"Hey hey," Emma whispers to the bird, slowly reaching out and petting it's head.
"It's okay buddy," she mumbles.
Emma gently coaches to bird off the path and to the side before running to the library and getting a book on them. She reads as fast as she can, learning about the bird, a raptor to be exact. She then rushes up to her room, finding the biggest box she can and a sleeping bag. She wraps the bag around the box, making it dark on the inside.
"Oh my god, is that for that bird?" Regina questions as she comes in from her shower.
"If they can see too much they get freaked out and go psycho," Emma states, messing with the strings.
Regina goes to the small sink in their room, drying her hair a bit.
"Do you think it's going to be able to fly again?" she questions.
"Don't worry, I'm going to take care of it. This is going to way, way cool!" Emma laughs to herself.
Regina smiles, watching Emma in the mirror. She turns, walking towards the blonde.
"Come here," Regina orders, grabbing Emma's bicep and pulling her into a kiss.
Regina's hand cups Emma's face, both drowning in the kiss.
"I'd be so totally lost without you Ems," Regina whispers, stroking the side of her face.
With a shy glance into each other's eyes Emma closes the distance between them again, both falling deeper into it.
Emma whispers to the bird, putting it into the box. It squeaks, jumping back out.
"Here," Emma mumbles, giving it a dead mouse before putting it back it.
This time it stays in the box and Emma pulls the string, making the sleeping bag close around it. Then she pulls another string, lifting the box high into the air.
"My mother, she really liked to get her hands dirty," I stated, patting dirt around a flower, "I'm always afraid of like, worm eggs."
"Worm eggs? To worms lay eggs?" Joe questioned.
"I think so. Or no. I don't know."
We both chuckled.
"I don't think they lay eggs, I think they just kinda ooze up out of the Earth. You're mother, she sounds pretty interesting. I like a woman who doesn't mind getting her hands dirty," he handed me another flower.
"Yeah. She would say 'hey don't worry. It's a clean dirty'," he chuckled, "she was funny."
He offered me a smile as I pulled out a weed.
"Each year at spring time she would wake me up in the morning and she would whisper in my ear 'the first crocus is here' and we'd go stand outside in our nightgowns and bare feet."
"And uh, get your feet dirty together?" Joe questioned.
I laughed, looking at the ground.
There were many nights that us three stayed up late, singing our hearts out to Add It Up by Violent Femmes, the one song Emma had a tape for. We would rearrange the room and dance until we fell asleep. I always woke up just in time to watch Emma put out her smoke, which she would be smoking next to the window, grab her bag and leave the room. No doubt she was sneaking out to feed that bird of hers.
Emma had done much more than just feed the bird and put it in a man made nest. Within a few weeks the bird was jumping from Emma's spot in a tree to catch the mice Emma would release still alive.
I was awake one night when she came back in, taking off her pants and her top, leaving her nude except for her boy shorts and crawling into bed with Regina.
I watched her snuggle into Regina's side as Regina groaned.
"Regina I love you," Emma whispered in her ear.
That caused Regina to smile, turning and kissing the blonde.
I don't know if they didn't know I was awake or just pretended they didn't know. Soon enough their sounds, their moans, just sorta, I dunno. They became normal. It was okay. It was just a part of how things were. It was like home.