They stayed for the next dance as well, Regina having forgotten their deal for only one dance and Emma not reminding her of it.
"And now some Chachacha to the song 'Don't sorry' … no wait", Archie paused struggeling to read his own handwriting, "uhm I meant 'Don't worry' by Madcon of course" Blushing he took a seat again and the first beats of the song filled the room.
I'll take you to the future
Forget about the past
You can keep all of your secrets
I swear that I won't ask
Emma began to move again, quicker this time, somehow remembering the ChaChaCha steps she had learned ages ago. She smiled at Regina who still seemed a little melancholic but smiled back nevertheless. The blonde decided this was her chance to test out the mayor's skills and so she tried every twist and turn she could possibly remember, Regina following without problem. It showed that she had experience from the Fairytale balls she had been forced to attend in her past.
"I wouldn't have taken you for a dancer to be honest", Regina breathed out a little exhausted from the turning, relieved when Emma went back to the basic step.
"Well that is because you took me for a lost street rat when we first met only because I couldn't keep up with your excessive knowledge of wine and other overly expensive spirits."
"I won't deny it. Someone who has never even heard of Bordeaux clearly has no taste."
Emma rolled her eyes and lead Regina into another turn.
Let go of all your trouble
I don't care where you've been
The only thing that matters now
is where the night will end
"Yeah but you gotta understand, you wearing that tight pencil skirt was slightly distracting. I couldn't have concentrated on the drink even if I had wanted to" As soon as she had said those words Emma wondered what the hell had been in the punch Henry had convinced her to try earlier. This was absolutely going to get her a slap by the brunette in her arms.
Surprisingly Regina replied with a smirk and came closer to Emma's ear to whisper: "I have always had certain…seduction skills"
By now Emma was absolutely sure she had gone out of her mind or if she hadn't then Regina clearly had, making sexual comments in the middle of Granny's dinner.
As long as she had Regina in her arms she couldn't really pinch herself to see if she was dreaming though. There was only one other way to see whether she was still sane: Testing her boundaries further.
"Go homo or go home" she thought, only faintly doubting whether that was the actual saying.
Slowly she let her hand slide down Regina's back fully aware of the soft and beautiful curves of the other woman's body. She didn't get far before her ears rang with Regina's complaint.
"Emma! Where you have your hand right now is neither my back nor considered appropriate."
Emma was only slightly disappointed since the other woman's anger at least meant she wasn't dreaming.
"I give you one more second to remove your hand or I can guarantee you you will wake up with holes in all your socks."
It was meant as a threat but Emma burst out laughing thinking about the fact that she only had one pair of socks without holes left in her closet anyway.
"Sure 'Gina", she replied still grinning but let go of the other woman's behind anyway.
Oh we can own the night
don't worry 'bout a thing
Emma was still trying to come up with a less sexual topic to talk about when the music suddenly faded out and Archie's voice echoed through the hall.
"Dear citizens of Storybrooke!", he began but Emma didn't get a chance to listen.
"I wish I had brought him over as a cricket, he might have been less talkative", Regina whispered harshly causing Emma to snort.
"He hasn't even finished his first sentence"
"Oh I know dear and I wish he wouldn't."
"Shhhh", Hook and Rumple protested simultaneously. The two were standing in a tight embrace next to them and seemed eager to listen to the town's shrink who was currently giving a long synthesis on why Storybrooke's community was strong and beautiful and why his new cricket game therapy would be a great idea to further strengthen the team spirit.
Emma would have been bored to death if it weren't for the brunette standing next to her, for some reason still holding her hand, looking so annoyed it was all the entertainment she could have wished for. After a few minutes of Regina's eyerolling and grumbling Archie finally switched to a more interesting topic.
"Now I am happy to announce that the buffet is open!"
Everyone in the room started cheering wildly as if they had never heard greater news in their lives.
"Come on let's check it out!" Emma said almost jumping in excitement for food. Regina rolled her eyes yet again but followed Emma's lead, her hand still holding on to hers. She told herself it was perfectly reasonable, she couldn't risk Emma storming the buffet now could she? After all she was the one responsible for it since Mary Margaret had busied herself with the decoration.
As the two reached the upper end of the 20 feet long buffet table, Regina found herself a little excited as well although for a different reason than Emma.
"I do want to see your reaction to what I organized" she said side eyeing the blonde and watching her face go from an excited stare to a grin of joy so bright it made all lighting unnecessary. Emma did not know where to look. There were bear claws and grilled cheese and all sorts of unhealthy food to her heart's desire. She turned around to face Regina.
"You did not?" She asked still beaming in disbelief.
Regina smiled feeling glad she had decided to come along to the ball as she wouldn't have witnessed this moment otherwise.
"I did. Just take it as a repayment for being my motivator when I had to do paper work all day long. Kale salad and root beer got me through it. Now go ahead and get all the food as long as you don't have your equally horrible son battling you for it"
There was no need to say another word and Emma immediately grabbed a plate and filled it with as much food as she could fit on it. When she was content with her choice she searched for a place to sit and found that Regina had already joined her son and her parents in one of the booths. She squeezed herself into the row next to Henry and Regina causing the brunette to groan. Emma was about to start devouring one of the bear claws when she got interrupted.
"Now I forgot about it earlier but will you share your story from today, Emma?"
She looked startled for a second until realizing Regina was talking about what happened at the convent.
To clear up confusion Regina added: "I told them all I know already."
"Well alright then", Emma set the bearclaw back onto the plate. "So when I got to the convent the first thing I noticed was Tink standing in front of the entry door, a camera in her hand and smiling widely."
"Wait" Henry interrupted, unable to follow. "But Tink doesn`t even live in the convent right?"
"Right kid" Emma nodded and ruffled Henry's hair, much to his embarrassment. "She was there for some sort of business with Blue but she stayed for something else. When I got up to her and asked what was going on she just kept laughing. 'This is a day to remember' she said, pointing in the direction in which her camera was directed as well. Oh you guys won't believe what I saw there" Emma made a dramatic pause enjoying the attention and smiling at Henry's widened eyes being practically glued to her lips.
"Well there was Leroy holding hands with Astrid both of them running away and at first I thought they were just trying to get away as fast as possible without further reason but the highlight of it all was Blue coming after them with a broom in her hands actually cursing and throwing magical blasts at them."
While Henry had already completely lost it, almost lying beneath the table at the thought, Regina was mostly confused.
"So there wasn't any vandalism after all now was there?", she asked eyebrows raised.
"Nope, Blue had merely needed me to catch her beloved Astrid which of course I did not help with. Who'd want to stand in the way of true love" she stated winking at her parents. "The whole thing ended in a disaster when one of Blue's magic blasts actually hit Leroy and turned him into a hedgehog."
Even Snow, used to face all sorts of magical creatures with indifference and a plan, showed signs of confusion now.
"It would have been cute but sadly he was right above a puddle when it happened so with a splash he dropped into it and that was the part when he almost drowned."
"You cannot be serious." Regina's eyebrows were about to disappear into the ceiling.
"So that's when you did your savior thing am I right?" Henry asked eager to hear the rest of the story.
"Indeed kid. Well my saving consisted of sprinting over and ruining my shirt by getting tiny Leroy out of the puddle."
"Technically it is Mom's shirt though." Henry corrected.
"Wait what?" Mary Margaret seemed confused and possibly traumatized thinking of possible reasons why the two would be sharing their clothes.
Emma decided to ignore her and went on. "Right kid", she replied without giving further explanation as to why she was still wearing the stolen shirt. Mostly because she didn't know either. "Anyway in the end Blue had indeed succeeded in stopping Astrid's breakout since she seemed less interested in having a hedgehog as a companion."
"Understandable." David nodded and groaned out loud when Mary Margaret's elbow hit him in the ribs.
"Not even slightly!" she claimed. "Especially you should know better, Charming! True love comes in all forms, animals not excluded from it!"
"But-" Charming tried to protest yet again. Snow's threatening stare made him reconsider. Emma sighed and decided to finish her story rather quickly before a family fight or worse a whole war would be started.
"So in the end I had to transform Leroy back to his human form and then I hurried here right away." She smiled at Regina.
Henry furrowed his brows. "But Mom since when can you transform people into stuff and the other way around?"
"I taught her", Regina simply stated, a proud smile tucking at her lips. Snow was now starring wide eyed at her.
"You already know she is giving me magic lessons, Mom", Emma said quickly trying to get her mother's attention away from the brunette. Mary Margaret was hardly impressed and kept starring at Regina and it seemed like she was fighting with herself considering whether to say something or not.
"Are magic lessons a metaphor?" she finally asked giving her best threatening death stare.
"GRANDMA!" Henry cried out not really wanting to hear an answer to the question.
David looked confused not understanding what magic lessons could be a metaphor for while Regina's cheeks were turning a dark crimson.
"Okay guys let's just eat." Emma said, blushing as well, and was relieved when after a few seconds of silence Snow gave up and went back to eating her raspberry cake.
Emma was just finishing her third bear claw when Regina rose from her seat and looked down on her.
"Emma?", she began, bringing the blonde to focus her attention on her. "If you can survive the loss of a few bites of this pure sugar disaster would you dance with me again?"
While Emma was still surprised by the question Henry's face had lit up in half a second.
"Yeah Mom don't worry I'll take care of your bear claw", he said snatching Emma's plate.
Regina gave him a playfully threatening glare.
"Henry Daniel Mills, you have had three chocolate sprinkled donuts in the last twenty minutes I am fairly certain that is enough"
Emma raised from her seat joining Regina's side. "Yeah kid, you gotta take care of your health", she added, winking triumphantly.
Henry groaned watching his mothers join forces against him.
"I liked you guys better when you were less obviously married."
Yet again his two mothers were united in their reaction starring at him in disbelief.
"WHAT?"