Friday came quickly for both women. Faster probably for Regina, who had spent the last few days obsessing over what to wear, what to make, and how to make sure this was a regular occurrence. Katherine had almost completely lost her mind when Regina told her Emma and Henry were coming over for dinner. The blonde spent the better part of the evening popping off sarcastic comments left and right about how fast she was moving, when was she renting the u-haul, could she be a bridesmaid and so on. She had actually helped plan the menu though. She was going for kid-friendly, fancy but not too fancy, and something she hoped to impress the blonde with.
What to wear was her undoing. She had tried on almost everything she owned and had yet to find something that worked. She wanted Emma to see her differently and forget that she used to be her teacher, but this wasn't a date so she didn't want to dress up too much, but she still wanted to look hot.
She was actually relieved when she heard the doorbell, the decision taken out of her hands. She would just have to go with what she currently had on. And really, she thought, a lesbian couldn't go wrong with jeans, high heels, and a white button down. After one more check in the mirror, she undid another button on her shirt and made her way down the stairs to answer the door.
She mentally patted herself on the back when she swung open the door and Emma's eyes immediately traveled to the extra bit of cleavage she had just revealed. "Hello, please come in." Regina made a point not to step back too far, just barely brushing against Emma as she made her way inside. Emma's eyes locked on hers as she slid by and Regina was immediately reminded of a skittish colt and she filed the look away for later. She turned her attention to Henry, who was looking around the entryway; his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"Your house is huge!" He exclaimed, returning his gaze to the two adults.
"Yes, well it was my parents house, I inherited it…" Regina said, embarrassed by the assessment. The house had always seemed too large, too grand for just one person but she couldn't ever find the strength to move elsewhere. The hope of having a family to fill the empty halls never drying up.
Emma took note of the embarrassed look on Regina's face and found it odd, wondering if she would ever know the root of that feeling. She decided to change the subject before Henry flustered the woman any more with his observations.
"Is there somewhere you want him to put his backpack?" Emma asked, breaking the tension.
Regina seemed to come back to herself, her head shaking off whatever melancholy thoughts she was having. "Yes, of course. If you just want to follow me Mr. Swan," Regina said with a wave of her arm, a smile breaking out onto her face.
"Mr. Swan sounds funny…" Henry observed, his face scrunching up in a clear dislike of the moniker.
Emma didn't hear Regina's response, the two moving away down the hall out of earshot; leaving her to reminisce about the way her former teacher used to call her Miss Swan. Emma had always liked it, despite the fact that when Regina had used the term she was usually in trouble for one thing or another in class. She wouldn't mind hearing it used again, wondering how it might sound whispered into her ear. She felt her cheeks heat up, burning a little at the image and quickly shook the idea away. Regina was her former teacher and her son's current tutor. Any thoughts of anything else needed to be banished.
Regina and Henry saved her from any more unbidden fantasies as they came back down the hallway. "Mom! Regina says we're having meatloaf AND mac and cheese. Homemade mac and cheese!" The boy was practically vibrating with excitement as he skipped down the hall beside a clearly smitten host.
"You're son's enthusiasm for food is…"
"Endearing?" Emma supplied.
Regina chuckled a little and nodded her head in agreement. "If you want to follow me I'll show you to the dining room."
Emma followed behind Henry, Regina staying close to her side as she guided the group. Emma leaned closer to the brunette and whispered, "He comes by it naturally, you know…"
Regina turned her head, surprised by how close Emma was to her, but willed herself not to pull back. "His good looks?"
Emma's eyes widened at the comment, the shock evident in them. "Uh, no…uh…food…"
Regina smirked at the woman, wanting to make her squirm just a little longer. If she was doing this, she wasn't going to pull punches. Their progress to the dining room had suddenly stopped so she stepped closer to Emma. "Food, Miss Swan?"
Emma's mouth went dry at the formal title rolling off the woman's tongue, unable to respond. She searched Regina's eyes for any hint of what she was playing at but found nothing to give her a clue. She watched in fascination as Regina's tongue darted out, wetting her lips, waiting patiently for her to respond. Emma's eyes trailed back up from her mouth, her eyes darkening with want before meeting Regina's again. "Food…his love for food is natural. I mean I like food too." Emma sighed, frustrated with her inability to form a full, coherant sentence around the woman.
Regina smiled and decided to let her guest off the hook for the time being. She'd gotten the answer she was looking for; Emma Swan was most definitely attracted to her. "That's wonderful. Hopefully you'll like my food then." She said, her double meaning signaled with a single quirked eyebrow.
When they reached the dining room, Henry was sitting at the head of the table. "Can I sit here? This table is awesome, it's like straight out of a movie or something. I feel like a prince."
Regina smiled again at the boy, there was just something about him that made every maternal instinct she'd ever suppressed bubble up to the surface. "You can sit any where you like, Henry." She turned to Emma, who was hovering just outside the dining room doorway. "You too, Miss Swan."
"Emma, please call me Emma." She begged. The formal title was doing things to her that should not be happening, at least not until she figured out what exactly was going on. She made her way to the seat on the right of Henry, facing the doorway, assuming Regina would want to sit closest to the kitchen.
Regina nodded her head once at the request and disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing moments later with the rest of the food. After setting the dishes down, she removed the lid from the meatloaf and tried to hide her smile when Henry's eyes went wide when she revealed the main course.
"Here we go. I hope you'll be satisfied." Regina was smiling at Henry, but her eyes slid towards Emma, not tiring of toying with the blonde just yet.
Emma squirmed in her seat, mouth watering at both the woman's words and for the food sitting in front of her. She stayed silent as Regina dished up their plates for both of them and dug in immediately as soon as it was placed back in front of her. Halfway through her first serving of meatloaf Emma moaned in appreciation and just barely caught Regina's reaction. Got her. Maybe I'm not imagining things?
Regina turned to Henry, hoping to distract herself from the sounds coming from Emma's side of the table. "So Henry, how are you liking Storybrooke so far?"
"Ith's good." He said, talking over the food in his mouth.
"Manner's, Henry." His mom prodded gently. He dutifully chewed the last bite and dramatically swallowed before continuing.
"It's really great. I like school here, the diner's got the best pancakes, and I'm even making some friends already."
"Yes, Granny does make some very good pancakes. They aren't as good as my own apple pancakes, of course, but they will do on a lazy Saturday morning."
"I dunno, Granny's are pretty good. Maybe someday we could have a sleepover and you could make them and I could decide whose is better. You know, officially." Henry prodded.
Emma's eyes bugged out and she started to apologize for Henry's behavior but Regina beat her to the punch. "Perhaps someday we could arrange that." She smiled at Emma and the look set Emma adrift. Her former teacher was openly and honestly flirting with her, that much was clear. What did it mean though? The rest of the food on her plate went untouched, Regina and Henry's banter only background noise as she sat lost in her own thoughts. It was hard to wrap her head around. Maybe Regina just flirted with everyone? Was she even a lesbian? Could she possibly be attracted to her?
"Mom? You done?" Henry asked, bringing her back to the conversation. "Regina said you were on cleanup duty while we go study."
"Yeah, I'm done. Go get your math learned." Emma said, palms up in defense before Regina could correct her grammar. "I know, I know. Proper English, Miss Swan." She said in a falsetto voice, a hint of a British accent peppering the speech.
Regina glared at the blonde. "I have never sounded like that in my life. Henry, let's go. Your mother is clearly confusing me with Julia Childs." She said, smiling at the blonde, her stomach fluttering at the returned gaze.
Henry made his way down the hallway to the office, Regina tight on his heels. When she clicked the door closed, she sighed a little at the reprieve from her little game. She closed her eyes for a moment to gather herself and to get into "teacher mode."
"So I came up with a name for our operation! Operation Beavers!" Henry exclaimed. "It's perfect right?"
"Excuse me?" She said coolly. Surely she had heard him wrong?
"Yeah, beavers! We just learned about them in biology. They mate for life and raise their kids together. I thought you'd like it?" Henry's excitement deflating rapidly in front of her.
Regina kicked herself mentally. Of course the ten-year wouldn't understand the double meaning. Was she really actively participating in something called Operation Beavers? "It's perfect Henry, I simply thought I had misheard you. Why don't you get your math homework out and we'll get started."
Henry stared at her blankly.
"Did you really think you wouldn't have to work on math? I told you I wasn't going to lie to your mom. This was your idea after all." Regina scolded gently when he didn't make a move for his backpack. His shoulders hunched and he pulled out a few papers from his bag.
"I just figured we'd use this time to talk about the next phase of the operation."
"Don't you think it would impress your mom if I could help you get a better grade? I thought everyone loved a hero?" Regina countered, still determined to help the young man, despite whatever the outcome of the operation might be.
"Yeah, I guess." Henry grumbled.
Regina did her best to ignore the glum mood the child was suddenly in, surprised that some things still came naturally to her even though she hadn't taught anyone or anything in over 5 years. "First, why don't you tell me why you're having trouble in math."
Henry fidgeted with his pencil a little bit before answering. "I just don't like it. It's not fun like reading and stuff."
"So we just need to make it more fun? That's it?"
"I don't think it's possible…"
"Well, you have no idea what I'm capable of. Let's get started."
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Thirty minutes later Regina left Henry with a pile of M&M's and a sheet of problems to complete on his own while she went to check on his mother. Her stomach flipped a little at the thought of being alone with the woman for the first time since she had arrived in town, Henry not being there as a buffer. She checked the kitchen and found only a few dishes drying in the rack, so she made her way down the hall towards the living room. She clacked her heels a little harder then necessary on the wood floor so that she didn't startle the woman.
When she turned the corner and made her way into the room, she saw that her effort had been unwarranted. Emma was sound asleep on the couch, her head cocked at what appeared to be a very uncomfortable angle. Torn between wanting to let the woman sleep and wanting to save her from a terrible neck ache the next day, Regina decided to try and do both. The slipped her heels off and made her way across the room. Leaning over Emma just slightly, she slipped her hands behind the woman's head and gently righted it. She was pulling away, her hands sliding across the woman's delicate skin, a breath away from a caress when she caught herself leaning closer to the blonde's face. Breathing the same air for a heartbeat, Regina pulled back quickly when Emma's eyes popped open.
"…gina?" Emma questioned softly.
Regina straightened, clenching her hands against her sides as though they had just betrayed her. "Yes, sorry. I was trying to save you from a terrible neck ache tomorrow. At any rate, Henry is finishing up. I'll go see that he gets everything packed up so you can be on your way." Regina turned to flee the room, embarrassment seeping into every fiber of her being. A hand shot out and stopped her progress.
Emma saw the panic in Regina's eyes and couldn't figure out what she'd done to cause it. She just knew that she couldn't let the woman who had been oozing confidence an hour ago flee. On instinct she drew a lazy pattern with her thumb across the inside of the brunette's wrist, hoping to calm the woman down, her grip tight, but not constricting.
It was doing anything but calm down Regina. It was lighting a fire inside her, a burning that she could only hope one day would be quenched. She kept her body turned away, not wanting the other woman to see her reaction to such an innocent touch. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, surprised to find Emma standing in front of her when she opened them back up.
"Hey…everything okay?" Emma continued the stroking with her thumb, her grip not easing up.
Regina had no words. A thousand things were flying through her head, a hundred answers she could give to that question. Before she could form one though, Emma took another step closer.
"What, um…is there…what's going on here? Between us?" Emma finally stuttered out. She was all for what she thought was happening, but she didn't want to get her hopes up only to find out she was wrong later on.
Regina continued to stare at her, her blinking eyes the only movement she made. Just as she was opening her mouth to answer the blonde's question, Henry came bounding into the room waving his homework triumphantly.
"I DID IT!" He yelled, unaware of the moment he'd just interrupted.
Emma dropped Regina's wrist reluctantly and turned towards her son. "That's great Hen. Why don't you have Regina look it over and I'll go grab your backpack. We need to get going. It's almost your bedtime."
Regina plastered on a smile for the boy and watched Emma's retreating back as she left the room. "Very good Henry. Let's see if you got them all right." She took a seat on the couch and patted the spot beside her. When he had clamored up beside her, his excitement was evident. She couldn't help but smile again at him, this time a more genuine look. The boy had no idea he'd just interrupted anything between the two women. And maybe that was for the best. The way Emma had just fled the room, much the same way as she had tried to do, told her that maybe the blonde wasn't quite ready for an answer to the question she just posed.
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Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I didn't get to reply to them all from the last chapter. Turns out having a baby is a full time job. Who knew? I figured my precious spare time should be used to write another chapter...I will hopefully be able to reply to some of the time though..Thanks again for reading!