The Jolly Roger ride was a bust. The moment Hook had steered the ship out of the docks and into the water, it began to pour down torrential rain.
"That's alright," Hook had said confidently, "a little rain never hurt anyone," but, as he said the words, lightning struck the water not a hundred yards from where the ship was.
"Cool!" Henry had said at this.
"Bloody hell!" was Hook's choice of words for the bolt, which, upon hearing, Emma moved faster than the lightning to cover Henry's ears. Henry had to remind her that he was fifteen and he at least knew the sailor's language, even if he didn't have a sailor's mouth.
"Sorry," Emma apologized, giving Henry her best "whoopsie" smile. "In my mind, you're still ten and this tall." She held one hand by her waist to show how short Henry had been.
"Nuh-uh, I was not that small!" Henry protested as Hook steered the ship back to port. Henry proudly moved Emma's hand up about six inches. "I was more like that tall."
Regina came over from the other side of the Jolly Roger and pushed Emma's hand back down to waist-height, ending the argument before it could begin. "No, Emma's right," she agreed. "You were closer to where she had you."
"I thought you were supposed to tell me how great I am on my birthday, not how short I am," Henry grumbled.
It didn't take long to maneuver the Jolly Roger back to where it started, but the group was soaked through-and-through by the time they arrived.
"Sorry, lad, maybe some other day," Killian stated as his boat knocked into the harbor. "Today wasn't great."
Henry nodded in agreement at the pirate and dismounted the ship with his two moms. Emma gestured at her yellow Volkswagen bug, water dripping in large amounts off of her arm as she did so. "Want a ride home?" she offered, both to Henry and Regina. The two did live in the same house, after all, being adoptive-mother and adopted-son.
"I would be forcing if you weren't offering, Swan," Regina said, climbing into the dry safety of the passenger's seat. "By the way, you are the Dark One. Could you not have stopped the storm, or at least have kept us dry?"
Emma shrugged in response as she took the driver's side. "Life lesson for Henry, I guess," she said casually, but Henry saw her eyes widen like the thought had never even crossed her mind. "Wow, I'm stupid," he heard her whisper.
"You're not stupid, Emma!" Henry promised the blonde, always the optimistic one. "You're just distracted, is all."
Emma looked back at him from the front seat, her eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Thanks, Kid, that's, uh, sweet… but nobody was saying I was stupid. You didn't need to defend my intelligence."
Regina wrung out her sopping hair right into Emma's car carpet, and Henry watched Emma cringe at the action. Emma really did love that tiny, gaudy yellow car for some reason. "On the contrary, Miss Swan, knowing you can do and make almost anything you please in this world, I think it's crucial that someonestand up for your intelligence. Now more than ever, seeing you don't think to use your magic when you need it."
Emma bit her lip thoughtfully. "That's right; I can do anything I want," she agreed. After a long pause, the passenger-side door beside Regina flung itself open. "Thanks to your sarcasm, I've decided I want to make you walk home."
Regina began to both protest and apologize concurrently, but before the ex-Evil Queen could finish a sentence, she found herself outside of the warm car and in the frigid rain once more. Every drop that hit Regina's face felt like a tiny slap.
Without wasting a second, Emma waved her hand, and the car door closed. She waved her hand once more, and the car disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving a drenched Regina behind.
"Mom!" Henry exclaimed. He and Emma were now parked outside of the Mills' mansion, where it was also raining hard, sans Regina. "Why'd you do that? We just left her there! Go back!"
Emma examined her fingernails nonchalantly and pretended to pick the dirt out from under them. "In a minute, Henry." She met his panicked, upset eyes in the rearview mirror, a devilish grin on her face. "I want to see something."
Henry counted all the way to sixty, skipping the Mississippis that normally followed the numbers to speed up the process (he counted Mississippilessly). When he arrived at the desired number, he leaned forward in his seat, stretching the seatbelt as far as it would go. He gripped the back of Emma's chair to prevent the seatbelt from pulling him back. Emma was still picking at her nails. "Can we go?" Henry asked with a sense of urgency.
Emma sighed rather dramatically. "Fine." With a flutter of Emma's hand, the two were instantly back in front of Regina. She stood shivering in the downpour, looking like a wet rat.
Regina sprinted to the yellow car the moment she noticed it had reappeared and threw open the door. "Are you crazy, Swan?!" she yelled. "It's freezing out here!"
Emma stared straight ahead, smiling but unresponsive. "What's so funny?" Regina asked the grinning blonde, the anger in her voice slowly growing.
"You are the Evil Queen, Regina. You can do and make almost anything you please," Emma responded triumphantly, mimicking Regina's speech from a few minutes ago. "You could've just poofed yourself home."
Regina was speechless. Swan was right; she could've easily transported herself home. Defeated, she climbed silently into the waiting car.
Emma chose to drive all the way back to the Mills' place, clearly enjoying Regina's constant glaring and the fact that the brunette had once more forgotten that she could get herself home without so much as lifting a finger.
Henry could almost hear I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you coming from Regina in a constant flow.
Once Emma had pulled up in front of Henry's home, she used her all-powerful magic to open the doors for the pair. As Regina walked away in the rain, Emma called after her, "You could have avoided the car ride and used magic to get home, you know!"
Emma sat back smugly in her seat. Who's the idiot now? she thought.
Little did she know, Henry had heard that thought. And little did Henry know:
That was an actual thought.
A/N: Thoughts? Did you enjoy this; should we keep it going? Leave me a comment telling me what you think :)