Regina and Henry were out on the front lawn, playing tag until his little legs wore out and he spent more time falling than standing and running. By the time five rolled around, Henry was hungry and she made him up a snack of cantaloupe and honey melon, chopped neatly and placed in a plastic bowl that she let him carry out on to the front porch. Regina continuously checked her watch and looked up and down the road for any sign of Emma Swan. As six rolled around, she started to worry. Surely the Nolan's hadn't kept her for that long.
By seven, Regina's worry increased tenfold and she realized that Emma didn't have her number so she couldn't call her from the Nolan's to let her know if she was going to be later than expected. She brought Henry inside at seven-thirty and started dinner, leaving it up to his choice and that ended up being hot dogs minus the bun, but she used bread instead for hers and chopped Henry's up on a plate for him.
By eight, Henry was sleepy and crying for his mother and Regina knew she couldn't wait any longer for Emma. She called Ruby and asked her to come over to the house as quickly as possible and the very moment that Ruby showed up at her front door, she hopped in the Mustang and took off in the direction of the Nolan farm all the while keeping a keen eye out for a blonde on a bicycle.
She drove in silence, her hands clutching on to the steering wheel so tight her knuckles went rigid and white in a matter of minutes. She chewed furiously on the toothpick until both ends were destroyed and when she reached into the front pocket of her shirt, she found it to be empty and cursed as she pounded a fist against the steering wheel. Not only was she combating her worry for the blonde woman she was inadvertently falling for, the nicotine cravings were hitting her harder than ever.
Just five minutes from the Nolan farm, along the narrow rural road, she spotted the borrowed bicycle just off to the side, partway in a ditch and she slammed on the breaks with a start. The worst of fears hit her hard in those milliseconds it took for her to stop the car and jump out. She worried that Emma had fallen and injured herself, but there were no signs of an accident. She worried that maybe somebody picked her up; someone with less than innocent intentions and that by now she could be anywhere or dead.
"Emma?" Regina called out and she jogged over to where the discarded bicycle lay partway in the ditch. "Emma!"
Only the sound of the bird chirping as the sun began to lower against the sky answered her and with the falling darkness, she knew she had to find her and fast. Regina ran her fingers through her hair roughly and looked around. On both sides of the rural road was nothing but fields of grass weight high and her visibility was growing severely limited with the fading light.
"Emma!"
She was losing light fast and she made a quick dash to the trunk of her Mustang and pulled out a flashlight from her kit stashed in the wheel-well. The light flickered when she switched it on and she hit it against the palm of her hand as she headed back over to the bicycle.
"Emma?" She tried again to no avail and she shone the light around on the waist high grass and found an imperfection that looked to have been made fairly recently. "Damn it, Emma," Regina groaned as she stepped into the grass and dozens upon dozens of bugs flew up and into her face. She grunted as she swatted them away and followed the imperfections in the grass, inch by inch.
Twenty-five feet from the road she spotted the edge of the too big boots Emma had worn for her first day and she all but stumbled the last few feet before falling to her knees to the unconscious woman on the ground.
"Emma?" She murmured as she reached to check for her pulse. "Emma, wake up."
"Hmm?" Emma murmured hazily and her eyes fluttered open. "Regina?"
"Hey," Regina smiled down at her. "Are you okay?"
"So tired."
"So tired that you decided to take a nap in a field?" Regina asked and upon Emma's lethargic nod of her head she couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, let me take you home. Henry has been waiting for you. He was crying for you when I left. He's just as worried about you as I am."
Emma smiled slightly and it was apparent that she was just beyond exhausted. Before she could reach to help Emma to her feet, she found herself toppling on top of her and with arms wrapped around her, holding her close and their lips only a hairsbreadth apart. She wanted to stop her the first time her lips brushed against her own, she wanted to stop her the second and the third time, but by the forth, she found herself responding to the lazy, lingering kisses wholeheartedly.
"I forgot."
"Hmm?" Regina murmured, her hand falling to cup Emma's cheek lightly. "You forgot what, darling?" She asked, her thumb stroking over a flushed cheek slowly and surely.
"I don't know how to ride a bicycle."
"Oh Emma," Regina sighed, shaking her head before she helped Emma up to her feet.
"I started walking," she said softly. "But I didn't realize how tired I was and—and—"
"This field looked like a nice place to take a nap?"
Emma's lips turned up in a half smile and she shrugged. Regina shook her head and her relief continuing to flood through her over the fact that Emma was safe and sound. She put Emma into the passenger seat before she retrieved the borrowed bicycle and placed it in the trunk. By the time she got in behind the wheel, Emma was leaning against the door, fast asleep.
Regina idly chewed on her bottom lip on the drive back to the house. It was clear that Emma's body was not used to the intensive labor she'd put it through on the first day of her new job. It was also clear she had no place to tell her not to go back if it affected her in such a way. Sure she knew her feelings for her were growing quickly, but in reality they still had a very long way to go before they reached the point where they were actually together. A few kisses were not a relationship, not even remotely close.
She pulled up in her own driveway and she helped the tired blonde out of the car and across the front lawn to her own house. Emma could barely move to pull out the keys and she handed them to Regina who was left up to the task of finding the one that opened the front door. Once inside, she took her into the living room and sat her down on the couch before she moved to turn on the lights.
"I'm sorry," Emma said quietly when Regina returned to her. "I wasn't thinking."
"All you were thinking about was having a nap in a field," Regina replied and she knelt down in front of her and helped her to remove her muddy boots. "I should've left you my number. If you were too tired to make it home on your own, you could've called me."
"I thought I could make it. I thought that if I tried hard enough that I could figure out how to ride that bicycle."
"What did you do all day?"
"Worked in the stables mostly, mucking out stalls. David taught me how to lead the horses to and from the pasture and I spent some time helping him stock the stables with bales of hay," she sighed and licked over her dry lips. "It's hard work. Harder than I thought it was going to be."
"Did you eat anything at all today?"
"David's wife made sandwiches before she went to work for us."
Regina nodded and gently squeezed Emma's knees before she rose to her feet. "Do you think you can manage to shower while I go and retrieve Henry?"
"Is that your way of telling me that I stink?" Emma quipped.
"Well you smell like a barn, so yes, you do stink and a hot shower will help your sore muscles relax," Regina replied, fighting off her smile. "I'll be back shortly. Go and shower."
Ruby was full of questions by the time she walked into her own house, but they were questions she told her she'd answer after she got Henry home. He was laying on the couch, fast asleep and she scooped him up in her arms without waking him and carried him home. She laid him down in his bed and closed the door almost all the way. She didn't want to just leave, not until she knew that Emma was safe and sound in her own bed.
She paced the living room until she heard the shower shut off. She felt her nerves coiling inside of her when Emma stepped out of the shower with just a towel wrapped around her body and a smaller one in her hands that she used to dry her hair. Emma just smiled at her before walking into her own bedroom and she emerged a few minutes later wearing a light green sleeveless nightgown that barely reached her knees.
"Thank you," Emma said quietly. "For watching Henry today and for coming to find me."
"I was worried about you."
"I was delirious when I thought that taking a nap in that field was a good idea. I swear I was only going to stop until everything stopped spinning and then I was going to walk home," Emma frowned and she looked severely disappointed in herself. "How was Henry today?"
"He was good. He had fun spending the day at the station. Don't worry, I fed him dinner and he's in bed, though I didn't want to step over any boundaries by changing him into pajamas. He was fast asleep when I went to retrieve him."
"Okay. Thank you, Regina. I don't know how I can repay you for watching him all day for me."
Regina smiled sweetly at her. "I can think of one way you can repay me," she murmured and when Emma's eyes went wide, what she wouldn't have given to know exactly what she was thinking. With a soft chuckle, she stepped towards her. "Your gratitude can be paid in a form of a good night kiss, Emma."
"Oh!" Emma sighed as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "That I can do. Just let me go and check on Henry first, okay?"
"Sure."
Regina paced in the living room for a few minutes before moving to stand by the front door. After nearly ten minutes Emma emerged from his room and walked over to her slowly. The stiff way that she walked showed just how sore her whole body was from a day of hard labor but that didn't stop her from leaning in to kiss Regina softly on the lips.
"Thank you again, Regina."
"Good night, Emma."
"Night."
Regina smiled and opened the door, wishing that Emma would stop her to kiss her once more. When that didn't happen, she left, looking back only once to see that Emma was watching her. With one last smile, she turned and walked across the front lawn and headed into the house where she was not surprised to find Ruby waiting for her.
Long after Ruby had left, Regina found herself sitting out back with a glass of wine and her head laying against the back of the chair, her eyes focusing on the hundreds of thousands of stars in the sky. Her mind drifted back to the thoughts she'd had while having ice cream with Henry that afternoon. She wondered just how much, if any, those very same thoughts had accelerated her worry for Emma when she didn't return home, and she wondered if her growing feelings were what had made her yearn to kiss her every single chance that she could get.
It almost felt like a teenage romance because of how intense and quickly things had been happening, but she was not a teenager, far from it. She knew if Emma didn't want this to be happening, she would've said something by now and she most definitely wouldn't be the one to initiate some of the kisses they had shared thus far.
Regina knew they had to take a step back and tread carefully with the nature of their budding relationship because if they weren't careful and the wrong person found out, she feared for more than just her job and her life there in Storybrooke; she feared for Emma and her son.
Because of the thoughts running rampant in her mind, sleep was hard to come by and it was another long, restless night. She was just grateful the night dispatch hadn't called throughout the night; the level of her exhaustion was like nothing she had ever experienced through before. She was weary on her feet when she rose just after the sun started to peak up in the sky and she wrapped a thin grey robe around her and trudged out to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.
Unlike previous mornings, she kept the blinds on the kitchen window shut, pushing her beautiful blonde neighbor as far from her thoughts as she could manage. She shifted her focus to the notes she had tacked on the wall and tried to make more sense of the evidence that had been found in the report. There were still some things that just didn't add up and by the third cup of coffee, she was more than ready to make the trip out to the woods and figure this out for herself.
[X]
Emma groaned, her body protesting every little move, yet she couldn't spend the day in bed just because she was exhausted and sore beyond belief. Mother's didn't get sick days and time didn't come to a standstill just because of pain. Her first and foremost priority would always be Henry, even if that meant not quite looking after herself the way she should be.
"Mama?" Henry called out quietly from the bedroom door. "Is Mama sleeping?"
"No, Henry. Come here," Emma replied and she threw back the thin sheets and he scrambled to climb into bed with her. "Morning, munchkin."
"Nope, not munchkin. Deputy Swan."
Emma laughed and touched the brim of the sheriff's hat he was wearing. "Where did you get this, Deputy Swan?"
"Gina gave it to me," he beamed proudly. "This too!" He said and he thrust a small badge into her face. She gently eased his hand back so she could get a better look at it. "It's mine. Gina said."
"She said so, didn't she?" Emma smiled and she pulled the hat off before pulling him into her arms. "Did you have fun yesterday with the sheriff?"
"Yep! I had ice cream with Gina!"
"You did? What kind did you have?"
"Chocolate," he deadpanned, looking at her as if she wasn't serious. "Gina had white."
"Vanilla," Emma corrected him. "What else did you do yesterday?"
"Dance party with Ruby," Henry replied with enthusiasm. "I shake it."
"Did you? Show Mama."
Emma managed to sit up in bed as Henry scrambled to his feet between her legs and he showed off his dance moves for her, shaking his little bum until he toppled over. They erupted into a fit of giggles and she found a morsel of energy to tickle him until he begged her to stop. She pulled him into her lap and covered his chubby cheeks with dozens of kisses, the last one on his forehead lingered for a few long seconds.
Once they were out of bed, she managed to make her way to the kitchen and got Henry a bowl of cereal and filled a sippy-cup with milk for him. She stood at the sink for the longest time, gripping on to the edge of the counter as her eyes fell upon the house next door and the closed blinds. She frowned and started the coffee pot, swallowing that disappointment that she wouldn't see Regina like they had those past few mornings through the window. She had to put on a happy face and if not for Henry, for herself as well.
By midmorning, Emma wasn't feeling nearly as sore as she had been the night before, but her level of disappointment had risen when she went to play with Henry on the front lawn and saw that Regina's Mustang was no longer parked in the driveway next door. She turned her focus to her son, watching while he played pretend with the sheriff's hat firmly on his head, the badge pinned to his t-shirt, and a stick in the shape of his gun in his right hand.
When an unfamiliar brunette walked up to the house, Henry went running towards her before Emma could stop him. The woman laughed and fixed the hat on his head before presenting him with the brown paper bag she was carrying.
"I got you something to go with your hat and badge, Deputy Swan."
"You did?" Henry asked and she nodded, opening the bag for him and he pulled out a small toy gun. "Mama look!"
"What is it?" Emma asked and he came running over to show her. "Wow, that's sure neat, isn't it? Did you say thank you?"
"Thank you, Ruby!" Henry shouted back at her and took off running as fast as his little legs could take him while making popping noises as he pointed the gun around.
"Hi," the woman smiled at her. "You must be Emma. I'm Ruby Lucas, I'm the dispatcher down at the station."
"Hi," Emma smiled and rose from the front step slowly and shook her hand. "You didn't need to get him anything."
"I wanted to. I saw it and I knew it was perfect. You don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all."
"Great," Ruby smiled. "How are you feeling?" She asked and upon Emma's confused look, she shook her head with a laugh. "Regina called me over to watch Henry when she went to look for you. She told me what happened."
"Oh," Emma frowned. "I—I'm feeling okay, I guess. I'm not used to doing that kind of work."
"You're working on the Nolan farm, right?" Ruby asked and she simply nodded, her attention focused more on her son than the woman trying to make friendly conversation. "A farm hand is pretty strenuous work. I used to help out on their farm when I was younger, long before David and Mary Margaret got married. Give it a week and you'll be fine."
"Thanks."
Ruby looked as uncomfortable as Emma felt. Emma was about to ask her to leave when Henry ran up and pretended to shoot her dead and she went along with it completely, pulling out endless laughter from Henry when she dramatically faked her own death. Henry seemed enamored with her and he never took to new people that easily. She watched them in fascination as Ruby knelt in front of him and explained that the police are the good guys and they can't shoot innocent people. Henry just nodded and every time he did, the hat that was too big slid down on his face and he used the tip of the toy gun to push it back up. It was adorable and Emma loved seeing him so happy.
She left them to play in the front yard together and headed into the bathroom to take a couple of aspirin to relieve her body of the constant ache it was in. She splashed some cold water on her face and headed back outside, but not before she filled up three glasses with water and ice to bring for Henry and his new adult friend.
Somehow they ended up talking as they sat on the front steps and watched Henry pretend play, never tiring of shooting invisible bad guys and babbling to himself endlessly. She learned that Ruby had grown up in Storybrooke and was treated to some stories about the town and some of the people in it. The longer they talked, the easier she found it to open up a little bit to her when Ruby started asking her questions about where she was from and how she and Henry's father had met. While Neal was a subject she wasn't quite ready to talk about, she told her as little as she could about him, about how he had been enlisted and died in the war.
They talked about other things, little things that new friends normally shared with one another, but in the end their conversation came back to Henry and she could tell that in just one day, Henry had the attractive brunette wrapped around his little finger. She found by the time lunchtime rolled around that she enjoyed talking with Ruby. They weren't all that different and though their personalities didn't quite match, they weren't complete opposites either. She knew by the time she put Henry down for his afternoon nap that she had found a friend in Ruby Lucas.
She was grateful that Ruby had shown up unannounced and uninvited because she had taken her mind off of Regina. In fact, the first she thought of Regina since earlier that morning had been the moment she walked out of Henry's room after getting him settled down enough to fall asleep.
"It was adorable, Emma. Henry woke up from his nap because the phone rang and Regina held him until he fell asleep again. The next thing I know, she's asleep too. I wish I had a camera because it was so sweet."
"Henry and Regina had a nap together?"
"I don't think she meant to fall asleep and I didn't have the heart to wake either of them either."
Emma smiled, finding it not hard at all to imagine how adorable it would be to see Henry in Regina's arms and both of them sound asleep. She shook her head and shut Henry's door quietly and joined Ruby in the kitchen where she found her at the sink washing up the dishes from lunch.
"You don't have to do that," Emma said and Ruby waved her off.
"Grab the towel and dry," Ruby replied.
"But you're a guest, you shouldn't be doing the dishes."
Ruby laughed and flicked some bubbly soap her way. "Emma, I wanted to, just to help out after you refused to let me help you make lunch. Now shut up about it and dry those ones," she said, pointing to the pile of dishes that were not just from lunch in the other sink. "I was just thinking about Henry and what you're going to do on Monday when you go to work."
"Oh? I already know that I cannot expect Regina to watch him again."
"How about after Henry's nap I can take you over to meet Johanna?" Ruby offered. "She watched me when I was little. She's a really sweet lady and Henry is going to just adore her."
"I don't know how I can pay her. I haven't exactly been paid for yesterday yet and David never talked to me about when and how much he'll be paying me every week," Emma sighed and she started drying the dishes, piling them on the counter next to her. "I wasn't sure whether it was rude to ask him or not."
"If David is anything like his father George, he'll pay fair and every Sunday when he and Mary Margaret come into town to attend church and run their errands. And don't you worry about Johanna. She's always been accommodating when it comes to payment. I'm sure whatever you can pay her will be more than enough," Ruby said with a small smile. "And hey, if I didn't already have a job, I'd offer to watch Henry for free. He's such a sweet, adorable little boy."
"Thanks," Emma said softly. "What is it with the women in this town falling for my son?"
"If women are already falling for him, you are going to have your hands full when he's a teenager," Ruby laughed. "Maybe even sooner than that."
"Don't remind me. I'm already dreading the day that he starts going to school."
They laughed together and for the first time that day, Emma saw the blinds on the window across from her open. Her laughter died off when she caught sight of Regina, but she wasn't looking over at her as she was already moving away from the window quickly. She turned her attention back to drying the dishes while Ruby talked about different places in town she wanted to show her. She swallowed her disappointment once again and bit her tongue to refrain from telling her that she wanted Regina to be the one she explored the town with, not her…
[X]
The morning spent exploring the woods hadn't be a complete bust as Regina had found the clearing listed in the report after enlisting the help of a couple of local hunter's she ran in to. While they had taken her through the dense woods to that specific clearing, the taller, lankier man expressed his concerns about the so-called accident the former sheriff was in. Regina hadn't said anything to counteract with the man's concerns, just acknowledging them and finding relief in knowing she was not the only one who suspected it was more than just an accident.
Regina knew there wouldn't be any obvious evidence left behind, but Bobby Gold was a small town cop and she had far different training and instincts than he did. She'd always had an eye for details and for picking out something that looked to be out of place and out of the ordinary. The first thing she noticed was the bullet holes in several of the larger trees that surrounded the small clearing, all seemingly coming from the same direction and away from the main trail off of which she'd came from.
The second thing she noticed when she began to follow the direction the bullets would've been shot from, was a blind not far from the clearing and empty shot gun shells in the dirt. If it had been a thorough investigation, something like that would've been found and collected as evidence, but she had no way of knowing if they were from before or after the former sheriff had died. Regina unclasped her holster and moved deeper into the woods at that point with her hand on her gun and at the ready just in case. When she came upon a run-down hunter's cabin, the sound of a gun shot echoing through the air was what had made her turn back.
She made the decision in that moment not to return unless she had someone else with her to watch her back. Everything about the incident and the investigation that followed felt uneasy and something wasn't quite adding up. With the sun high in the sky and it heating up fast, she put an end to exploring the scene and headed back to where she'd parked her car at the side of the road where the trail started.
Her mind was in a fog while she drove home and she went straight inside the house and into the kitchen. She could hear laughter coming from next door and she recognized both voices. She moved to the window and peered out, surprised to see Ruby in Emma's kitchen and the two of them talking and laughing. With a scowl, she opened the blinds and walked away without even looking over at her neighbor, knowing full well that she was being watched.
The pang of jealousy made her question her decision to take a step back from the blonde beauty. There was not a single doubt in her mind that if Ruby caught wind that she had put a stop to things between her and Emma that Ruby would try to make a move. She swallowed thickly and rifled through the cupboards until she found the bottle of single malt whisky the former sheriff had stashed away. She pulled the corkscrew out and sniffed. After a moment she deemed it to be drinkable and poured herself a glass, neat.
Unable to be within earshot and it too warm inside to shut the windows, Regina carried her glass out to the living room and she sat down with a heavy sigh. She couldn't sit there and stew in her own thoughts; nothing good had ever come of it before when she did just that. She moved over to the small desk where the telephone was and dialed the number of her former apartment.
"Hello?" Zelena asked when she answered on the third ring.
"Zee, it's me."
"Hey, Regina. How are—"
"I need to talk and I need for you to just listen right now, okay?" Regina said in a rush and she took a mouthful of the single malt whisky and exhaled sharply. "I need you to tell me I'm getting in over my head over that woman," she said quietly. "Zee, I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I got it in my head that I needed to put some space between us because it is safer for both of us that way, but then I just saw her with Ruby—"
"Who the hell is Ruby?"
"The dispatcher down at the station. I came home and looked out the kitchen window and saw them washing dishes together and they were laughing."
"Regina?"
"What?" Regina snapped and she took another sip of her drink. "Just spit it out Zee. Tell me I'm ridiculous for being jealous over nothing and that I'm in over my head."
"Is that what you want to hear or is that what you need to hear?" Zelena asked and Regina sighed, taking another sip before placing the small glass on top of the desk. "Regina, you've always been a little hot-headed, especially around people who get under your skin."
"Like Bobby Gold."
"You were quick to judge him."
"He gave off bad vibes from the moment he introduced himself."
"And does she give off bad vibes?"
"No," Regina sighed softly. "I'm being ridiculous."
"You are," Zelena chuckled. "You like her and you're jumping to conclusions because your dispatcher is washing dishes with her and laughing. That could mean absolutely anything. Besides, what are you doing spying on her?"
"I wasn't spying on her!" Regina scoffed. "Our kitchen windows face each other and—"
"You were spying," Zelena teased. "Tell me, little sister of mine, just what has happened in the last couple of days since we talked last? I have a feeling it is something huge."
Regina downed the last of the single malt whisky and told her almost everything that had happened since the phone call the other night before Emma had shown up to return the extra money she had placed for the bill that morning at breakfast. For once, Zelena didn't interrupt and just listened to the details Regina recalled, mindful not to get too into detail when it came to the kisses she and Emma had shared.
She told her all about the day before and about Henry. She knew she was rapidly growing attached to the toddler and it could be heard clearly in her voice. She expected Zelena to call her on it, but still she stayed quiet and let Regina speak without interruption. The conversation took a turn when she explained how she felt when she had woken that morning and how her thoughts about Emma had suddenly and seemingly changed, doubt coming in to play, and not to mention fear as well. It was then that Zelena cleared her throat and waited for Regina's ramblings to stop and told her to get herself another drink before she had to hear what she needed to say.
Regina placed the phone on the desk gently and wrapped her fingers around the small glass. The trip to the kitchen was quick as she brought the bottle back with her along with some ice in the glass this time around, hoping that if the single malt whisky was chilled that it wouldn't burn as harshly on the way down.
"Regina, you know I love you even when you're a complete idiot."
"That is what you choose to say first?" Regina scoffed and she stared down into the glass as she cradled the phone to her ear. "And why am I a complete idiot, Zee?"
"For one thing, you have never let anything get in the way of stopping you from getting exactly what you want and I know for a fact after hearing what has happened in the last couple of days that Emma is what you want," Zelena began and she tutted when Regina was about to speak, knowing even over hundreds of miles the denial that was about to slip past her lips. "Another thing, yes I know it's hard to be yourself, but this is your new beginning and you've been given a chance at something real and you're willing to let it go because you're scared. You are a complete and utter idiot."
Regina sighed and sipped her drink. Maybe her sister was right, maybe she was acting like a complete idiot. She was running from the one thing she wanted for so very long, the one thing that all but fell into her lap the moment she first laid her eyes on Emma Swan.
The gut feeling she had surrounding Sheriff Graham's death had consumed her as well. From the very moment she had met Gold and then his son on her first day on the job, she knew something wasn't right and it was the stubborn determination in her to find out the absolute truth. It was one reason she was so back and forth about everything happening in her life. Her life in Brooklyn had been far calmer than it was there and in a town as small as Storybrooke, Maine, it was the last way she had imagined her life would end up at that point.
When she had applied for the position of sheriff, she never once imagined that she would meet a woman that would completely sweep her off of her feet with nothing more than a lot and a woman who seemingly wanted her just as much as she wanted her after just one single kiss.
"You're right, Zee. I am a complete and utter idiot."
"Now, what are you going to do about it?"
"I have no idea."
Zelena laughed heartedly. "You haven't seen her at all today aside from you spying on her from the window."
"I wasn't spying on her!"
"Fine," Zelena sighed. "How much have you had to drink?"
"Enough that I'm feeling it now."
"Good," she chuckled and Regina simply rolled her eyes. "You need to go over there and take exactly what you want."
"I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because what I want—"
"Spare me the details, sis," Zelena cut her off. "You want it all with her? Don't push her away."
Regina sighed. Zelena was right. "You still haven't told me I'm in over my head," she murmured into the phone. "It's only been three days, Zee."
"Then maybe you need to take a little bit of time, not space, and let this grow between you."
"I cannot be around her without wanting to kiss her," she confessed quietly. "That is a problem."
"No it's not a problem, Regina, you're just making it one. You are completely infatuated with this woman and god, what I wouldn't give to be there right now to see it for myself."
"Shut up," Regina snapped, yet she felt a small smile tug at her lips. "Zee, I love you."
"I know. I love you too."
They spoke for a while longer, straying from the topic at hand to talk about their parents and of a trip to Storybrooke Zelena would hopefully be making in the near future. Regina's drink went untouched from that point forward and by the end of the phone call, she didn't feel as conflicted as she had before and that mounting pang of jealousy had all but subsided.
A knock on her back door resounded the moment she hung up the phone and she rose from the chair at the desk slowly with a furrowed brow and headed back into the kitchen. Through the window she could see the mass of blonde hair and her heart skipped a beat and her mouth went dry. She licked over her lips as she unlocked the door and opened it slowly.
It took everything she had—and then some—not to pull Emma into her arms and kiss her senseless. She just smiled at her and leaned against the door frame casually.
"Hi," Emma said softly and she smiled right back at her. "What are you doing for dinner?"
"I—I haven't thought of that yet," Regina quickly replied. "Why?"
"I was wondering if you would like to come over and have dinner with Henry and I tonight?"
"I would love to, Emma."
"Yeah?"
"Would you like for me to bring anything? A bottle of wine, perhaps?"
"Okay."
Emma chewed on her bottom lip and their eyes locked in an intense gaze, one that caused a surge of heated arousal to course through Regina's body. She knew that holding back, even just a little, was going to be an impossible feat, especially if Emma continued to look at her with nothing but longing desire in her eyes.
"When would you like me to come over?" Regina asked and she cleared her throat lightly.
"Any time is fine. Henry is looking forward to showing you the new toy gun Ruby brought around for him today."
"Wonderful."
Little did she know at that point in time, dinner with the Swan's would become a regular occurrence. And it wouldn't just be dinner every night, it would be breakfast and their evenings would be spent together. Almost as if they were a family.