Okay, so my original plan was to do weekly updates, but my job is a major bitch and I'm always tired after so I forget to write. I have Chapters 7 and Chapter 8 already written, but I plan on getting a few chapters written before posting them. I will try to post every two weeks or so. This story should be around 20 chapters or so. All mistakes are mine and if this feels a bit forced I apologize I am not the great at romance... like at all. But I don't really want this story to be super serious (I'm too childish to write anything like that and not put a dirty joke in it somewhere.)
As usual I do not Once Upon a Time, but me and the other fans can do better than the actual writers.
Emma stormed down the street from Lily's apartment pissed. "Fuck you Lily." She reached the diner and entered fully ready to rant to Ruby when she spotted Regina and Henry sitting at a booth. She grinned and made her way over, her bad mood immediately erased at the sight brunettes.
"Hey Regina." Emma said to the brunette before ruffling Henry's hair, "Hey Henry."
Regina grinned at the blonde and said, "Hi Emma." While Henry let out an enthusiastic, "Hi." Before diving back into his pancake.
"Please take a seat." Regina motioned to the empty space next to Henry.
"Thanks." Emma said sitting down before popping up again, "Actually I wanted to get a bear claw." She looked down at Regina's almost empty coffee cup, "Do you want one and a refill?"
"Oh, no I already finished my breakfast, but I will take a coffee thank you." Regina said watching as Emma nodded and rushed to the counter.
"Mommy can I play with Emma today?" Henry asked after swallowing his food.
Regina pulled her eyes from the blonde and focused on her son. "I don't know Henry."
Henry pouted, "Why not?"
"Well I was going to play with Emma today." Regina said blushing slightly when she heard what she said. She just knew if the girls were there they would laugh and make it into a euphemism.
Henry's face brightened, "Me too?"
"No." Regina spat. She sighed when Henry's face fell and tried again, "I'm sorry Henry but-" she stopped her sentence when Emma came back to the table.
"Here's your coffee M'Lady." Emma winked handing the coffee over to Regina.
"Why thank you." Regina said accepting the cup smirking.
Their flirty gaze was disturbed when a small voice said, "Can I play with you and Mommy today, Emma?" Henry asked.
Emma looked towards the ceiling and bit her lip, seeming to contemplate it as she retook her spot next to Henry again before saying, "Sure Henry, that's fine."
Henry's face brightened and he fist pumped the air, "Yes, thank you!"
"No problem." Emma grinned when he dove back into his pancake.
Regina slightly frowned, "Emma," she continued when the blonde turned to her, "I thought we had plans."
Emma smiled and was quick to reassure her, "We do and don't worry, he won't mess up anything." She continued when Regina sighed and grabbed her hand ignoring her fast heartbeat. "I'm sorry if you're not okay with it. I can totally see if you're upset I just thought it would be fun if the little man was there." Emma smiled over at Henry before turning back to Regina. "Bonus: you don't have to pay for a babysitter or worry about Ruby and M&M corrupting your kid because he'll be with us."
Regina gave her a little smile, "Okay."
They sat there gazing at each other with soft smiles and hands still intertwined until Henry finished his pancake, "Emma?" he asked.
"Hmm?" Emma responded still looking at Regina.
"Are you going to eat your bear claw?" He asked curiously.
Emma looked at her uneaten and her stomach growled, "Yes, why did you want it Henry?"
Henry scrunched up his face. "No, it looks cold."
Emma poked her bear claw and pouted, it was cold. She then shrugged and started eating it.
Regina watched amused as Henry asked appalled, "You're going eat it cold?"
Emma nodded chewing, "Yes." She swallowed, "I paid good money for that bear claw. It will not go to waste."
"I don't like cold food." Henry said.
"Well sometimes you have to do what you have to do." Emma shrugged and kept eating.
Regina chuckled at the blonde and her son.
"Besides, don't you like cereal? Everyone loves cereal." Emma asked.
"Well yes, but that's different." Henry said wiping some excess syrup from his plate and licking it from his finger getting some syrup on his chin.
"How is that different?" Emma asked.
Regina licked a napkin and started wiping Henry's face as he tried to talk, "Because cereal is supposed to-", Henry moved his head only to be pulled back by Regina, "Mom!" he whined.
Regina smirked, "Well, stop being messy and I'll stop cleaning your face." She finished pulling back.
Emma smiled at the smug brunette and changed the subject. "So about tonight. It'll have to be later." When Regina looked confused she clarified, "Not super late, but like 6. Granny is going to let me close the diner early tonight and I thought we could hang out here?"
Regina raised an eyebrow, "Granny is going to let you close after last time?"
Emma playfully huffed, "Hey, that totally wasn't my fault and besides there will be a kid with us so it's not like we could do the horizontal tango." Emma eyes got wide when she heard what she said. Regina raised her eyebrow again, "No, not that want to-" both eyebrows shot up and Emma tried to backtrack, "I mean I would-I-I," Emma huffed, "I'm just going to shut up now." Shoving the rest of her bear claw into her mouth, cheeks burning. Regina laughed at the mortified blonde.
Henry looked between his mother and Emma confused, "What's the horizontal tango?"
Regina blanched and Emma giggled.
"'Home! And this is my room- and you're all here! And I'm not going to leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all! And- Oh, Auntie Em- there's no place like home!' Dorothy said hugging her family." Mary Margret said finishing the story she was reading to the kids. "The End."
A little redhaired girl raised her hand, "My neighbor's name is Dorothy!"
Mary Margret smiled, "That's very nice sweetie." She saw David sneaking into the library trying to be quiet and glanced at the clock. "Alright, why don't all of you go search for a book you want to read?" she asked the kids in a kind voice.
When the kids went off in search of a good book Mary Margret made her way towards David greeting him with a kiss, "Hey." David said pulling away. "How's the reading going?"
Mary Margret beamed, "Great! Oh, David these kids are wonderful. I can't wait until I become a teacher!"
David smile at his girlfriend. Her excitement always managed to put a smile on his face, well anything she did put a smile on his face. "Do you think I could steal you away for lunch?"
"Yes, just hold on for a second." Mary Margret said walking over the librarian to share a few words before meeting her boyfriend again. "Okay, let's go Mr. French said he'll watch the kids."
David smiled, "Great." Putting his arm around Mary Margret and lead her out of the library.
On their way, back from the diner David spotted a flyer and grabbed it, "Hey, the Summer Bash is next week! We're going, right?" he asked eyeing his girlfriend.
"Of course." Mary Margret said looking at the flyer, "As if we would ever miss the Summer Bash." Her eyes lit up, "I hope they have the inflatable water launch pad this year."
David laughed, "Why? You never do it."
Mary Margret pouted, "Well no, not unless I need to. Those things are dangerous. I just want to see people have fun with it."
David put his arms around Mary Margret's waist. "Why would you possibly need to get on the launch pad?"
"Well," Mary Margret said sinking into his embrace, "Someone could go flying and get stuck in a tree, and the only person small enough to land where they land was me. So, I would need to be launched off the launch pad so I could save them."
David kissed her cheek, "Yep, that's my awesome heroic girlfriend." He teased.
"Hey, I could save you."
"I know you could baby." He said kissing her cheek again, turning her face towards him, "And I wouldn't want anyone else saving me but you." He finished before kissing her soundly on the lips.
Mary Margret pulled away. "I love you, David."
"I love you too."
Ruby looked at the clock on the wall then turned to her friend, "It's almost 6 where is Regina?" before wiping down the table in front of her.
Emma grunted, "She had to run an errand." Picking up the now empty box of napkins she used to restock the containers and setting it by the trash.
"Here's the flour, Emma." Henry said in a strained voice holding a big bag of flour.
Emma looked at the boy and stifled a laugh the bag was almost the same size as him. Henry looked like he was about to tip over so Emma quickly grabbed the bag from him. "Thank you, Henry, but I told you to come get me when you found it so I could pick it up."
Henry puffed out his chest. "I wanted to help."
"Well thanks buddy." Emma replied ruffling his hair.
Henry giggled, "You're welcome."
Ruby took off her apron, "What exactly are you doing tonight Emma?" she said walking past Emma and Henry to get to the back.
"Well I took your idea and decided to go with baking, but not just pies." Emma said setting the bag of floor on the counter.
"I thought you didn't want to go with that plan because of Henry." Ruby yelled from the back.
"Me?"
Emma's eyes fell on Henry's fallen face and widen slightly. "What about me?" Henry asked face scrunching up with confusion.
"Um." Emma said searching her brain for a good response. "I didn't want-"
"You didn't want to play with me?" Henry pouted.
"No buddy, not like that." Emma said kneeling so she was eye level with Henry. "I didn't want to hang out with your mom only because of you. I wanted to be friends with her. I didn't want to use you as an excuse to hang out with her. But I do want to play with you and your mom, so I'm happy everything worked out today." Emma said beaming.
Henry looked up at her curiously, "You didn't want to use me to see mommy?"
"Yes." Emma quietly said not sure where this conversation was going.
"You want to play with me and my mommy?" Henry innocently asked.
Emma heard a chuckle behind her and started to blush, "Oh, she wants to 'play' with your mommy alright." Ruby said laughing harder when she saw Emma's red face.
"Shut up Ruby." Emma hissed.
Henry face brightened, "Emma you can play with my mommy anytime you want."
Ruby let out a loud laugh and Emma managed to get even redder than before.
"Thanks, Henry." Emma muttered.
"Your welcome." Henry said proud he solved Emma's problem.
When Ruby's laughter died down and Emma's face returned to it's original shade Regina walked into the diner.
Henry's head popped up at the sound of the door opening, "Mommy!" he ran to the door and into her arms, "Emma wants to play with you."
Ruby barked out a laugh and Emma sighed feeling the blush creep up her neck. She risked a peak over at Regina and was met with a raise eyebrow and a playful look in Regina's eyes and looked away closing her eyes, blushing even more.
"Alright, I'm out." Ruby declared when she stopped laughing at Emma.
After a series of goodbyes were thrown Ruby was gone and it was down to Emma, Regina, and Henry.
"So, what are we doing here Emma?" Regina asked the blonde.
"Oh well, I thought we could make goodies." Emma said motioning to the flour on the counter. "We could make a cake, a pie, cake, some cookies, or cupcakes or…" Emma said looking into Regina's eyes, "cake."
"Do you want some to make a cake Emma?" Regina asked.
"Yes." Emma said immediately, "But you guys can make whatever you want. I thought we could have fun with all of it." Emma said walking into the back and reappearing moments later with a variety of pans while Regina took off her jacket.
"So, what do you guys want to make? There's cake mix, pie mix, cupcake mix, cookie mi-" Emma started listing off names.
"I want to make cookies!" Henry excitedly said looking over a variety of colored dyes.
"Alright little man." Emma said chuckling glancing at Regina with a small smile, "And what for the lady?"
Regina let out a teasing smile, "Oh, I think I have a good idea for what I will make. The question is can you keep up?"
Emma smirked, "Are you challenging me Miss Mills?"
"I'd hardly call it challenging when it's rather obvious I'd win." Regina said eyes gleaming.
Emma smirked then bit her lip, "Oh you're so on."
Sometimes people make mistakes, is it really their fault? Probably, but Emma denies that. The first food fight was not her fault okay? Henry needed help stirring his batter and Emma suggested using the powered mixer. Unfortunately, that idea back fired because when Emma flipped the switch Regina, who was trying to stop them, got sprayed with the batter.
Emma prayed to any god who was listening and started kicking herself mentally. She had forgotten to secure it before Henry put it on the highest possible setting. Regina froze for a century it seemed before she sent Emma and Henry an over friendly smile. Emma was preoccupied by the numerous apologizes she was still throwing at Regina and a guilt that she ruined the night, that didn't notice Regina moving until it was too late. Regina dumped her hand in the batter and started flinging it at the blonde and kid. That started the first food fight, not Emma, technically.
The second surely the hell wasn't Emma fault. While Emma and Regina were sending each other playful banter about winning their competition Henry was climbing the counter behind Emma reaching for a bag of candy corn. He knocked over a spoon and use his upper strength to get on top of the counter. Doing so, he unknowingly used a piping bag of icing to help hoist himself up, so when Emma bent down to pick up the spoon she was shot in the face with green icing. Emma used her hand to wipe some icing off her face then rubbed that hand on Henry's laughing face. Regina started laughing and Emma almost got lost in that melodic sound, almost.
Now they were staring at their finished products and Emma pouted, even Henry's cookies were better than her cake. Henry made monster cookies with candy corn horns and marshmallow eyes, Regina made a S'mores pie that was gold medal worthy and Emma… well Emma tried to make a watermelon cake. Her cake deflated in the oven, the pink icing was runny, the green icing wasn't as clean as the picture and most of the chocolate chips Emma used as seeds slid into the dent in the middle of the cake from where it deflated.
Emma looked between the picture of the perfect watermelon cake in the recipe book and her failure. "Well it looks like you won Regina."
Regina smirked, "Well obviously," She looked at Emma's cake, "But your… creation is a close second."
Emma snorted, "Flattery will get you anywhere with me.", she joked, "Don't make me laugh mine is terrible."
"No, it-"
"You can't even tell what it is can you?" Emma asked brow rising.
"It's obviously a… it's a…" Regina trail off thinking.
Henry looked at Emma's cake while chomping on a cookie and scrunched up his face, "What's that? It looks like when I scraped my knee on the ground and Mommy put a green band-aid on it."
Emma groaned, "It's a watermelon."
Both mother and son stared at the atrocious cake for a few moments before Henry said incredulously, "What? No, it's not."
"Yes, it is." Emma pointed to her cake, "It's cut in half see? That's the outside and this is the inside of the watermelon with chocolate chip seeds." Emma pouted.
Regina chuckled at Emma's pout. "Well I'm sure it tastes good."
Emma brightened a bit, "Yeah maybe you're right."
"I'm always right dear." Regina said grabbing some plates and forks while Emma started cutting out slices.
Henry eyed his slice of cake with suspicion, "Does this taste good?"
Emma placed her hand on Regina's forearm to stop Regina from taking a bite. Who better for a taste-tester than a five-year-old who didn't have filter? "Just try it kid."
Henry shrugged then took a bite. Both women held their breath when Henry's eyes got big. He finished chewing and swallowed, "That's really good Emma! Now anytime I scraped my knee I'll think of cake!" He said diving back into his cake.
Emma sighed and Regina laughed.
Emma loved seeing this side Regina.
This playful, carefree side of Regina.
She and Emma were having flirty banter when the trio started cleaning up. As it got later Henry fell asleep at around 9:30 having not been used to staying up that late.
"Are you going to the Summer Bash next week?" Emma asked scooping Henry up in her arms while Regina turned off the lights.
"I'm not sure." Regina said making her way outside.
"Why not?" Emma asked quietly so she wouldn't wake Henry.
"It's not really my scene." Regina said, "I'm not sure I'll be that welcome."
"Who wouldn't want you there?" Emma said immediately getting upset at the prospect of people disliking Regina.
"My family is known a certain reputation." Regina said casting her eyes down.
"Well you said your father was a great person, so that's a good reputation." Emma said trying to cheer the brunette up.
Regina took a deep breath and hesitated before saying, "My father was a great person, my mother was not."
Emma noticed the hesitation and the mood change. The last thing she wanted was to upset the brunette, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Regina nodded gratefully, "But can I say one thing?" Emma asked.
Regina nodded again, "Fuck them."
"Pardon?" Regina asked bewildered.
Emma shifted Henry in her arms more comfortably and continued, "Whoever thinks badly of you because of your mother's reputation and doesn't actually make any effort to get to know you, the real you, doesn't deserve your time. Everything about you is wonderful and your mother should not be the reason why no one wants to see this beautiful side of you. Regina, you are so kind and super smart and a sarcastic asshole," Emma chuckled when Regina rolled her eyes, "and you're beautiful." Emma said with a softness in her eyes. Emma looked down at Regina's lips and back up to her eyes, "So beautiful." She repeated.
They stood staring at each other as the world faded away around them. Emma couldn't think about anything other than Regina. Regina's eyes, Regina's lips, Regina's personality, Regina's everything. Emma tried to memorize every detail of Regina's face from the color of her eyes to the scar above her lip. Emma wondered what it would feel like to kiss those lips.
Regina apparently had the same idea because she started leaning in. Emma closed her eyes and started leaning in to meet Regina in the mid-
Henry thrashed in his sleep and kneed Emma in the stomach. "Ow." Emma said pulling back trying to rub the sore spot whilst holding Henry.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Regina said moving to grab Henry but the blonde shook her head.
"Nah, it's fine." Besides him being a cockblock. Emma bitterly thought.
"We should get going." Regina said walking towards her car.
Emma followed before stopping at a lamppost to read the flyer stapled to it. She managed to snag the flyer and put it in her pocket without jostling Henry too much and made her way over to Regina's car.
With Henry buckled in the backseat Regina drove Emma to her apartment.
"Thanks Regina, but I could've walked home." Emma said laughing a little.
"Well, I insisted and I didn't want you walking home alone at night." Regina said putting the car in park.
"I can take care of myself." Emma countered
"I know you can." Regina with a small smile. "I had fun tonight."
Emma smiled, "Me too. I hope we can do it again sometime."
"I would like that." Regina replied.
Emma pulled the flyer from her pocket, "Will I see you there?" Regina took the paper and eyed it. "It just- I really would like to see you there, but you don't have to. I don't want to pressure you to do anything you don't want to do. It would just brighten my day and I'm sure you'd have fun if we got toget-" Emma cut herself off blushing, "I'm rambling, I'm sorry."
Regina smiled at the babbling blonde, "I'll think about it."
"You will?" Emma asked her cheeks turning back to normal color.
Regina nodded, "I look forward to seeing you again Miss Swan." She husked before leaning in and kissing the area between Emma's cheek and lips. "But maybe next time without Henry?"
Emma's brain turned into mush, but she managed to ask, "How about an actual date then?"
Regina nodded, "I would like that."
Emma smiled so wide her cheeks hurt but she didn't care, "I would- yes- okay- sounds like- sounds like a plan. Um… goodnight Regina." Emma felt like a pile of energy right now. She was so excited she didn't even get embarrassed at her stumbling over her words.
Regina chuckled at the excited blonde, "Goodnight Emma."
"Have a pleasant night." Emma said before exiting the car. She made it past the door when her words caught up to her. "Have a pleasant night? What the actual fuck was that and why did I stumbled over my words like that?" Emma rubbed her forehead and leaned against the door, "What's wrong with me?"
"You shouldn't talk to yourself Em." Ruby said from the kitchen.
Emma jumped then regarded her roommate, who was sitting on the counter with a glass of water in a large t-shirt, "Well shit, you shouldn't be sitting in the dark anyway and are you wearing underwear?"
Ruby smirked, "Em it's me you're talking to, I never wear underwear and beside I need to re-hydrate, she wore me out."
"Who wore you out?"
"Mulan." Ruby said downing her glass. "How was your date?"
"It went really well actually. I asked her out for a date." Emma sighed dreamily.
"That's great! Wait did you actually ask her out for a date or did you chicken out again?" Ruby said.
"I actually asked her out." Emma rolled her eyes, "She might come to the Summer Bash next week so I'll asked details then."
"Okay just don't chicken out again or I'll have M&M make you legally change your name to Emma Chicken."
"That was lame." Emma said.
"Well I'm post-coital I'm not really thinking about anything besides Mulan abs." Ruby stretched and let out a satisfied grin, "You know she has spine tattoo, right?"
"Damn." Emma said picturing it.
"Yep." Ruby said hopping off the counter, "I'm going to start round…" She counted on her fingers, "...4. Goodnight Em." She threw over her shoulder as she left.
"Night Rubes." Emma said. She wondered if Regina had a tattoo. Oh fuck, what if she did have a tattoo? Emma groaned.