A/N- I can't believe how many people have followed this story, it's amazing! Well this makes one full week of regular updates, I'm certainly proud :). This chapter is a bit sad but needed background so hang in there cause next one is back to the fluff!
About three months after that first evening watching Henry, Regina and Emma hired Kathryn as a full time nanny for their boy. She showed up at their home around seven thirty in the morning when the professors would leave for work, and she would watch Henry for two hours until she took him to kindergarten. Then Kathryn went to her own courses, and she picked him up after school, staying with him until around six when Regina or Emma would return from work.
The schedule just barely worked out with Emma having to pick up extra office hours and become more involved in the department to solidify her shot at tenure.
Working for the two professors ended up being Kathryn's best job ever. They paid her far too much, despite how many times she told them this. Kathryn was able to quit her job at the coffee shop and cut back her hours with the youth sports department. Regina kept the candy drawer stocked with the Almond Joys she noticed disappearing at a quick rate which must be due to the sitter (Henry didn't like the sticky sweet coconut and Emma hated almonds). And Henry was such a good kid, Kathryn truly did enjoy being able to be a part of his life growing up.
The four of them found an easy routine with Kathryn gladly stepping in if they needed extra help. There was only one time when the professors called Kathryn in on an evening and she wasn't able to work.
"It's just a silly get together with all the university staff to celebrate President Bottomley's birthday." Regina explained bustling around the bedroom, searching for a necklace while balancing her phone between her ear and her shoulder.
"And when do you need me until?" Kathryn herself was running in circles trying to find the tight white button up she normally wore when she worked at the Rabbit Hole.
"Probably until around midnight."
The blonde cringed on her end of the phone, finally finding and pulling on her shirt, "Sorry, I can't do tonight. I'm working at the Rabbit Hole."
"It's a Thursday, August can't get anyone to cover for you?"
Kathryn chuckled, "That's just it, it's a Thursday. It's the one night August needs me there."
A faint light bulb went off in the back of Regina's mind, but she pushed it away, "Alright, I suppose we can ask Professor Emerson's dreadful daughter to watch him."
Emma, walking through the bedroom on her way to grab shoes, heard her wife's complaint to Kathryn. She playfully hip-checked Regina and stole the phone, "Don't let her guilt you, Kathryn! Go out, be free."
With that, Emma hung up the phone to face the glare her wife was shooting her, "I wasn't trying to guilt her." Regina tried to justify herself.
"Bullshit."
"I wasn't." The brunette whined
"Gina." The literature professor began, "That girl hasn't had a night off in months. She deserves to go out and have some fun."
"She's not even going out. She's got to work tonight."
That gave Emma pause, "At the Rabbit Hole?"
"Yes."
"On a Thursday?"
"That is what day it is today, dear."
The blonde's eyes sparked with the sneaky glint which Regina recognized so easily. Regina tilted her own head in warning, but Emma was already talking over her, "Thursday is gay night at-"
"Emma, don't you even-"
"Just hear me out!" Now the blonde was stepping into her heels with an excited smile on her face, "That's why she hasn't mentioned anything about needing a night off to be with a boyfriend, and if her parents aren't happy with it then that could be why she was cut off, and-"
"Emma." The literature professor fell silent finally, not yet noticing her faux pas, instead, she was reacting to the tone of her wife's voice. Regina hadn't yelled, she never did yell at Emma or Henry, but her voice was hard, unmistakably urging the blonde to stop, "You know as well as I do that whatever happened with Kathryn and her parents had nothing to do with us. She would tell us if she wanted us to know, and it is not for you to make wild accusations based upon a mere coincidence."
Thoroughly reprimanded, Emma remained quiet, stepping behind her wife to take the clasp the necklace that Regina was struggling with.
"I was just thinking." Emma said weakly once she had secured the necklace.
Regina sighed, softening herself, "I know, baby." She spun around and stepped in closer to gather Emma into her arms, somehow managing to make her wife fit within her. Regina laid her head down on Emma's shoulder, nuzzled her face into her favorite place (the juncture of Emma's neck), and took a deep relaxing breath.
"You might be right in your hunch, but it's not your concern unless Kathryn wants it to be." Regina told the freckle on Emma's neck, "You know how hard it was for me dealing with my dysfunctional family, and I absolutely hated my parents. Just imagine how hard it may be for Kathryn if she actually likes hers."
Emma rubbed her hand up and down her wife's back, in soothing circles. She remembered the late night talks, the tears shed, the coffee consumed, in the process of helping Regina come to terms with being not only cut off, but also disowned by her parents.
They had found a good place after they got together, but there were still occasional struggles. Like when Regina invited her parents to their wedding. Her father's health was declining due to his heart condition, and Regina just wanted him to walk her down the aisle. They got the invitation back with 'Return to Sender' scrawled in Cora's unmistakable cursive.
When Henry was born, Regina thought things may get better. But the silence continued. The only break was after her father had a massive heart attack. The doctors told him he had only a few months left even with the pacemaker and he caught the first flight to Connecticut. It was the first time he stood up to Cora in his life and he spent the whole week with Regina, Emma, and Henry, trying to make up for lost time.
He died a month later, and Cora made it clear that Regina and her family were not welcome at the funeral. So they had their own little wake, and visited the gravesite the week following.
To this day, Henry has never met his grandmother Cora, and Regina hasn't even seen her mother in nearly twenty years. Emma's family was something else entirely.
It wasn't something one came to accept easily, but Emma had been there. Emma was always there.
"You're right, I'll forget about it."
The topic was not revisited for a solid week, until both women were working late and they asked Kathryn to remain with Henry for a couple extra hours next Thursday.
When they finally did return home, Henry was in bed and Kathryn was already changed and dressed to go bartend. Emma shot her wife a pointed look and mouthed the word 'Thursday' while Regina thanked the nanny for her extra help.
Regina rolled her eyes at her wife, hoping for Kathryn's sake that Emma's hunch was nothing more than wild speculation.
A/N- Thanks for reading!
Love, Ms. Informed
