Now SwanQueen week is over I have much more time to concentrate on other fics and I'm on a roll with writing! So plenty of updates ahead, for now enjoy this one.
When the sun rose and peaked through the blinds of Regina's bedroom it found her curled in a similar fashion to the night before. She had not really slept, when she had her it was fitful and disturbed.
Deciding that no more sleep was going to come to her she got up and went through the motions of starting out her day. When Henry came downstairs she had breakfast prepared and waiting, she smiled and went about as if everything was ok despite the opposite being true.
Henry, ever the observer knew what was wrong but he played along with her game knowing that nothing good would come from calling her out. Not yet anyway, he would talk to Emma later though because this was wrong, his mother's needed to be together. They needed each other, the happiness he had sensed between them lately was reason enough.
When Henry was safely off to school Regina went straight to her office, sometimes she would go to Granny's first but not today. She was determined to avoid Storybrooke's intense population for a little bit longer.
Emma, unfortunately did not have the choice to avoid anyone, patrolling the streets put her in direct contact with everyone. Whispers followed her but she ignored them all, she only cared what one person thought and that was Regina. She understood in a way, why Regina was closing herself off, it didn't mean that she was happy with it.
This whole thing was playing into Regina's insecurities, she was a very private person, her emotions were hidden unless she chose to reveal them. With this she had no choice or time to reveal herself, she was afraid of being hurt or hurting those she loved and what she felt was inevitable rejection when it all became public knowledge.
Of course none of these things were true but of all people Emma understood that it could be hard to see that. What was not helping was her mother and other residents of Storybrooke passing judgement based on who Regina had been. They were blinded by that, but Emma knew who she was now and that was the thing that mattered the most to her.
Everyone seemed to believe that they had a right to an opinion on their saviour's private life, one of those opinions was that Regina was taking advantage of her. No one seemed to believe that either of them could be in love and that was where a brunt of the problem lay. They didn't believe that the former Evil Queen could love, despite the love she had shown Henry.
Emma found everything frustrating as hell, especially when her train of thought was interrupted by yet another person shouting inappropriate comments, "so you doing the Mayor then?" She just rolled her eyes, seeing their sheriff confronting residents about this would do more harm than good, she did need a plan to stop it though.
She had texted Regina throughout the day, receiving no reply but had not really expected one either. She just felt that it was important to make sure that Regina knew that she was thinking of her.
It was around when Henry was leaving school that she received a text from him, there was momentary pang of disappointment when it was not Regina's name that appeared on the screen. He was asking to see her and she quickly accepted, they agreed to meet at Granny's.
Minutes later Emma was pulling up to the diner. She got out of her car and greeted Henry who was waiting for her outside. As soon as they were inside and had ordered two hot chocolates with cinnamon, he launched into what it was he wanted to talk to her about and really she should have known.
"So Ma, I heard about you and Mom and I think this whole thing is a huge mistake, you guys need to be together."
"I know kid," she sounded defeated almost.
Henry had expected to have to go on into a whole tirade before she accepted, he had even planned out exactly what he would say should certain topics arise. So when she instantly agreed he was completely thrown off.
"Wait, so you're telling me that this wasn't a mutual decision."
"No it wasn't," Emma sighed. She looked at Henry thoughtfully, she could see his mind whirring and probably a new operation something or other forming in his head. "Your mom just needs time for herself to figure all this out." Though she wasn't entirely convinced by her own words and even then was planning to try see her again.
Henry's forehead creased and lips pursed, "you are going to fight for her though, aren't you? Some kids at school were saying mean things but I know they aren't true and I don't care what anyone else thinks."
Emma smiled, "I'll go try and talk to her again ok? But I'm not promising anything, her frame of mind isn't exactly sound right now."
At this point Ruby set their drink in front of them a slight awkward hesitation from her had Emma shooting a warning glance. She was not going to go into this whilst Henry was there and getting the hint she walked away having said nothing.
The obvious puzzlement that crossed Henry's face had Emma saying, "don't ask, just a friendly disagreement."
For now, he decided to leave it be, there were more important things that needed to be talked about such as what Emma was going to say to his mom.
An hour later they were pulling up in front of the mayoral mansion. For the majority of that passed hour Henry had schooled her on the ways she could talk to Regina, for the most part she just went along with his 11-year-old chatter.
Henry ran off ahead of her leaving the door wide open and Emma unsure of whether she should go in or not. Hesitating, she moved forwards slowly, when she reached the doorway she stuck her head in and looked around, there was no one there. Damn Henry running off like that. What was she going to do now?
At that moment Regina herself appeared from the living room having not heard the door shut after Henry. Caught off guard she couldn't hide her surprise at seeing Emma standing in her door way, it took a moment to school her expression into indifference.
"Hi," Emma said uncertainly.
There was an awkward pause of silence where they both just stared at each other neither really wanting to speak until Regina broke it.
"What are you doing here, Miss Swan?" her tone was almost weary.
"Well, we really need to talk," Emma looked hopeful towards Regina.
"I made myself clear yesterday."
"Yes, but Regina we love each other. I know we do. We can't throw that all away over this, I don't care what anyone thinks except you"
"I…" her whole posture softened and the mask that she'd been trying to keep in place vanished entirely. Emma just always had that effect on her, the blonde knew exactly what to say that left her feeling blown away.
Emma inched forward till she was directly in front of the brunette, her eyes pleading for something, anything that would let her know that they were ok.
"I can't…I need some time," her voice cracked and eyes swam with tears. She looked away from Emma not wanting to see her rejection.
Brief hurt did cross Emma expression but this was progress and any progress was better than nothing. "Ok," she said softly before turning to leave, shutting the door behind her.
Regina just stood staring at the door where Emma had just been, conflicting emotions stirring inside her.
On the other side, Emma had slumped against the now shut door and sighed, going into this they had known it wouldn't be easy. They were both far too complex for anything to ever be easy, there was a lot of things in their pasts that still effected them now, they needed to work through it all. They had a future together though, Emma was sure of it, this rough patch would end and they would get through it stronger than ever.