Double Trouble 11
'Medicine'
When Emma and David got to the apartment after work the next afternoon, Mary Margaret and Henry were home from school already. Despite everything that had been going on Emma still had to go to work to keep Storybrooke running crime-free and she'd made Henry go to school as well... but not without a bit of uncertainty the night before about whether he actually had to go or not.
"I don't want to go to school tomorrow," whined Henry. "I'll miss all the cool stuff that's going on. I wanna stay with Em and Ri."
"Henry, you are going to school," said Emma firmly. "You can't cut because you don't wanna go."
In the background Em guffawed and sang loudly, "The Sheriff's a hyp-o-crite! The Sheriff's a hyp-o-crite..."
"See! Emma, you didn't go," said Henry stubbornly.
"Henry. I am so done arguing about this! You are going to school. Regina, back me up."
Regina barely lifted her eyes from the newspaper she was reading. "He doesn't have to go."
Emma's jaw dropped in shock and then she pinned a glare on her. She was completely screwed now by Regina's surprising about-face from her 'strict Mom' role. Doing the responsible parent thing would earn her Henry's wrath but siding with Regina would only let the brunette win at whatever game she was playing. Henry too was torn, his allegiance was firmly placed with Emma usually but he was tempted to go along with his Mom for once ... and that would mean admitting that she could still tell him what to do.
Em chuckled evilly, recognising what was going on. "Epic troll move."
Emma glared at Henry. "You are going, kid. End of story."
Henry stomped away to find his backpack and school things.
"I hope the taste is to your liking, Emma," said Regina breezily.
"What."
"Your own medicine. It's not as much fun when you're the one being undermined at every turn now is it..."
With the others at work or at school it'd fallen to Regina to take care of the girls for the day. Emma was hesitant to allow it but admitted reluctantly that she and Regina both had an equal claim over the girls and what happened to them. The upshot was that the Girl Most Likely to Cause Trouble was also most likely to obey Regina over any of the other adults.
Not that Em ever let anything stop her if she was really motivated.
Em was pretty excited about losing the cops for the day, figuring that Regina would let her do whatever she wanted and that she'd get to spend plenty of time with Ri. She was partially right, Regina had taken them out and shown them around Storybrooke after Em complained at breakfast about being "stuck inside in the stupid apartment for days. Can't we go somewhere...?"
That morning, Emma had just been walking out the door when she'd heard Em ask if Regina was going to go to work too, obviously angling for zero supervision.
"Aren't you the Mayor?" asked Em.
Emma scoffed "No" before she could answer. "You can't just declare yourself the Mayor again, Regina."
"Haha, isn't the Mayor usually the boss of the Sheriff?" teased Em. "Kinky."
Emma ignored the comment. "She is not the Mayor any more. Someone else took over, admittedly he's been doing a crap job of it but at least he's not framing people for murders they didn't commit."
"Bet he doesn't look as good in a skirt either, eh Sheriff?" said Em, licking her spoon with a smack of the lips.
By the end of the day, Emma was relieved that she hadn't been called to go arrest her younger self for stealing or vandalising or who-knows-what else. Walking in the door that evening, she immediately located the teens in the apartment with her eyes. Regina had brought them back after all and they didn't appear to have gotten into any trouble. Emma relaxed in relief that her gamble hadn't backfired... and then she noticed what Em was wearing.
"Where did she get that," demanded Emma.
"I didn't buy it for her," said Regina quickly.
"Then she stole it," Emma concluded, narrowing her eyes.
Em piped up indignantly at the accusation. "Hey, po-po, I did not steal it ok? The guy at the music store gave it to me for free, same as the sunnies and a bunch of CDs. I think he liked me."
Em was wearing aviator sunglasses (to shield her eyes from the bright sun indoors perhaps?) and a black t-shirt with huge white block letters that said: FUCK THE POLICE.
Emma was not amused. She went straight over to Em and grabbed the hem and yanked the shirt right over her head in front of everyone.
"Hey! What the hell!" said Em angrily.
"You are not wearing that," Emma snapped and threw the shirt at Em's chest. "Inside-out or not at all. There's a kid in the house. Not to mention it's offensive."
"Whatever," Em grumbled and sloped away to get sympathy from Ri. She of course made sure that Ri noticed her taut bare midriff before replacing her shirt.
Emma set her face into a frown and headed for Mary Margaret in the kitchen. "You can tell her off you know."
Mary Margaret cringed. "I don't know what to say to her. She's already so angry-"
Emma rolled her eyes lightly in aggravation. "You can't just let her do whatever she wants because you're guilty. Geez, I'd have walked all over you... in fact, I am!"
Regina placed a ready cup of hot chocolate in front of Emma who picked it up automatically, hardly noticing who'd made it.
"I'm going to get evicted!" Mary Margaret groaned, raising her voice above the din of the music in her small apartment. They wouldn't be able to hear the neighbours banging on the walls in anger over the loud volume.
"What are they listening to?" said David almost at a yell. "It sounds like-"
"A garbage compactor," said Regina, rolling her eyes.
"It's Knife Party," Emma muttered.
"What party?" cried Mary Margaret.
Em and Ri were on the couch with their feet up on the coffee table near where Emma's iPod dock was sitting. It was blaring music with a heavy bass beat nearly at full volume. Em had her aviator sunnies on again, even though it was dark, and she had her arm draped around Ri's shoulder girlfriend-at-the-movies style. Every time one of the adults had told her to turn it down the music had gotten louder as if by itself. So they'd stopped asking for the sake of their eardrums.
"This music sounds strange, Em," said Ri, almost having to yell over the music.
Em tipped her sunnies up and brightened with an idea. "Hey! I know what'll cheer you up. Let's dance!"
"Em, I don't know how to dance to this. I don't think the steps I know would go with it."
Em jumped up and pulled Ri with her. "Come on, you must know how to dance, princess?"
"Oh yes." Ri blushed. "Mother had a dancing and singing master come to the estate."
Em was intrigued. "Show me."
Ri smiled self-consciously. "No, Em-"
"Yes! Come on, come on, come on..."
Ri tucked her hair behind her ear, mentally getting ready to start. "Ok. This is my favourite. It's a dance of seduction."
"Sold!" said Em, quick as a flash.
Ri had Em stand in front of her and explained. "Ok. You'll have to be the boy. You're taller."
"Why do I have to be the boy?" whined Em.
"Shhh. Because I know the steps and it's all me anyway. You just have to stand there while I dance around you."
(In the background, Emma snorted and murmured for only Regina to hear: "Impressive grasp of concepts"...)
Ri began to dance light steps around Em, somehow managing to make the medieval dance she knew fit the beat of the music. Though she was normally shy, she actually put on a good show of seduction, using her eye contact and fleeting touches as she moved.
Em was entranced and could hardly take her eyes off her. The peanut gallery was hardly less so, thinking how strange it was to see that "Regina" hadn't always been who she was now. At one time she'd been innocent and light-hearted and here was evidence of it.
Ri began to sing in her sweet light voice, adding her words to the modern music.
I'm willing to do whatever / If you take me away...
You'll make me do whatever / When you take me away...
Ri trailed a hand across Em's collarbones as she went around her for the last time. Em reached out to grab her but Ri stepped out of the way deftly.
"No, Em! You're not supposed to touch me yet," giggled Ri.
"Not sure I like this anymore," Em grumbled.
Ri stopped in front of her where they'd started. "There. Now it's your turn."
"I have to do that?" cried Em.
"No, you have to do the lift," said Ri eagerly, like she was looking forward to it. "You have to take me away. It's really romantic."
"Er-"
"Mm. It's hard to explain. You have to lift me and then turn ... and um..."
Em had a light bulb idea, and called over to where their audience was. "Regina! Show me!"
"I don't remember," said Regina uneasily.
"You're lying," declared both Em and Emma in unison.
Regina went over and placed Em back in the last position of the dance. She stood behind Em and placed her hands on her shoulders while leaning in to whisper the instructions in Em's ear. As she spoke, Em started to giggle, but it was at green eyes across the room that Regina had directed her eyes the whole time.
Em blushed. "Regina, I'm not sure I get it-"
"Watch."
Regina took Em's place and trailed a hand down Ri's cheek to distract her. Then in one swift move she picked Ri up by the waist and lifted her into the turn to finish the dance in a romance-style drop.
Regina went back to her seat leaving Ri a bit perplexed, staring shyly after her.
Em tried not to laugh making a clumsy attempt at repeating the move, this time with her and Ri. But all that happened was her dropping Ri to the floor and then both of them collapsed into giggles and a tangle of limbs. Em started placing kisses all over her face, teasing her by asking: "is it ok to touch you now, princess?"
Thankfully by this time the song was over.
"Having fun being an enabler, Regina?" said Emma, wondering why she was playing matchmaker between the two teens ... especially since they didn't need help in that area.
"You never taught me that part," added Mary Margaret lightly, recognising the dance but not the last move.
"There's only one thing I ever taught you," said Regina.
Just before bedtime, Henry was already in his pyjamas and smelled of toothpaste when he popped up near Regina's side as she was conjuring the beds again. It surprised her because he didn't voluntarily come near her much, preferring to be with Em and Ri instead.
"Mom, where's my assignment?" said Henry.
Regina was confused why he was asking her, if he had homework due soon she wouldn't know about it since he hadn't lived with her in a while. But he did have a habit of leaving things to the last minute. She hoped he would ask her for help just so she could spend some time with him.
"What assignment, Henry. Is it due tomorrow?" said Regina.
"Nooo," said Henry impatiently. "From ages ago. I already got it back."
Regina frowned. "Oh. Well... won't it be at home with the rest of your schoolwork?"
"Yes, I need you to get it for me."
"I can summon it if you tell me which one or where it would be...?" offered Regina a little hesitantly.
She was expecting him to forbid her from using magic to do it and to walk over in the dark to get the stupid thing but he surprised her by nodding eagerly.
"Okay! It was for science. I did mine on the space-time continuum."
Regina pursed her lips into a fond smile. "Mm yes, I distinctly remember having to sit up till 1am because you forgot about it until the night before it was due."
Emma overheard the conversation as she came out of the bathroom in her pyjamas. "You did it for him?"
Regina and Henry gave her identical annoyed faces.
"No," said Henry, offended. "I did it and Mom sat with me to help."
"It was a very good assignment," said Mary Margaret, smiling. "I gave it an A."
"If I didn't already know my son is a good student I'd be suspicious of the amount of A's you give him, Miss Blanchard," said Regina.
"You never intimidated me that much," said Mary Margaret, but it was rather unconvincing. "Besides, favouritism wouldn't make me a very good teacher."
"Neither would your atrocious arithmetic. I'm glad the curse rectified what your tutors could not."
Mary Margaret had no argument for that so she went back to adding more blankets to the kids' beds. Letting Regina have the last word would be best by far.
Regina held out her palm and a few stapled sheets fluttered as they appeared. She handed them to Henry who immediately started poring over it like he was looking for clues.
"What do you want some old homework for anyway, kid?" asked Emma.
"Yes, Henry, why don't you show it to Emma?" suggested Regina. "I'm sure she would hardly know what completed homework looks like."
Emma's face said "har har".
Henry shook his head earnestly. "No! I can't tell you yet. I need to work on the theory a bit more. If anyone finds out about it before it's time it could ruin everything! Everything could unravel thread by thread!"
His way of talking reminded Emma of how he used to go on and on about Operation Cobra and his fairytale theory. The fairytale "theory" had turned out to be extremely true though... whatever he was up to right now had a good chance of being relevant as well.
"Okay," said Emma, suspicious but playing along. "But you kinda look a bit like a mad scientist the way you're hovering over your little diagrams and equations there, kid."
Henry just gave her a proud raise of his chin and said, "You'll see!"
