Hello Dear Readers! I know you probably thought I forgot about you but I didn't. I just got done with my last test for this week and finally got time to post. This chapter is a little shorter than my other ones but it is leading up to something, I promise. I have a bit of a break for a couple of days so I'm going to do my best to get another chapter done and post this weekend or Monday.

Thanks for all the Reviews, Follows and Faves. I LOVE hearing from you guys so keep it up... :D

Disclaimer: Of course I still own nothing ;)

Chapter 6

Regina pulled into her driveway just as she had for the past, well now that she had stopped to think about it, she didn't know how many years exactly, but she knew it was a long time. Only this time, it felt different. Her son bounded out of the car and up the walkway to the front door, that was normal. She turned to look at the passenger's seat. A blonde beauty stared back at her with a look in her eyes that looked... almost nervous. She looked in her rear-view and saw her various belongings piled in the backseat. Now that was not so normal.

Regina cleared her throat and stepped out of the car. She's going to be staying here... isn't she? She's going to be in my house... with me... excitement unbidden passed through Regina's body just at the thought of Emma, in any way, staying with her. Even if that meant she would be in a guest room down the hall and not anything strictly romantic, like repeating what woke her up this morning. Regina thought back and smirked but shrugged away from the memory as she grabbed Emma's suitcase and carried it toward the front door, pulling out her key to unlock it.

Emma finally spoke "So... I am still staying here...?" And though she tried to keep the hopefulness out of her voice she couldn't hide it in her eyes.

Henry frowned at her and knit his eyebrows as if the answer should have been obvious. "Of course you're staying with us Emma... where were you planning on staying?"

"I don't know... I mean there's got to be a motel or something around here, right... I mean, I don't know I didn't want to intrude or something... You've already been so nice to me as it is..." Emma shrugged.

Regina set the suitcase down on the front steps and walked up to Emma, who was now a few feet from the steps. "Emma... you're staying with us... We've got to figure out ... well whatever the heck is going on here... And the best way to do that... is together." she said gripping Emma's shoulders.

"That's right Emma... it's like we are the Three Musketeers. All for one and One for all... You have to stay..." Henry said beaming.

She smiled sheepishly but accepted their hospitality. "Ok... thank you..." and she looked up into chocolate brown eyes and found she was at a loss for what else to say.

Regina smiled back letting her hands slide down the woman's arms a bit before inhaling deeply and stepping back. Boundaries Regina, boundaries she scolded herself. She went back to pick up the suitcase and headed into the house as Emma grabbed what was left: a duffel bag and the stuff August left her, minus the book as Henry had taken it with him.

Henry had run upstairs, taking the book with him, and unceremoniously leaving Emma and Regina to themselves. They laughed at his youthful excitement over their extraordinary situation.

Regina turned to look at Emma, "Well I guess he's occupied... for now anyway... Why don't we get your things tucked away, shall we..." and started walking up the steps. Truth was that Regina would have liked nothing better than to have the blonde stay with her in her bedroom like she did last night but that of course was completely unacceptable. Even if they were trapped in a situation they did not understand and Emma had just somehow magically transported through a mirror, certain proprieties must be upheld.

She led Emma to the guest bedroom closest to her own and opened the door. Emma looked in at the neutral toned room. It was quite lovely but not personal at all. Anybody could have stayed there but it looked as if no one ever had. Emma stepped in and dropped her duffel bag and grabbed the suitcase from Regina's hand. She relished in the brief contact as her hand slipped over Regina's as she grasped its handle.

Emma glanced up at the woman's deep chocolate eyes and quickly glanced back at the room. She was going to miss waking up with her arms wrapped around her warm body. But she wasn't bold or stupid enough to voice that highly inappropriate thought. She just silently hoped that somewhere deep down Regina was thinking the same thing.

"Thanks" Emma finally said breaking the tension laced silence. "It's one of the nicest rooms I've ever staying in."

"Have you had the opportunity to stay in a lot of strange rooms Ms. Swan..?" Regina asked out of sheer curiosity. She knew so little about this woman that she found so familiar.

"Well growing up how I did you sorta get used to being in unfamiliar places... not all of them so savory..."

"What do you mean the way you grew up...?"

"Um... well that's a long story..."

"Well I don't think you'll be going anywhere anytime soon Ms. Swan... why don't we go have a drink and you tell me about it...?" she said raising a brow and silently beckoned Emma to follow her downstairs to her study.

"... Sure... why not..."

"So the things I know about you Ms. Swan..." Regina smirked swirling her drink around in her glass. "You are sort of a detective, you live in Boston, and you like to spy on people in the bathroom..." with a Cheshire cat grin spreading across her face.

Emma blushed furiously, "I apologized for that..." she said shielding her face as best she could behind her drink.

"Yes you did dear... now why don't you enlighten me about the rest of you story..."

Emma sighed and tried to figure out the best place to start. "Ok well..."

"You said something about the way you grew up... why don't you start with that..."

"Yeah ok... well I grew up in the foster system..." Emma let that sink in. "I didn't really have a normal childhood cause ... well you can imagine that didn't make life exactly stable..."

Regina saw the look behind Emma's eyes just talking about her childhood. "No I can imagine that must have been difficult... Did you never find a permanent home somewhere...?"

Emma sighed again. "No... no I never did. The longest I ever stayed someplace was when I was really little, like three years was this couple that couldn't have children and they said they were going to adopt me... but then they found out they were having their own child... they ended up sending me back..." Emma tried to hold in her emotions as much as possible. Regina however was not fooled. She saw the unshed tears and pain lingering in Emma's forest green irises.

"I'm sorry..." that was all she could think of to say.

"Don't worry about it... it was a long time ago anyway... But after that I just sorta went from place to place trying to get by as best as I could. Some foster homes weren't so bad..." Emma's eyes shifted away from Regina, " Some were ...but you survive, you know... When I was sixteen I had had enough. I decided it was time I struck out on my own and never looked back. That's when things really got rough... But hey I made it... I'm still kicking... or at least I hope I am... After all" she said chancing eye contact with the brunette "As far as I know, I could be in a coma someplace and that's why we are in this predicament."

Regina laughed breaking the tension. She studied the woman across from her and thought just how difficult her life must have been. But something about her smiling though her pain that she could empathize with. Regina's life hadn't exactly been a picnic either. But she still had one lingering question.

"So who were your parents? Did you ever find out about them...?"

Emma quickly diverted her gaze from the woman, "No... no I never did. All I know about them is whoever they were they dropped me off on the side of the road at a diner called "The Swan Song"... it's actually not too far from here... like maybe an hour away in Exeter... That's where I got my last name actually..."

"I actually know of that diner... how odd... you start out not an hour from here and now you seem to have some mission of great importance to complete here... with magic no less..." Regina shook her head. She was still having trouble processing all that had happened in the past 48 hours.

"Yeah ironic isn't it..." Emma said with a hint of mirth.

"So how did you get your first name...?"

"Oh um well I had this blanket wrapped around me... hold on a sec I'll show you..." Emma scampered off back to her suitcase to retrieve the blanket and back down to the study.

She held it up for Regina to see. It was a crocheted afghan. It was cream-colored and had royal purple ribbon woven around the edges. "Emma" was sown in at the left hand corner in the same royal purple color. Regina held the blanket gently in her hands. Whoever had made this took a lot of care into it. Something about it was so familiar. It seemed that everything about this blonde was familiar... yet at some level unsettling.

"Oh Emma... it's beautiful..." she said looking up at the blonde. She could tell that this blanket meant the world to her. "You know... whoever your parents were Emma... I think they must have cared about you... this isn't the thing you get a child you are planning on giving up... much less leave on the side of a road by some diner..." She glanced up forest green eyes that were steeling themselves. "Maybe something happened Emma... I don't know what could possibly make them do what they did but maybe they felt like they had to..." She didn't know why she was saying this but it felt right. Like she knew that those people must have had a good reason.

"Yeah well but they did it anyway didn't they...?" Emma said gently taking the blanket from Regina's hands, eager to put it away. "Look forget about this... I don't know why I told you all this anyway... I never talk about this stuff..." she sighed and started to walk back towards the stairs.

Regina scrambled to say something. "I'm sorry... I - I shouldn't have asked... But I'm glad you told me anyway..."

"Look... don't apologize... I shouldn't have snapped at you... " Emma looked down around her feet "I um... I guess I should thank you..."

"Thank me ..? Why?" Regina smiled timidly.

"For caring enough to even want to know..." and with a lingering look aimed at chocolate eyes, Emma walked back up the stairs to tuck the blanket away for another day.

It was around noon and Emma was anxious to delve through the clues August left for her. She grabbed the various notes and voice recorder and took them to the living room. Of course, Henry still had the book and didn't seem to be coming down from his room with it any time soon. I'll look at it later Emma told herself.

"Hey Regina..." Emma called out to the brunette upstairs.

"Yeah" she shouted back.

"D'you wanna come down here and check this stuff out with me...?"

"Sure just a sec..." Regina came briskly down the stairs with a leather journal in her hand.

"I thought maybe we could use this to keep track of things we find out. Like clues and things..." she smiled excitedly.

"Oh ok thanks..." Emma took the journal and laid it on the table next to the other papers. She looked over at Regina who seemed more excited in a non-apprehensive way. Not at all like her earlier mood of apprehension.

"Did I miss something... you seem almost Henry- level excited about this now... I thought it was freaking you out..."

Regina cut her eyes to Emma and then back to the coffee table holding all their clues. "I was... but now it's like this big mystery. If neither of us is hallucinating or dreaming then that means you really did walk out of a mirror this morning. And you were invisible yesterday... It's like living in a fairy tale. I mean it's magic Emma..." she said eyes widening.

"Ok calm down champ... I try not to be a buzz kill whenever possible but this could all be leading to something very bad... It has been best in my past to never get your hopes up too high... So one step at a time shall we..."

"Ok fine...but you are being a 'buzz kill' as you call it..."

Emma rolled her eyes and started flipping though the notes when Regina's phone rang.

Regina gave Emma that look that said "Excuse me" and took her phone to the dining room.

Emma wondered who would be calling the woman, but focused the task at hand. After a few moments she heard Regina in an irritated voice.

"Look I understand what I said and right now I really don't have the-... Because I have company right now... No it's not like that. Besides that is really none of your business... Fine... Fine ok but you'll have to come over here. I'm not leaving the house tonight. Ok see you at five..."

Emma didn't think she was going to like what was coming at five but she didn't want to seem like she had been eavesdropping on Regina's phone call either so she feigned ignorance. After all it's bad enough she caught me peeping at her already... Emma laughed to herself.

Regina came back into the living room with a bit of a guilty look on her face. "Ahem, Ms. Swan..."

"Emma, Regina... call me Emma I told you before..."

"Right yes ... Emma I seem to be having someone over this evening at five..."

"Ok..."

"I seemed to have made an arrangement with someone yesterday and in the light of recent events forgot about it..."

"Oh... did you need me to leave or something..?" Emma really hoped the answer was no.

"Oh no no nothing like that... it just the arrangement I made was kind of... well kind of a date-"

Emma cut her off "Oh God, not accent boy...?"

"- Who?..." Regina knit her brows in confusion.

"Accent boy... the guy you ate lunch with yesterday..."

"Ah yes Accent boy... Wait how did you know about that..."

Emma paused she had really put her foot in her mouth this time. She really hoped Regina didn't remember the whole window scene-

"That was you !" Regina said half astonished half amused.

"What?" Emma did her best to look confused, not at all convincing Regina.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about... You hit the window yesterday at Granny's..." she remembered back. "Oh and then you must have hit his face if his reaction was anything to go by..." Regina laughed.

Emma's face reddened. Caught again she thought.

"I have no idea what you are talking about... And I could care less about who you are dating..."

"You most certainly do Ms. Swan- Emma... Just out of curiosity, Why did you do that...?" Regina's eyes sparkled already pretty sure why Emma had done it.

" First off, I did nothing. Second if I had done something it was only because he seemed to be bothering you..." Emma pursed her lips and turned away from Regina.

"Mmhmm" Regina hummed. "Well Sheriff Graham, if you care to know his actual name, is coming by this afternoon to have lunch with us. I just wanted to make sure you didn't have a problem with that..."

"Hey, I'm just a mysterious guest here... Why would I have a problem with that? And if I did why would it even matter...?" Emma lifted a brow annoyed.

"Well ... I don't know dear I just didn't want you to feel uncomfortable, good hostess that I am. BUT seeing how you have met ... what was it, ah yes Accent Boy, before I'm sure you will be just fine..." Regina smirked.

Emma fumed but in truth the feeling felt odd to her. After all she didn't even know the man. I should be nice... Yes... I have the perfect idea... Emma mused.

"No I won't be uncomfortable at all... But Regina..."

"Yes Emma...?"

"I'm gonna be in town for a little while..." she said piling all the papers from the coffee table and the leather journal together.

That wasn't what Regina was expecting her to say at all. "Wait... what?"

"I said I'm going to town for a little while..." and she toted the papers to her room, no one needed to know just why she was here anyway.

"I heard you but why..? You don't even know anyone there..."

"Well I just have something to do... I'll be back in time don't worry..." Emma grabbed her wallet from her suitcase and headed for the door.

Regina followed her to the steps, "Wait don't you want me to come with you... You don't even know where anything is..?"

"No I'm sure I can find my way around... This town's not that big after all..." she sauntered off and headed towards main street with a plan formulated just for tonight's dinner.

Yes if Accent Boy wants to play the Dating Game then fine. But he will know after tonight that he is not the only player in this town. Emma grinned to herself.

Regina just stared at the blonde as she headed off by herself. "Well I don't know what the hell just happened..." she shook her head and closed the door, heading for the kitchen to begin to prepare for tonight's meal.

Meanwhile Upstairs in his room

Henry finally pulled himself away from his book to look at the clock. Two o'clock it read and he was surprised how long he had been reading. However it had not been in vain. Quite the contrary, Henry's agile and fantastical ten year old brain had come to quite a conclusion. The only problem was how to get his mom and Emma to believe it.

"Henry!" Regina shouted up the stairs.

"Yeah Mom...?"

"Sheriff Graham is coming over to dinner tonight. I'm making a casserole and an apple tart... Did you want anything else..."

"Ice cream!" he shouted back.

"Ok..."

"OH and Mom...?"

"Yes ?"

"Is Emma eating with us too?"

"Yes I believe so..." though Regina didn't know what to think since Emma left for town.

"Great..." What a perfect way to test his theory, Henry mused to himself. Now there was nothing to do but wait.

*** Ok so what the heck is Emma planning? What does Henry think he has found out? Well I guess you'll just have to tune in next time to find out ;)

*** Leave a Review or Critique and you know I'll read them and do my best to reply back ASAP if you have any questions or something. THANKS FOR READING :D