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The dew covered grass glistened in the early dawn light. A light layer of fog stood stagnate just off the ground, combining with the sun rise to paint a strangely eerie scene. Henry paid no mind to what was around him, knowing that he didn't have long to have this conversation before he needed to get to school. He pulled the jacket a bit tighter around him to ward off the early spring chill.
"Hey, Dad," he began when he finally stood at his destination. "I'm sorry that I haven't visited in a while. Things have just been so hectic. There's school and baseball, and Mom has been going a little crazy. But don't tell her I said that."
Henry shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked around them, taking in how the trees swayed in the light breeze and how his breath was a whisper of smoke in the cool morning air. His father hadn't answered him, sitting silent, as he knew he wouldn't. And so he continued.
"Speaking of Mom…." He trailed off briefly. "I know she misses you, even if she doesn't say it. But I can tell by things she does. Like how she stops to look at your picture or pictures of all of us together. Or how she made chocolate chip cookies last week and mentioned how it was your favorite." He chuckled as he remembered how his mom had said she used to slap his dad's hands away from the bowl to keep him from dipping into the cookie batter.
"We all know that you two will never been together again, and I know Mom has come to terms with it. But I also know that you would want her to be happy. And, well… My baseball coach kind of has the hots for Mom. And she's talked to me about asking my permission to date Mom. But that's a tough call for me to make. I really just want to see her smile and be happy again."
Henry lifted his arm and glanced down at his wrist, eyes widening. "I have to go to school now or I'll be late. I promise I'll come by and visit more. Bye Dad, I love you."
He turned on his heel and ran back the way he had come, leaving behind the stone memorial that bore his father's name; Daniel Colter.
[SQ]
Emma stood in front of the full length mirror that hung on the back of her bedroom door, alternating holding two different outfits in front of her. The first outfit was a pair of jeans with a nice button down plaid shirt that would be paired with a pair if knee high boots. Sure, it was a bit stereotypical, but what could she do? She then held up the next outfit for inspection. It was a cute little light green sun dress that stopped at her knees to be paired with a pair of sandals. Definitely less stereotypical and definitely more date-like.
"It's not a date," she mumbled to herself. "Don't dress like it's a date."
And so the dress had been thrown to the bed in favor of the jeans and button down plaid shirt. After stepping into the boots and zipping them up, Emma once again found herself studying her appearance in the mirror. A small amount of thought was all it took before she decided to leave her hair down in light curls and to forego makeup. Not a date, she kept telling herself.
Now Emma sat in the bug out in front of the mayoral mansion, gripping the steering wheel tightly. She was on her fifteenth round of counting to three. With one final deep breath to calm her nerves, she finally opened the door knowing that it was now or never.
The walk up the pathway to the front door seemed longer than it has been the last two times that she had been on it. Then again, the first time Regina had met her halfway in a panic and the second time she had been more focuses on getting to Regina's aid for a flooding kitchen. This time was different.
She stood in front of the front door, hand raised for a good two minutes before she finally let her knuckles fall against the wooden door, knocks echoing from the action. The sound of movement from the other side greeted Emma's ears before the door opened and a confused Henry stood before her.
"Coach Swan? What are you doing here?"
Emma opened her mouth to respond, not having expected Henry to answer the door, but Regina walked up behind her son and opened the door a bit wider, answering for the blonde woman.
"I invited her." She turned to give Emma a warm smile. "Miss Swan, please come in."
Regina tapped Henry on the shoulder so that he would move out of the doorway so that Emma could enter their home. The blonde woman smiled at both of them as she stepped over the threshold. Henry closed the door behind her and stared at the two women, watching them closely. Emma shifted from foot to foot nervously, chewing on her bottom lip. Regina pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, eyes locked on Emma.
"Mom, can I talk to you in the kitchen?" Henry asked, walking up to them. He took his mother's hand before turning back to his coach, his manners coming back to him. "Please make yourself at home."
Regina furrowed her brow in confusion as Henry practically dragged her to the kitchen. She threw Emma an apologetic look over her shoulder before she disappeared around the corner.
"Henry, what are you doing?" she asked in a low voice when they were out of view. The teenage boy looked up at his mom.
"Dad would want you to be happy," he finally said.
Regina's confusion only grew. "What are you talking about? I'm fairly certain that Robin only cares about – "
Henry shook his head and waved his hands to stop her. "No, not him. Dad." He stressed the last word and gave Regina pointed look.
Realization dawned on her. "Oh."
"I went visit Dad yesterday. And I talked to him about you. I remembered some of the stories you told me about him. It made me think about how you aren't really happy anymore. And you deserve to be happy."
"What are you saying, Henry?"
"I'm saying that you should date Coach Swan."
Regina could feel her emotions bubbling within. She knew it had taken a lot for Henry to come to that decision. Smiling, she opened her arms and Henry stepped forward to accept the hug.
"Thank you," she whispered before they pulled apart.
The teen grinned. "We should probably go get her and start dinner. Don't want the casserole to get cold." And with that he had walked out of the kitchen to go get Roland for dinner.
Regina moved back to the foyer in search of Emma. She poked her head into the living room and noticed Emma studying the pictures on the mantel. She watched as Emma lifted one picture in particular to get a better look. It was one of Regina and Daniel, his arms wrapping around her from behind with his hands coming together to make a heart on her slightly swollen belly.
"That one is Henry's favorite," Regina said, finally moving into the living room fully.
Emma jumped, fumbling with the picture on her startled state. She caught it and clutched it to her chest protectively, turning to give Regina a guilty look. Thinking better of it, she set the picture back down on the mantel so she wouldn't drop it.
"It is?" she asked.
Regina stood next to Emma, eyes lingering on the photograph as she nodded. "It's the only decent picture we have of Daniel and Henry, even if Henry wasn't born yet. The others are more…" She tilted her head side to side as she thought of the fitting term, "…intimate."
"How so?"
Regina cracked a small smile. "I'm sorry, Miss Swan. You have made a third date request while still on a first date level. Please try again later."
Emma stared at the woman beside her, wondering where on Earth she had pulled that response from. Her curiosity soon faded into amusement before a laugh left her mouth.
"Guess I better start making progress then, huh?"
"I guess so," Regina grinned. "Are you hungry? Roland requested taco casserole."
Before Emma could voice that she was always hungry, two pairs of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. The first pair was heavy with a steady rhythm while the second pair was lighter and more fast-paced. Emma looked out towards the foyer. "I think the boys are ready."
[SQ]
Dinner had been a successful affair. Roland had insisted that Emma should take his spot to the left of Regina, even going as far as attempting to push her chair in for her. Emma had thanked him and complimented him on his gentleman like actions. Henry and Emma had mostly talked about baseball and how if they won the next two games that they would be heading to the playoffs. Regina had joined in the conversations but also didn't mind sitting in silence and watching Emma interact with the boys.
It's not that she would hate to admit it. In fact, she would gladly inform anyone who asked. But Regina loved the fact that Emma was so good with the boys and that they seemed to take to her as well. It gave her hope that if – when she and Emma decided to pursue something more, that this connection the boys had with her would help ease them into the transition.
Once dinner had finished, the boys had disappeared upstairs to take their baths, leaving Emma and Regina alone. Emma ran a hand through her hair and chuckled as she and Regina stood by the front door.
"That was probably the best non-date I've ever had"
Regina lifted a brow in question. "Non-date?"
"Well, yeah." Emma rubbed the back of her neck. "I promised Henry that I would ask him for permission to date you. And we haven't talked about it yet. So, tonight was a very nice non-date."
Now Regina lifted both brows in understanding. She was touched that Emma was upholding a promise she had made to Henry, something Robin hadn't done in months.
"I see. Though it is quite a shame that you think of tonight as being a non-date considering Henry gave me the okay to date you when he pulled me aside earlier."
Emma dropped her hand from the back of her neck as she looked at Regina confused. "Wait, what?"
Regina moved closer to her. "Henry said that I should be happy and that I should date you. So this non-date was actually a date."
"Oh yeah?" Emma smirked as she took a step closer to the brunette woman, her hand reaching out to grab Regina's.
"Yes." Regina looked into green eyes and felt her heart swell. Everything about the evening, from sitting down to dinner to the conversations to standing with Emma there, had felt right. "So I do believe it should end the way a proper date should end."
Emma grinned as Regina lifted her hand to place her palm against a pale cheek. She leaned forward, eyes closing as her lips met red painted ones. Regina sighed softly as their lips met for the first time since the commotion in her office. The feeling of everything being right only grew stronger.
The two women broke apart when they heard the small gasp followed by "ewww" come from overhead. They looked up to see Roland grinning down at them.
"I think that's my queue to leave," Emma whispered, giving Regina's hand a light squeeze.
Regina shook her head slowly, taking her hand from Emma's grasp to cup blushing cheeks before pulling the blonde in for a deep kiss, pouring all of her pent up feelings into it. Emma felt her knees weaken with the depth of the kiss. When Regina pulled back with an innocent smile, Emma could only stare at her with wide eyes before grinning dopily.
"Now you may leave, Miss Swan," Regina said with an amused glint in her eye.
Emma nodded as she fumbled for her keys in her pocket. Regina thumbed away a smudge of lipstick from the still grinning woman. As Emma turned to leave, she stopped.
"So, uh." She nervously shifted her weight from foot to foot, just like when she first walked into the house. "Would you be up for doing this again sometime? Maybe just the two of us?"
The amount of hope in Emma's gaze melted Regina's heart. She couldn't help but nod her answer to the question, not that she would've answered in the negative anyways.
"Great," Emma breathed. "I'll call you and we can set something up." She stole one last kiss before walking out the front door, practically skipping down the pathway to her car.
Regina shut the front door before leaning back against it, a grin seemingly having taken up permanent residence on her face. Her heart pounded in her chest. She had a second date with Emma. The blonde had been correct in her statement. That evening had been the best non-date ever.
