the meal with just enough time for the brunette to salvage the evening with a simple but insanely delicious fix. Movies at Regina's are always over by nine if it's a weeknight, although sometimes they have movie nights on Fridays and Saturdays, whenever Emma gets back from work wherever it may have taken her that day. She comes for Henry and stays for the wine, the buttery popcorn, and maybe a little bit for Regina's company.

Regina and Emma get a few pictures of a couple dinner nights and a couple of movie nights. Whoever gets a cute picture, usually involving Henry in them, sends it to the other so they both have proof of the moment. When Regina's alone, she smiles and then kind of cries when she goes through the pictures. After she wipes away her tears, she convinces herself being with them, making these new memories, is better than staying in Storybrooke without them. If she takes the time to really think about it, and she does, Emma and Henry are so happy here. To find a way to make them remember her and everyone else back home, all the villains they have to fight and the rocky history between Emma and herself, would be torture for them. It's why she cries lately.

At first it was because she sees Emma and Henry every day and they can't see her for who she really is to them. Now she cries because as much as it kills her, she's not sure she ever wants them to remember. Not if it will cause either of them, or even just one of them, pain.

In the tenth week she's been in New York and spending time with Emma and Henry, she finally sends one of the several photos of biological mother and son to Snow. She's been texting the woman about her nights with Henry and Emma, but she keeps it brief and now she'll give the other woman what she's been hoping for: a picture of both her daughter and grandson as further proof they're well and happy. Snow replies with a question about how Regina's progress with a memory potion is coming along and Regina answers: Don't have all the necessary ingredients.

Truth is, Regina's had all the right ingredients for the last week. She just hasn't mixed the potion yet. She can have it ready by tomorrow if she wants, but the longer she stays and the closer she gets to Emma and Henry, the less need she feels she has for it.

It isn't fair to Snow or Charming because while Regina gets to live a happy life with Emma and Henry, they have to stay and run the town. The more she thinks about what she has in New York with Emma and Henry, however, makes her want to forget about the potion and just make a new life for herself like she'd tried to by creating Storybrooke the first time. Maybe the third curse is the charm. She wasn't happy during the first curse until she had Henry, and then Emma showed up and threatened to take it all away from her. The curse broke and things were dicey for a while, but then Neverland happened and, after they returned to Storybrooke, so did Pan's curse. So she cast the reverse of the first curse and outran Pan's, but she was miserable in the Enchanted Forest. Then they found a way to return to Storybrooke, recreate it using the same dark curse she had used the first time and after a few days she made it her mission to see her son again. The third curse gave her a chance to be with him in some way and now she's there with them and she doesn't want to say goodbye, but she doesn't want them to remember either.

Emma and Henry are happy to be away from all the evil plots and schemes and it's a normal life for them here in New York. They have each other and they make it work. Henry also has friends, which he never had before he started living with Emma away from the small town in Maine. It's a slippery slope and she knows she's taking away Snow and Charming's chance at a complete happy ending, but technically she's just being her usual selfish self again. The thing is, Regina's not keeping Emma and Henry from Storybrooke because it will devastate the couple expecting their second child. She's keeping them away from Storybrooke for their benefit. It's because she's willing to give up magic to stay in a land without any and willing to sacrifice Henry's love for her as his mother just to be with them when no one else can that makes her motives a little self-serving.

She finds she doesn't care. She likes what she has and for now, she'll enjoy it because she's not sure when or if she'll ever leave it.