Emma walked away from the mansion with a spring in her step. The brunette had genuinely smiled at her and it was amazingly beautiful to see Regina's face look at ease. So, as she backed out of the brunette's bedroom, Emma decided that she would head to the station to tell Charming she was taking a week off. She needed to spend time with Henry and Regina after her long trip to the Enchanted Forest. After her visit to the station, she would go back to the mansion and clean up the mess for Regina. She could ask the brunette for help regarding her newly discovered magic. Maybe that would get her a smile as a reward.
"Emma, where have you been?" Her father jumped up from his chair, extending his arms out with incredulity and his eyes wide with suspicion.
The blonde shrugged, "I've been busy with Henry and stuff so thanks for holding down the fort. I'm actually going to take the next week off. I need to relax a little."
"Relax?" Charming asked knowingly, his brow quirked. Emma began shuffling papers into a large pile and organizing her desk.
"Yeah, with Henry. Maybe go camping, leave town for a day or two, you know, spend time with my son." Emma shoved her papers in a folder and neatly placed it into the filing cabinet. She couldn't look her father in the eye, which was strange considering Emma had always been a proficient and effective liar. But he was her dad and he seemed to have a pretty good lie detector. It's probably where she got the ability. Anyway, she didn't need him or Snow snooping around in her business. She was grown woman and if she wanted to invite Regina on these little adventures, she could and they had no say. She knew convincing Henry would be a tough conversation but Henry was smart. Emma knew for a fact that he had to be feeling guilty. This time, she would bring them together and she would watch with pride. No jealousy or stupid games. They had a chance to be a real family. Emma wanted that with Regina. Oddly enough, the idea of commitment wasn't scaring her. It was exciting. She guessed that love could be exciting when you think you've found the one.
"Emma," She heard him sigh with disapproval, "Is Regina a part of your plans?"
"Is that any of your business?" Emma quipped back sarcastically. She was fed up with their meddling. She was almost thirty years old. She didn't need this torment.
"You're our daughter! We worry about her influence!" He bellowed softly, not wanting to sound as aggravated as he was. Emma scoffed.
"I'm not a prepubescent teen! I have my own mind and Regina isn't trying to do anything, okay? You're blaming her for something she hasn't done so you wanna bring down a few notches?" Emma slammed the sliding file cabinet shut with excessive force, the bang reverberating around the room. Charming stalked over to her desk, staring her down as he stood with his hands on his hips.
"She is evil incarnate and I will not apologize for wanting to protect you, and Henry, from her." He whispered, his voice hard. It made Emma's blood boil but she managed to keep her voice down by some miracle.
"You don't know her. You never gave her a chance to tell you her story. No one ever gives us a chance and then those people wonder why we're so damaged," Emma felt her eyes blur and burn. She lifted her finger and pointed it at his chest, "You're a little to late to the party Charming. I stopped needing protection long ago. Maybe you should've put my wellbeing above yours twenty nine years ago when you shipped me to this realm."
The blonde turned and practically sprinted out of the station, hearing but ignoring her fathers calls the entire way. She kept walking, tears pouring silently down her face, until she reached Mifflin. She wasn't going to let him ruin her plans. She heard a message sound from her phone as she strutted up to the mansion for the third time that day. She pulled out her phone, seeing a text from Snow, and groaned.
"Emma! Your father called me and told me what happened! Please just come home so we can talk. I think you're misunderstanding us." Emma read the text aloud and jumped when she heard a small chuckle.
"Snow, I presume." Emma looked up to see Regina leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on her lips. The blonde couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped.
"You're up and moving. That's great," Emma looked at the brunette's feet to make sure her feet were covered properly in order to avoid hurting herself on the glass, "I was just coming to help clean up."
"That's kind of you," Emma perked up, "But it's almost dinner time and it sounds like Snow and Charming are tugging on your leash."
"Even more reason to stay here and help. They can't order me around," Emma stepped forward, hoping that Regina would allow her entry, "Let me help."
Regina paused for a moment. She was supposed to be avoiding Emma so that her little girl crush would fade but deep inside her fractured heart, she wanted the blonde to stay. Plus, she had so much energy to dispel so cooking a meal and cleaning with company could help her mind slow down, "Alright."
Regina turned to the side, giving Emma enough space to go by, "Cool."
The brunette smiled internally. She didn't want to get her hopes up but the blonde was making it quite difficult with her sweet gestures and kind words of encouragement. Emma surveyed the damage again and sighed before turning to the brunette uneasily.
"I have magic and I was wondering if maybe you could help me learn," She saw Regina's surprised expression and added, "Back there, your mother tried to take my heart but my magic stopped her somehow. I want to protect my loved ones and I think if used properly, magic is an efficient way to do so. I know Henry doesn't see it that way but I do and I want you to teach me. I trust you."
Regina furrowed her brows, "Why do you? Trust me, that is."
"I need a teacher that has the same interest as me. Protect Henry," Emma scrutinized her hands, "Plus, I don't know why, but I feel like I can be myself around you and I never feel that way."
Regina felt traitorous emotions sprout from those words. No one had ever spoken such kind things about her before. She felt honored, not that she'd ever admit to it. She nodded and gestured towards the study.
"I suppose you want to try cleaning using magic?" Emma nodded and the brunette carefully trekked towards the corner of the room. As she passed the blonde, she interlaced their fingers and pulled her along. Emma barely contained the shiver that threatened to escape when she felt Regina's hand against her own.
"Alright," Regina extracted her hand and Emma pouted adorably, "Magic is emotion. You have to think about what you want to achieve and why you want it to be achieved. Let your emotions take over."
Emma nodded concisely before lifting her arms in front of her, her palms facing outward and her fingers aimed at the ceiling. Regina watched intently as Emma closed her eyes. The blonde thought about the night before, seeing Regina sprawled in a pool of her own blood, which was still marring the hardwood. She thought about the glass impaling the olive skin causing pain. She wanted this cleaned so that Regina wouldn't get hurt. Regina needed to be safe.
"Emma!" The blonde opened her eyes and saw Regina's ecstatic expression before peering around the room, seeing everything looking perfect once again. The blood was gone, the glass and wood was back in its rightful place, and even Regina's cuts had healed, "You did it!"
"Holy shit," Emma whispered, staring at her hands in awe. She suddenly broke out into a wide, goofy smile, "That was some Harry Potter shit right there!"
"No, that was some Emma Swan… stuff right there." Emma couldn't stop the bark of laughter that rose when Regina uncomfortably replaced the curse word. Regina joined in with a hearty chuckle. Emma felt vindicated, not just about her magical abilities but about this woman. Regina could be helpful, kind, and humorous. Emma also felt excitement run through her body. The brunette was very closed off with most and yet she was showing Emma a whole new side of her. A small part of her was fearful for the same reason. Regina never showed this side so for her to do so meant something was going on. But she left it alone. The older woman would tell her when she saw fit.
"Thank you for helping me out," Emma turned to face her completely and Regina felt the pain in her chest subside for a brief moment, "Listen, I'm taking this week off of work and I wanted to hang out with Henry. I'm thinking camping and some traveling. I was wondering if you'd like to tag along? Just you, me, and our son?"
Regina's jaw dropped. The Sheriff was proposing a week of family time, just the three of them. No Snow or Charming or seven dwarfs. Just them. It sounded amazing and the brunette's immediate knee jerk reaction was to say yes. But she worried about Henry and if he would want her around. Probably not, so she replied, "I don't think Henry would like that."
"I don't give a damn," Regina startled. She hadn't expected such a strong response, "He loves you but he's being stubborn. Come with us. Yes, he'll be an ass at first but you keep on it and you guys can reconcile. Come on, Regina, we'll work on him together."
The blonde grabbed one of Regina's hands and cradled it in between her own in an attempt to persuade the woman with her touch. Regina was shocked to hear Emma say those words. They had fought and groveled for Henry because, at the time, they believed it was one mother or the other. Emma was demonstrating that it never had to be that way and that saddened the brunette. There was the pain again.
She had a million reasons to say no but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to make amends with the two people she needed forgiveness from before she died, "Alright. I'd like that. Just us."
"Great! Don't worry; I'll start working on the kid tonight after dinner. It's going to be so much fun! I'm talking camping, maybe a trip to Boston so I could show you where I lived and my favorite restaurants, and we could go see the Sox's!" Emma explained animatedly, her arms waving excitedly. Regina couldn't contain the bright smile that filtered through her defenses. When had Emma become so… cute?
Regina's smile slowly wavered as she wondered how she would deal with her affliction during their weeklong adventure. Her bouts of lethargy were debilitating. She realized that she needed to confess to Emma sooner rather than later.
Dinner was awkward to say the least. Snow and Charming shot her disappointed looks and Henry was extremely quiet. She just hoped that her parents hadn't talked shit while she was gone. They just sat there, stiff, eating their dinner. The only sounds in the room were the scraping of forks against plates and Snow clearing her throat incessantly. Emma kept her eyes down but she could feel her father's eyes on her.
Snow cleared her throat loudly again and Emma rolled her eyes, "Something in your throat Snow? Why don't you sip some water or something? I'm thoroughly irritated if that's what you're going for."
Henry stifled a laugh and Emma looked over at him, shocked that he would find her attitude towards his grandparents humorous. He threw her a small smile and her jaw dropped. Snow and Charming were too busy to notice the exchange as they were hurriedly whispering back and forth.
"I'm done so I'm just going to going upstairs to listen to music." Henry stated as he dropped his fork onto his plate along with his napkin. He quickly dumped his plate onto the counter and practically flew up the stairs. Emma cursed the kid for leaving her alone to fend off her parents.
"Emma," Speak of the devils, "We have to discuss something with you. We need you to know where we're coming from."
"Look, I know how you guys feel about this. I know how I feel about it. I'm not changing my mind. You won't be able to so drop it. We'll agree to disagree." Emma stated calmly, pushing peas around her plate and ignoring their piercing gazes.
"Regina is—"
"Get off my back!" Emma shrieked with frustration, jumping out of her chair and running out the door. She plopped down on the steps outside of the apartment door. She knew that they wouldn't come after her so she stayed close because she still needed to talk to Henry about their plans. What really bothered her about this stupid battle with her parents was that she could see a future with Regina and she knew that if she went forward with her plans to woo the brunette, her parents would be an obstacle. She just hoped that when they learned of her feelings, they would back off because this friction was too much for her. She heard the apartment door swing open and she groaned, obviously expecting one of her parents.
"Hey Ma." She smiled at her son's voice and turned her head to see him taking a seat next to her on the step.
"Hey kid," She propped her chin on her palm, "You heard?"
Henry sighed, "I get what you were saying earlier. They are biased and I shouldn't have abandoned my mom, especially because she's always waiting for people to leave her. I did that and I hurt her."
Emma smiled proudly, "You're a great kid, Henry. And don't worry, we'll make this right."
"I love her. I'm still angry," Emma nodded, "But I need to give her a second chance, just like I'm hoping she'll give me my nine hundredth chance."
"She really raised you right." Emma whispered, feeling her throat constrict and fought to keep tears at bay. Henry chuckled.
"She was a great mom. It shouldn't have mattered that she didn't give birth to me. I see that now. Like you said, I want to fix things. We can be a family."
"About that! I'm taking a week off of work and I wanted to have a vacation with you and your mom," She saw Henry's smile widen, "She seemed excited. I already talked to her and she agreed."
"Cool. I can't wait! Where are we going?" Her son's eyes sparkled and Emma couldn't help but feel content. Maybe everything would work out for them after all.
A/N: This is the first story that I'm actually writing without getting fatigued. I'm enjoying it and I hope you are too!
