Jen Morrison did a double take when she saw Emily sitting at the counter of Abuelo's. "Hey, Emily! I almost didn't recognize you without Ramona. Where's-"
"Her daughter's visiting. I thought I'd give them the afternoon to settle in." Emily said, moving the motorcycle helmet of the seat next to her so Lana could sit down. Bundled into a puffa coat with brightly colored fingerless gloves, Jen Morrison looked much daintier than when she had her Emma Swan gear.
"A daughter?" Jen mused, tilting her head to one side. "I had no idea. How old is she?"
"17." Emily nodded. "I met her only briefly but she seems really cool."
"17! I was expecting someone…closer to Jared's age." Jen sucked in her breath. "17?! How old is Ramona again? I wouldn't have though she was older than 30, but…"
They both sat there doing the mental math, drawing double takes from other customers, who thought for a moment they were twins.
"She can't have been older than 16."Jen said at last.
"Yeah well, it hasn't slowed her down apparently."
"Huh." Lana breathed. "I'll have to ask Adam and Eddie more about that. They told Lana at some point that Ramona's whole family situation had been a huge inspiration in their premise for the show."
Emily would have loved to ask for details but she already felt like she should be defending Ramona's personal life from more questions. Before she had learned to talk about her past, the idea of people finding out things she didn't want to them to know yet had been absolutely devastating. She decided to change topic as fast as she could. "How's shooting going? How did the graveyard scene go?"
"Wow, well, it turned into a fistfight." Jen shook her head. "Lana and I just- there was so much energy in the dialogue and we got to this place where it's like, this has to be punctuated in a physical way. It's either a kiss or a punch." She looked frankly at Emily for a moment. "Gray said punch. Would you guys have preferred a kiss?"
"It's no secret that I see Emma and Regina as love interests." Emily said slowly. "I mean, its Adam and Eddie's call ultimately. I know it could cost them a hell of a lot of viewers and maybe even the show. But they haven't told us to pull back, and it's just what's coming out organically as we write. They complement each other so well. Regina is a mom at her core, Emma needs a mom more than anything. Emma is rough and Regina is suave, Emma is strong but fearless, Regina is shrewd but needs protection, Emma is open and Regina is closed. They complete each other."
"I see that now." Jen said, peering at her.
Emily walked in to see Gwen on the couch, scrolling through her laptop. She gave a nervous wave and Gwen grimaced up at her.
"Ramona explained you live here too. Sorry for…assuming stuff this morning."
"Don't worry about it." Emily said, taking off her motorcycle jacket and walking into the living room a little awkwardly. "I hear you're at Brown?"
"Yeah, well, I'm on break but, yeah."
"That's really cool. Your mom was bragging about early admission and everything."
"Yeah, she likes to brag." Gwen pushed her glasses up her nose. "So you and Ramona are kind of writing partners?"
"Kind of."
"The show comes out pretty soon. Ramona thinks it'll hit pretty big."
"I hope so." Emily answered, settling onto a sofa and pulling out her own laptop. "The test audiences seem to like it a lot. So are you and your mom doing something fun today?"
"She's packing a picnic in the kitchen right now. She says the area they film the Enchanted Forest has like tables nearby or something, I don't know." Gwen didn't seem thrilled, her eyes still fastened on her laptop screen. "Sometimes I think it's her goal in life to keep me off my computer. Which is totally hypocritical because she's practically chained to her ipad." Gwen rolled her eyes, her fingers barely pausing over her keyboard as she spoke.
"Did you get her into dubstep, by the way?" Gwen said, finally looking up. Emily swallowed a guilty laugh.
"Um-maybe."
"She's been singing 'Call Me Maybe' all morning, but like, a weird version of it?"
Emily suppressed her smile, and Ramona mercifully walked in a moment later. "Okay Gwen, I- oh, hey Emily."
Emily made a small wave.
"You want to come on our picnic, Emily?" Gwen asked loudly, slamming her laptop closed. "It'll be ever so fun and damp and cold."
"I'll let you two get in some mother daughter time." Emily said with a small wave, putting her feet up on the coffee table across from her.
"We sure need it." Gwen grumbled, and walked toward the door. Ramona, looking unexpectedly fetching in olive pants and hiking boots, gave Emily a warm look.
"We'll be back for dinner, if you…" she trailed off and shrugged.
"If I want to have it waiting for you?" Emily raised an eyebrow. "I could. In fact I'd like that."
"That's not what I-" Ramona's brow creased between her eyes. "You shouldn't just assume I'm trying to boss you around, Emily, if I give you a time table of when-"
"Just say thanks." Emily smiled at her. "I'll miss you."
"RAAAAAAAAAAMOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNA" Gwen called from the hallway. "Hurry up! The sooner we get there the sooner I can come back home and search myself for ticks!"
Ramona gave her a strained smile and left the room.
"Lana?" Emily held her cell in one hand and flapped an oven warmer by the fire detector with the other. "Lana, um, is there anyway to save a lasagna if the top is all black?"
"Emily, what did you do?" laughed Lana over the phone. "Also, I don't actually cook. At all. That's Regina, and by Regina I mean Ramona."
"Yeah, she left this frozen casserole and I think I…" it looked like a pan of asphalt "I think I put the degrees too high. I wanted to have dinner waiting for Ramona because her daughter is in town and now-"
"Don't panic." Lana said, and Emily could hear her smile. "Me and Jen are on our way over, and we're bringing groceries."