Henry stopped dead in his tracks when he turned into his driveway. Emma's yellow bug was parked in the driveway. Which was weird considering the only reason she ever really came over was to see him.
He made his way up the steps and crept through the front door, which was thankfully unlocked. He wanted to know what was up without alerting his mothers to his presence. He heard them talking in the kitchen.
"No, it doesn't really work that way, Emma," Regina laughed. Henry smiled, he liked that they were getting along, finally.
"No, no, look. If you just cooked it at a higher temperature, then I'm almost positive it would take less time to cook," Emma argued, also laughing. Henry stepped into the kitchen, where Emma and his mother were working on dinner.
"Hey, Emma. What are you doing here?" Henry asked.
"Hey, kid. We didn't hear you come in. Your mom invited me over for dinner. She promised me lasagna today when we had lunch," Emma said. Henry didn't miss the fact that they'd had lunch together that day, too. This was more one-on-one interaction than the two women had had for as long as Henry could remember. And he'd thought Operation Light Post would be difficult.
Emma had to admit, it had taken some time to get Regina talking earlier during lunch, but once Emma had started talking about food, it had stopped being an issue. Regina laughed when Emma said that she could cook and then invited her over for a real meal that night.
At the time, Emma had thought coming over for dinner would be an excellent idea. However, once Henry showed up, Regina was just as closed as she had ever been.
The only things that could be heard in the dining room of the manor were the various sounds of eating. Occasionally Henry would offer up some sort of comment and Regina would offer him an obligatory response, but it was nothing like dinner between the three of them usually was. It was tense, like everyone knew that there was something going unsaid.
"Is there any chance of ice cream," Henry asked eagerly. He'd hoped Ruby hadn't told his mother about the milkshake he'd already had earlier at lunch.
"I guess that would be alright," Regina agreed. Henry was up and clearing plates off the table almost immediately.
"I don't think I've ever seen him move that quickly for anything other than desserts," Emma observed as Henry moved into the kitchen.
The phone rang in the hallway. They could hear Henry pick it up and talk to whoever was on the other end. He seemed pretty excited.
"Hold on, let me ask my mom," he told the person on the phone. He looked around the corner of the dining room door, "Do you think it'd be okay if I spent the night at Hansel's house? They're just coming back from the diner and he said his dad could pick me up in like ten minute if I wanted to."
"That's up to your mom, kid," Emma said as Henry expectantly looked towards his more lenient mother.
"I suppose that would be acceptable if your room is clean," Regina hesitantly agreed.
"Awesome! Thanks, Mom," Henry said, beaming. He quickly confirmed with Hansel and then raced upstairs to pack a bag for the night.
"I should probably get going, then," Emma said, looking at her watch. It was only eight o'clock, hardly late enough to claim that she needed to be home soon. Besides, it was Friday and she was a grown woman, there wasn't really a reason for her to leave just because Henry was leaving. She'd probably just go straight home and watch Netflix for the rest of the night.
Regina knew Emma didn't really have a reason for leaving besides not wanting to impose. She also didn't want Emma to think that she was only welcome in the house if Henry was around.
"You don't really have to leave, Miss Swan. You could stay for a drink, if you'd like," Regina said, getting up to go to the kitchen.
"Um, yeah. I guess I could do that. I've really got nothing else to do," Emma said.
Emma followed Regina into the kitchen, where the brunette had putting dishes in the dishwasher. She stood sort of awkwardly off to the side and just watched for a minute. The doorbell rang and Henry popped into the kitchen to say his goodbyes.
"Don't stay up too late," Regina reminded him as he was walking out the door.
"Yeah, Mom, I know," Henry replied. With that, it was just Emma and Regina again.
Regina got out a bottle of wine and poured them both a glass. She gave Emma the bottle to carry. Then she led them into the living room. She handed Emma one of the glasses and sat down on the couch. Emma sat down on the couch as well, but tried to keep a bit of distance between them. After sitting the bottle down on the coffee table, she quickly drank all the wine that had been poured for her. Regina gave her a slightly questioning look.
"Are you just trying to get drunk tonight, Miss Swan? I can get you something stronger if that's your goal," Regina said, smirking.
"You're hilarious, a downright comic. I'm fine with the wine," Emma replied. She made it a point to sit the glass on the coffee table and not pour any more. Regina just pulled her legs up onto the couch and took a sip out of her glass, "Besides, I really shouldn't be drinking at all. Considering I'm pretty much always on call now that David's taking so much time off to help Snow out all the time."
"Maybe you should consider hiring more help, it's in your budget," Regina said, "I'm sure it wouldn't be a difficult position to fill."
"It's not like there's a ton of work to do or anything. It's just that the work that does need to be done always seems to happen at really weird hours," Emma explained. Hiring someone else probably wouldn't help very much. It would really probably just make her job harder since she would have to train whoever she hired, "Anyway, I was leaving the spot open in case Robin wanted it after he got all settled and everything. He had expressed some interest."
"He seems to be settling rather well. Although, I don't think he's really used to having someone else's opinions matter when it comes to Roland. Apparently he and Marian have very different parenting styles," Regina said. She'd talked to Robin quite a bit about it and he seemed frustrated with the situation.
"Eh, he'll get used to it eventually," Emma figured, "You certainly seem to have adjusted to co-parenting rather well."
"I think I could have adjusted better if my co-parent had been a little less abrasive," Regina said teasingly.
"Oh, I'm the abrasive one? Regina, you showed up at my door with a basket of apples to threaten me into leaving and then had your magic mirror do a full background check. I think the pot is calling the kettle black," Emma said, laughing, "Not that it really matters now, I suppose. I think we're doing a pretty solid job with the kid. But that's probably only because you did a solid job by yourself for the first ten years."
"Thank you, but no matter how many times I've said otherwise, you're not a bad mother yourself, Miss Swan," Regina said.
"Was that a compliment? Did you just compliment me?" Emma teased, "Just wait until I tell everyone, there'll be a rumor that you're losing your mind by the end of the week."
"I'm not exclusively a terrible person. I've given compliments in the past, maybe this is the first time you've done anything deserving of one," Regina teased back. Emma was beginning to notice that they got dangerously close to flirting anytime they were alone together for more than fifteen minutes. She wasn't sure what the intent behind any of it was, but she certainly wasn't going to be the one to stop it from happening.
"Whatever you say, Regina. I know for a fact, however, that you've held back on complimenting my wardrobe. Admit it, you're secretly a huge fan of skinny jeans," Emma said.
"I have no idea what has led you to that conclusion."
"Do you mean besides the fact that you stare at my ass every time you think I'm not paying attention? Because that's about all I've got as far as evidence goes, but I think it's pretty damning," Emma laughed, "But go ahead, deny it all you want."
"I do not stare at you, Miss Swan," Regina replied. In all honestly, she'd caught herself staring at Emma a few times, but it was never on purpose. She hadn't realized that Emma had noticed.
"Alright, alright. I'll take your word for it," Emma said, getting up, "I should really be heading home."
Regina walked Emma to the front door and held it open for her. Emma turned back towards Regina before walking out the door.
"This was nice, you know? Dinner and all that. We should do it more often," she said. She didn't really give Regina a chance to respond before stepping forward and awkwardly hugging the other woman. Regina stiffened for a moment before hugging her back.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Regina."
"Goodnight, Emma."
