End Of September

"Emma!" She hears her mother calling her name as she walks into the diner.

The place is packed on a Saturday morning and it takes a surprisingly long time to find where her mother is sitting.

That may have also been due to the fact that she was unexpectedly surrounded by children.

"Emma!" Multiple children shout as she makes her way over.

"Hey guys!" She says, and sits down across from Roland who gives her his still-dimpled smile.

"Hello" Regina says with a smirk from across the table.

Emma jumps at the sound of her voice. "Where did you come from?!" She says as she puts a hand over her heart. All the kids laugh at her dramatics. If it had been anyone else she probably wouldn't have had such a reaction but being around the older woman at all lately has her on edge. It's like she gets more beautiful every time Emma sees her and she doesn't know how to react.

"Kelly told me to hide behind her so we could scare you." Regina explains the plan her niece had frantically whispered in her ear moments ago. She didn't think it would actually work. She should have known better than to underestimate the five year old. Zelena's kid would end up a little trickster.

"Well don't do that again!" Emma says and bops Kelly on the nose.

"You're face was so funny, Auntie Em!" The little girl giggles. Emma doesn't think she'll ever get use to being called that. She's not even technically the girl's aunt but Henry is her cousin so everyone accepts the title. Henry thought it was hilarious that she could be called "Auntie Em" by the Wicked Witch's daughter, so of course that name stuck.

"I'm sure it was. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Old lady!" Neal calls from across the table.

"Hey! I didn't give you permission to call me old! Besides, if I'm old than you're calling 'Ina old too!"

Neal gets red in the face from embarrassment. Regina is his favorite person. There is no way he would ever call her old.

"Ruth is my favorite sister!" He shouts back and then hugs the two-year old sitting next to him. Ruth is in her own little world and simply continues coloring through the chaos around her.

"Does Ruth buy you candy?!" His older sister argues.

Regina and Snow share a look of exasperation. "Children please!" Their mother finally interrupts.

Emma smiles at the guilty look on Neal's face and orders her to-go coffee.

"You're coming over tonight, right?" Regina asks her once the waitress leaves. She has that wicked glint in her eye again and Emma's stomach flops at the sight. She really wishes Regina wouldn't do that while her mother's present.

"Yup." Emma says desperately trying to keep her tone and heart-rate level.

"You guys have plans?" Snow asks while closely watching the interactions of the two women.

"Henry is going to video call us tonight." Emma tells her mother as her coffee arrives at the table.

"Oh, how nice! I spoke with him yesterday and he seems to really like college." Snow assures them.

"Yeah." Emma agrees. "Well, I should get to work."

"Aunt 'Ina! We need to go too!" Kelly says and pulls on the woman's sleeve.

"Yes Snow, story time at the library is starting soon so we should probably leave as well." Regina says looking up at the clock. "See you tonight Emma." She adds with a wink.

Emma doesn't know what has changed Regina's mind from being uncomfortable around Snow to openly flirting in front of her, but Emma's not sure how she feels about the change.

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All that day at work Emma thinks about Regina. This has been a common occurrence since she came to town. But ever since they officially started their affair, Emma has thought of little else.

Regina seems to be a master at compartmentalizing their relationship in her mind. She can easily go from acting like friends, or co-parents, to being intimate. Emma however, is having trouble doing that and it's leaving her constantly confused about where she stands in the other woman's life.

She doesn't think she can do it anymore. She doesn't want to ruin their friendship by continuing with whatever's going on. But she's afraid that calling things off would ruin their friendship anyway. She also doesn't actually want to end things between them. She just thinks it's safer in the end if she does.

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That night she arrives at Regina's house with a heavy heart.

"Hello?" She calls out as she lets herself into the mansion.

She'd gotten a key years ago and came over so often that Regina told her to stop knocking because she was tired of interrupting her cooking to answer the door.

"In the kitchen." She hears Regina call.

Emma comes through the doorway and sees the other woman mixing pasta and sauce together in a bowl.

"Smells great!" Emma says and walks up to the other woman. A few feet away she abruptly stops.

What was she planning on doing? Kissing her hello? They aren't dating. That would be inappropriate right?

Regina eyes Emma curiously but doesn't say anything. Regina has noticed a lot of odd behavior from Emma lately. She's afraid she may have pushed the younger woman into this new relationship. She can't be sure though since Emma always so readily accepts her advances. When she's away from the other woman she thinks a lot about easing up, but as soon as they are in the same room together this uncontrollable urge to be close takes over.

Soon the awkward moment is forgotten and they are sitting down to eat.

"What time did Henry say he would call?" Emma asks.

"He didn't specify. I have the computer set up in the living room. We should hear it in here if the call comes in." She assures Emma and takes a sip of her wine.

"How was your day with the kids?" Emma asks.

"It was good. Ruth was quite as always. Roland wandered around the library with one of his friends. Neal sat on my lap all through story time. Kelly, of course, had to cause some trouble."

"What did she do?" Emma loves hearing stories about the little girl. She's only five now so Emma can only imagine how much trouble that girl is going to be as she gets older.

"I don't know how, but she snuck a whoopee cushion onto Belle's chair right before she sat down to tell the children their story. Poor woman couldn't even get her own kid to stop laughing at her after that." Regina tells her. Emma sees the grin on Regina's face though so clearly she doesn't feel too bad for the librarian.

"Did you see Robin today?" Emma casually asks as she finishes her meal.

"Briefly, when I dropped off the children. I had picked them up from Zelena's house this morning though."

"How was that?" Emma doesn't know why she's pushing the subject. She never asks about Robin. She's not sure what she wants Regina to tell her.

No, that's not true. She wants Regina to tell her something that will change her decision.

Regina sighs. "He's the same."

Before Emma can press further they hear a ringing from the living room.

"Can you go answer that? I'll put the dishes in the sink and be right out." Regina directs as she gather's the plates and cups.

Emma moves silently into the living room and opens the call. Her son's face immediately appears in front of her.

"Hi mom!" He says in his deep voice. Matt waves to the camera from behind him and then slips out the door of the room.

"Hey kid! How've you been?" She asks enthusiastically. All previous anxiety is washed away as soon as she hears his voice.

"I'm great! Where's mom?" He asks.

"Right here." Regina says as she appears in the frame. "Hello dear."

"Hey Mom."

The three of them relax into old patterns after that. Henry tells them all about his classes. For the most part he likes the students and the teachers. There is one exception though.

"She's awful." He says. "Seriously everyone warned me she was the meanest professor and they were right. I keep having to remind myself that kids probably made her eat worms or something when she was young and that's why she ended up like this." He says about his 17th century literature professor, Ms. Gloop.

"Maybe she's just hates kids because her own son got fell into a chocolate river." Emma says in reference to Augustus Gloop from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Henry immediately understands the reference.

"That's the first thing I thought of!" Henry responds excitedly.

"Well that would be traumatic for anyone." Regina deadpans. "I'm sure you'll win her over Henry."

All in all it was a nice hour reprieve from their daily lives. Emma is heartbroken when they hang up. It's somehow almost harder than when they dropped him off to school.

Regina closes the laptop and immediately straddles Emma on the couch.

An easy transition from mother to seductress. How does she do that? Emma marvels.

"I actually can't stay tonight." Emma says and shifts uncomfortably until Regina stands up.

"Oh, okay." Regina tried to brush off the sting of rejection. It's a silly reaction to have.

"Yeah, I have work early." Emma says in way of an excuse.

Regina immediately sees through the lie. Emma has had work early plenty of mornings these last few weeks and yet she has still stayed over. Not to mention the fact that Emma doesn't even sound confident in her answer.

"Okay." Regina nods her head. "And what's the real reason?" She asks once Emma stands up and looks at her.

"Regina…" The blonde sighs.

"I'm a big girl Emma." She says and crosses her arms across her chest.

"Fine. I can't do this anymore." Emma says and points between the two of them.

"Why?" Regina had expected that after Emma's evasiveness but it still hurt to hear.

Emma huffs. "Call me greedy Regina, but I want more. I know I have so much of you already…but it's like I'm being denied that last piece that really matters. I haven't been with anyone is such a long time and I don't want this to turn into a rebound thing for either of us. Those never end well. I'm a big girl too Regina and I understand that in life you don't always get what you want. In fact, I learned that lesson very young. So trust me, I get that you can't give me more, but I think it's better if we end things now. I don't want our friendship to be ruined when you and Robin get back together." She clasps Regina's upper arm for a moment. "We're fine. I promise. I'll see you tomorrow."

She says and leaves before she does something embarrassing like cry.

She is about to get her coat out of the closet when Regina catches up to her. The brunette spins her around and Emma doesn't think she's ever seen that expression on her face before. It's a mix of anger, hurt…and hope? She can't be sure.

"What makes you think Robin and I will get back together?" She finally asks. Emma should have known better than to think she could have just left the house.

"He's your soul-mate." Emma says with affect is ruined though because her voice shakes.

"Yes, my soul-mate who seems just as relieved as I am to be away from each other." Regina snaps. "Everything with Robin has always seemed rushed. Therefore milestones in our relationship have felt a little forced. There's a reason we aren't married. That's one thing I refused to rush into." She sighs. "The first thing I felt when we decided to take a break was relief. Then guilt for being so relieved that my soul-mate was away from me. Still, relief was the dominant emotion. It's like my soul needed space to breathe. I think I was so desperate for the chance at love that I didn't let it develop naturally. And now I don't know if we should have ever been in a romantic relationship to begin with." She takes Emma's hand. "With you though, nothing feels forced. Whatever is happening between us feels like the most natural next step in the world."

They fall into each other's embrace. These are exactly the type of words Emma was looking to hear earlier.

Regina closes her eyes. Right now her soul doesn't feel suffocated. Right now…it feels light.

She never thought Emma would want an actual relationship with her. In fact, the blonde has been quite vocal about not dating, so her speech to Regina was something Regina never let herself hope for.

"I can stay." Emma says after several long minutes.

Regina smiles into the blonde's shoulder and gives her a gentle squeeze before pulling back from the hug. Instead she takes Emma's hand again and leads her from the foyer.

"Where are we going?" Emma asks.

"The living room." Regina says and grins at Emma. "There is a Golden Girls marathon on tonight."

Emma smiles and settles down for a very pleasant night.