Emma finished her paperwork and sat back in her chair. Two days late, but hey it was done, which meant she had the rest of the day free. She got out her cell phone and scrolled through some pictures – most were of Henry and her.
Then there was the one she stopped at.
She wasn't even conscious of the smile on her face as she examined the picture for the hundredth time in the weeks since she took it.
She had stopped by Regina's to pick up Henry so they could go to the movies. He – being a little too much like his birth mom – had to run upstairs to change having lost track of time.
"Where's Regina?" she called up after him. Normally, his other mother was around when Emma picked up Henry – usually to lecture her about making sure they wore their seatbelts, or eating healthy or some such.
"She's in the backyard," he yelled back.
Emma headed through the house to the back door. She opened and it stopped. Regina was kneeling by one of the flower beds, tending to the flowers there. She was wearing a pair of jeans, and a simple short-sleeved shirt and tennis shoes. She had a pair of earphones in and Emma could see the iphone tucked in her back pocket.
The sun was high in the sky and bathed her in its light.
Regina took a momentary break from the work and in that moment Emma snapped the picture. Regina hadn't even noticed her as she backed away and went back inside.
She couldn't really say why she had taken the picture.
Looking at it now she couldn't help but admire the casual clothes that Regina never wore in public. Then there was the perfect distribution of light. And the simplicity of the scene itself. Or maybe it was the small smile of Regina's lips, which Emma guessed was satisfaction at her work.
What really stuck out to Emma was how she had captured a look of peaceful happiness in her former adversary.
In that moment nothing was weighing Regina down, nothing was bothering her, and who she was in the past meant nothing – it was the Regina she wished she could have known from the beginning.
She turned off her phone and got up. She had the rest of the day off – maybe it wasn't too late to know that Regina.
