Leaning across the passenger seat to wind down the window, Regina clears her throat before she asks the question both she and Henry had been wondering for, at least, the last ten minutes. "Are you going to go up or do you plan on standing there until one of them comes down?"
Emma glances over her shoulder at her, brow creasing in the way that it does when she wants to make a snide remark but knows it would get her in more trouble than it's worth. She turns back to the building and looks up to the window of her parents apartment, sighing before she shakes her head and finally moves from her spot on the sidewalk, slipping inside and making her way up the stairs.
She had called to ask David to cover for her at the station for a week and even though he had agreed without requesting an explanation - and despite the fact Snow probably wanted to disown her because of the way she had been behaving for the last month - Emma knew that both of them would be upset if she simply left without giving them a way to contact her.
While she would have been content to merely send them both a text, Regina made that particular scenario impossible when she pulled up to their apartment and practically forced Emma out of her car.
She hesitates a moment before she knocks on their door and her eyes dart all over the place; her nerves completely shot while her mind tries to convince her to run as far away as possible – a particular habit of hers that is only made all the more evident by the way she rocks on the balls of her feet as she waits.
When the door swings open, the smile on Snow White's face quickly fades at the sight of her and Emma bites her lip as she considers asking if David is home, which makes her feel like a complete coward but she really didn't have the time to get into another argument with her mother – not that she would have even if she did.
Instead, she sticks out the hand that holds a piece of paper containing all their contact information necessary, should someone in Storybrooke have need of her or Regina for whatever reason.
She shoves her hands in her pockets when Snow takes it, explaining before she's even asked to. "David agreed to cover for me at the station and he'll need some of the information on there. I wrote a list of the people available as deputies if he needs them. Archie will be stepping in as Mayor while we're gone."
Snow looks up from the paper with her eyebrow raised. "Gone?"
Lifting her shoulders in a shrug, Emma continues. "Henry wants to see what else there is outside of Storybrooke and.. we agreed to a road trip of sorts. We'll only be gone for a few days."
Emma's stomach knots at the sight of concern seeping into Snow's eyes and she averts her own, giving answer to a question that didn't require asking. "We're coming back."
When no response is forthcoming, she chances another look and the doubt is as plain as day on her mother's face. She takes a deep, steadying breath as she contemplates whether she's ready to follow through with the thought running rampant through her mind and after a minute or two, she gives a firm nod.
"Look, I know we need to talk and I haven't been the most receptive person as of late but I'm not going to run. I want my family, that includes you, David, Henry and yes, Regina too." Snow opens her mouth the moment the name leaves her lips but Emma puts a stop to the interruption with a shake of her head.
"That's a problem for you, I know and it's why we need to talk but she makes me happy and being with her, it's doing both me and Henry a world of good so please; leave it for now. I'll be back and then we can sit down over lunch at Granny's or something. Just... use this time we're gone to think about it."
"Okay." Snow says abruptly, raising her hands in surrender and sounding entirely too defeated for Emma to even consider it to be genuine. "You're right, maybe some time where we're not afraid we'll run into one another will help."
Despite the warning bells going off in the back of her mind and her instinct telling her to run for the hills, Emma responds with a somewhat strained smile and a nod. "Right, well I'll see you in a few days – week tops."
Before Snow can get in another word, Emma is already halfway down the hall and descending the stairs.
Emma can feel the way Regina keeps glancing at her from the corner of her eye while she drives and although she knows she should probably say something, she only slumps further into her seat as she continues to stare out of the window.
The only sound preventing an awkward silence from descending on them is from Henry's handheld that, for some unknown reason, Regina had bought for him; even though for the past week all she's done is complain about the fact Emma got him addicted to those quote – overrated video games for mindless idiots – unquote.
It isn't until they hit Augusta that Regina finally grows tired of the blondes sulking and pulls over on the side of the road. She opens her door without a word and ignores the dual looks of confusion she see's through the windscreen as she makes her way to the passenger side.
"What the hell?" Emma says, only just managing to avoid smacking her head on the roof as she's suddenly yanked from her seat and out of the car.
Pulling her out of the way, Regina slams her door shut before folding her arms across her chest and fixing the blonde with her trademark glare. "Exactly the question I have, Miss Swan. What the hell is your problem?"
"My problem?" Emma looks at her with disbelief. "You're the one man-handling people."
Regina rolls her eyes. "I am not spending another second in that car with you until you tell me why you've been sulking for the last two hours, so out with it."
That was the thing though, Emma hasn't a clue why she's been behaving the way that she has when there was no obvious reason for it. She isn't sure how Regina would react to that though and she wanted them to fight even less than she'd wanted a confrontation with Snow.
"Well?" Regina prompts after five whole minutes of absolutely nothing in the form a response from the blonde.
Emma sighs because what else was there to do? She had to give her an answer if she wanted back into the car and Regina wasn't exactly the most patient of people, especially when it came to Emma trying to think while confused.
"I don't know." she mumbles.
Regina narrows her eyes, scrutinizing the woman before her and barely containing the desire to yell at her for making her worry for what was apparently nothing. "You don't know.." Regina repeats and the longer she looks, the more she sees the uncertainty and the tense set to Emma's shoulders as if she were bracing herself for the reaction Regina is oh so close to giving in to.
Emma's confusion doubles when she finds herself being tugged forward by her belt loops, brown eyes having somehow softened in the moment of what could only be described as a silence verging on volatile. She doesn't resist the action, nor does she protest the soft press of lips against her own.
When Regina pulls away, Emma is beyond thankful for the finger that replaces lips and prevents anything beyond the, "Wha-" from escaping her mouth because her brain can clearly not be trusted right now.
"Whatever it is, you'll figure it out." Regina smiles. "Promise you'll tell me when you do?"
Emma swallows the lump in her throat before drawing her bottom lip between teeth and after determining she was, in fact, safe from the angry rant she'd been expecting, she acquiesces with a nod.
After another brief kiss, Regina makes her way back over to the other side of the car and returns to her seat, waiting for Emma to join her and placing a hand reassuringly on the blonde's thigh when she does before she starts the car.
As they pull away from the side of the road, Henry clears his throat and tries to sound as normal as possible when he asks, "Did you two just kiss?"
Both sets of eyes widen.
While they had promised to tell him after that morning in the diner, it completely slipped their minds and since they were never all that overly affectionate in front of him, it hadn't been brought up until now.
Unsurprisingly, Regina is the first to recover – which Emma is sort of glad for because the brunette is the one driving and the last thing they need is a car accident to further ruin the start of their family week together.
"Yes, sweetie; we did." Regina glances at him through the rear-view mirror with a hopeful smile. "Your mother and I are dating."
Neither of them are prepared for his muttered response of, "Finally." but he doesn't give them the opportunity to address it before he pops his headphones in and returns to his game.
After a pit stop in Portsmouth and a second in Worcester, they stop at Hotel Duncan in Downtown New Haven for the night and the first thing to come from Regina's mouth is the predictable snark consisting of, "Well you certainly know how to pick a place with character." to which she receives an elbow to the ribs from their son and an eye roll from Emma for her efforts.
"I came here over four years ago, Regina and I wasn't shanked in my sleep then so I think we're perfectly fine to stay here for one night." Emma retorts, brushing passed the brunette with their bags and approaching the reception desk.
"Prison humour, how unexpected." her drawl laced with sarcasm and earning Regina a hard glare from the blonde while she got them their room.
She supposes she shouldn't turn her feelings of discomfort into a reason for goading Emma, but it did take her mind off the fact that they were hundreds of miles from Storybrooke and without magic, Regina is just as helpless as every other peasant in this godforsaken world.
Seeming to read her mind, Emma bumps their hips together when Regina comes to stand beside her. "I feel it too, you know."
Regina shakes her head with a sigh because of course the woman with true love coursing through her veins would feel the loss, but it isn't only that for the brunette. "At least you're familiar with this world outside of a small town in the middle of nowhere."
With an understanding smile and a shrug as she leads them over to the stairs, Emma replies. "We can fix that, you know."
"We can?"
Emma pauses mid-step at the skepticism clear in Regina's voice, ignoring the way her arms protest under the weight of their luggage. "I dunno if you've noticed but I'm kind of a nomad, Regina. If we're going to be together, then you have quite a lot of travelling in your future."
The rest of the trip to their room is done in silence and before Emma can drop their bags to retrieve the key, Henry snatches it out of her back pocket, unlocks the door and throws it open; all of which, Emma and Regina both notice, is done without once taking his eyes from the game in his hand.
"Do you see what you've done to our son?" Regina sighs as they follow him in.
"Maybe I was wrong about how zombies are created." Emma says, dropping their bags and gesturing towards the bed Henry has already laid claim to. "If he starts preferring junk food and energy drinks to your cooking, we should probably consider an intervention."
Henry's head rises at that and he gives the twin expressions of feigned indifference directed at him a look of suspicion. After about a minute, he shrugs and goes back to his game but not before mumbling, "I'm hungry." and receiving an amused snort from both of his mothers.
Emma had visited New Haven enough times as a bail bondsperson to know where most of everything is and while she didn't particularly want to leave, she also knows that Regina enjoys wine with her dinner and is likely in even more need of it now considering the waves of distress that had been rolling off the brunette since they went over the town line.
"We can order takeout or I could go and pick something up?" Emma offers while shaking her head at the kid.
"Would going out involve you trying to convince me to let you drive my car?" Regina teases and the memory of the one and only time Emma convinced Regina of anything causes a grin to appear on both of their faces.
"Nah, there are plenty of places within walking distance.." Emma's grin widens at Regina's pout before she adds, "Besides, I'm saving all my skills of persuasion for more cupcakes."
With an exaggerated sigh, Regina waves dismissively towards the door. "Fine but no sushi.." she raises her voice as Emma is almost completely out the door. "..and try not to get mugged before you've paid for dinner."
She smiles at the faint, "Yes, My Queen." she hears from the opposite side.
Shutting off the bathroom light, Emma disrobes before sliding into bed next to Regina who immediately turns to face her. Slipping a hand beneath Emma's tank top, she smiles as Emma hums appreciatively and tugs her closer, drawing her fingers through Regina's hair as she rests her head comfortably on Emma's chest.
"Do you feel better?" Regina murmurs as she closes her eyes and listens to the soothing, repetitive thump of Emma's heart.
It takes Emma a long moment to overcome her confusion before she realises what Regina is referring to and having promised she would share, Emma sighs before she answers. "Yeah, I think Snow is hiding something from me."
"Oh?"
"She answered the door this afternoon all smiles, which lasted all of a second after she realised it was me."
"Considering the relationship you two have at the moment, that isn't all that surprising is it?" Regina asks as she absent-mindedly traces patterns across Emma's stomach.
"No, it's not that. It's just you came up - as you tend to do - and instead of her usual spiel about evil and whatnot, she lets me shut down her first attempt to rant and.. agrees with me."
Regina chuckles, still not entirely sure she understands the problem. "Perhaps she's tired of arguing and has finally accepted that her daughter is old enough to make her own decisions."
"Maybe." Emma says, though it's clear from her tone that she doesn't believe it. "I just got this weird feeling that she only agreed to placate me, not because she accepts it and while I would love it if it didn't bother me, it does."
"You don't think she has another plan up her sleeve, to convince people I've somehow bewitched you?" her amusement at the notion of people thinking she cast a spell on Emma is still evident.
Emma presses an affectionate kiss to the top of her head, though she's unable to make her voice sound anything but emotionless. "No, I think this may have more to do with her confession in Neverland."
Regina's eyes snap open, her fingers stilling their movement as a sudden barrage of images from Henry's childhood assault her mind. She breathes a sigh as understanding of Emma's earlier mood dawns on her. "You think she's pregnant."
"Yeah." Emma smiles as Regina tilts her head and places her own kiss against the underside of her jaw before she continues to explain her feeling. "I wouldn't mind if she was, but I think she might be afraid to tell me and that kinda.. sucks."
"That makes a surprising amount of sense." Regina muses somewhat teasingly, stopping what she is certain would have been a protest by rising from Emma's chest and capturing her lips in a soft, reassuring kiss before resettling. "I know how it bothers you that Sarah is so terrified of you and to think your own mother might share that fear, it's understandable why you feel a certain amount of discomfort about it."
"Is it bad that I sometimes wish she had just stayed as Mary Margaret?" Emma feels the shake of head against her chest that immediately follows her question.
"I don't think so." Regina shifts, wrapping her arm around Emma's waist and pressing herself harder against Emma's side before continuing. "I think maybe if she'd raised you, you'd feel differently about her and part of me knows that it's partially my fault you feel this way."
"Don't do that." Emma scowls, tired of that wound being reopened again and again when there is absolutely no point to it.
Regina releases an amused huff and asks, "Do what? Take responsibility for my actions?"
"Don't bring blame into this, there's plenty of that to go around for everyone but the past still exists along with its mistakes, placing blame changes nothing and only serves to make people feel worse."
After a few minutes of silence, Regina tries to burrow further into Emma's chest as she mumbles, "I'm sorry."
Sighing, Emma tightens her hold on the brunette with a whispered, "I know." and presses another kiss into her hair before she closes her eyes and waits for sleep to take them both.
