Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Once Upon a Time.

Prompt from TheOfficialNinja


Eleven


There was only one tree in the prison yard. It was pretty short as far as trees go, but the branches are full and long and provide a perfect circle of shade around the base of the tree. At least in the summer. Now, in late autumn, the leaves of the old maple were turning colour and their once full umbrella of leaves tell the coming of winter.

Emma leaned back against the tree, looking up through the sparse leaves at the patches of grey sky. After the incessant rain she was at last able to escape the grey prison walls for the outdoors.

She sat there a long time, just staring. The abstract waving of the tree's branches seemed to tell a story as though it were art, dance, and music all at once.

She settled herself more comfortably against the rough knobby bark and dug her boots into the damp earth. Her nose was met with the loamy smell of damp earth, smelling of rebirth in the spring and of comfort in the fall.

Leaves fell down around her. The oranges, yellows, and brilliant reds, sang a beautiful chorus that welcomed her back to the present. She crunched one in her hand, closing her eyes in sheer appreciating of natures music.

The clatter of branches swaying together in the wind added a faint heartbeat to the song.

Her senses were suddenly overwhelmed by the magnitude of beauty she could find in the solitary tree on bleak prison grounds.

It calmed her.

It revived her.

It told her for the first time she had hope, that she could see the world in beautiful colour, instead of the black and white that the darkness that held onto her seemed to favour.

Two weeks of scraping across the rocky bottom of her depression and now she was making the slow climb out of the darkness.

It was thanks to Henry's relentless story telling.

It was thanks to Regina who both pushed her harder and soothed the deep festering wounds.

They spoke every day.

It was thanks to Archie who took time out of his evenings and patiently talked her though her confusion, her pain, her dreams.

And now it was thanks to the respite from the rain.

Emma let the fresh air blow away some wisps of the darkness that were now only hanging on by a thread.

She felt lighter.

She felt like she could reach out and grab hold of a blowing leaf and let it take her away.

She let her guard down cautiously just in case the darkness would come bursting out to devour her whole.

When it didn't, she let herself relax and lose herself in a book, with the smell of musty leaves, good damp earth and fresh rain to keep her company.

She was interrupted not too long after by a punch in the shoulder from her tiny roommate. "Yo Swan, you're reading again."

"Yeah, I am." She realized that yes, it was the first time she'd picked up a book in months, and that it had been forever since she'd come here. She used to come here all the time, leading a group of girls in a sort of prison book club. Most days she was there to help the girls sound out words and provide definition after definition, other days' she'd help the girls write letters, and on rare occasions they'd get her to read aloud.

"Me and Abbie tried to keep the gang going when you stopped showing up, but we're not smart like you, we couldn't keep it up."

"I'm glad to be back," Emma choked over the emotion clogging her throad.

"Yeah," She agreed and settled beside Emma to read, inching her finger across the page.

It wasn't long before Abbie showed up and the three of them picked up where Emma had left off in Harry Potter.

Things were slowly falling back into their rightful place, separating from the turmoil in her mind.


Regina and Henry started out bright and early Sunday morning, bundled in their winter coats, with gloves on their hands and toques pulled down over their ears. Even as they got to the farm frost still ghosted the tips of the blades of grass.

Regina bundled her coat closer about her, "I think its colder than last year..."

"Yeah..." Henry mumbled, but his attention was already on Operation Pumpkin Two Thousand Fourteen and he ran off down the hill to the pumpkin patch leaving Regina behind.

No sooner had she reached the bottom of the hill, Henry called out, "Hey Regina, I found a perfect pumpkin! Can I get it? Pleaseeee... "

His excitement was infectious and her features relaxed into a soft smile."Of course, dear." She lifted the pumpkin into her arms, headless of the dirt being rubbed into her coat.

She turned up the hill to the old farm house where they would pay, but Henry tugged on her arm, "But 'Gina you have to pick one still."

"Me?"

"Duh this is my pumpkin, " He sighed heavily, "Don't you know anything about pumpkin carving! Everyone has to do their own so there's no fighting. Once Ruby and my Ma nearly killed each other with pumpkin carving knives. I swear Regina, it was bad. "

"Believe it or not Henry, I've never carved a pumpkin before, I wouldn't even know how to pick one." She admitted. The darkness that still sometimes clouded her heart chuckled at her naiveté and sent shivers down her spine. Henry couldn't know how his comment would hit a nerve, how could he? She did her best to push the darkness away, more determined than ever enjoy the experience with the ten year old with boundless energy.

He stared at her dumfounded for a few seconds before bounding off as fast as he could, yelling behind him, " I can help!"

The ten year old suddenly became quite the pumpkin expert , "Here Regina this one is super round, it would be good for a beginner like you. Or there's this one here, you could make something really cool with this one if you're a good artist. Are you?" He looked eagerly up at her, awaiting her answer with bated breath.

"I...I wouldn't know." Her mind was swirling with orange gourds and green vines, they all started to look the same. Panic clutched at her stomach. She couldn't do this, she wasn't his mother, she wasn't anyone's mother. How could she handle such a time honoured tradition? How could she meet the standards in pumpkin carving that Emma had set? She knew nothing about looking after kids, and she certainly didn't even know how to carve a pumpkin. Emma. She needed Emma. She would know what to do, she could reassure her. In a perfect world she could fish her phone out of her pocket and ask he blonde for help. She laughed nervously to herself, in a perfect world Emma would be here with them, not in jail. Panic rose further in her throat, paralyzing her heart. The truth was that if Emma were here, Regina wouldn't be. Guilt washed over her then, how dare she wish Emma wasn't here, so that she could be here with Henry, learning how to carve a pumpkin. She couldn't have them both.

In the end, under Henry's careful guidance, she frantically picked a pumpkin similar to His own.


Back at home Henry was showing her the art of pumpkin carving from the ground up.

Quite literally it would seem.

He'd covered every inch of the floor and counter space with newsprint from this weekend's Storybrooke Observer. He'd collected the various knives, spoons and markers, and deposited them on the counter.

"So first we gotta cut open the pumpkins head."

Regina could do nothing but stand back and watch the tiny brunette go to town on his pumpkin. A few moments later he lifted the chunk of pumpkin and shook it at her, gobs of orange hitting the newspaper on the floor and her black cashmere sweater. "Look at the brains Regina, look at them!"

He paused and fiddled again, "I always do the same pumpkin, it's going to be a surprise though for you so don't look." He began tracing his own design onto the pumpkin, shielding it with his small body. Without looking over his shoulder he said, "Come on Regina you gotta cut off the head."

And so she did.

He briefly looked up from his tracing and deemed it a good beheading.

Then he rolled his sleeves up to his arms and grinned over at her. "Ok now we gotta pull out all the guts. Do we have a bowl or something? "

He began to dig into the pumpkin, pulling out seeds and bits of slime to fling in the bowl. " Come one Regina what are you waiting for!"

She hesitantly stuck her hand into the belly of the pumpkin, her fingers closing over the cold slime. "Henry, this is disgusting." She slopped a handful of seeds and slime into the bowl, then she grinned, "But it's also pretty fun."

"Told you so." He laughed and rushed to grab her phone from the hall table. "Here let me get a picture for Ma!"

"Oh not of me," She protested, and in her distress she absentmindedly brushed at her brow with orange fingers. "She'll want one of you Henry."

"Nuh uh, you first, you promised my Ma she could have a picture. " He pouted.

"I suppose..." She noticed both mother and son could stick out their lower lip in the most convincing fashion.

"Awesome!" He pointed the phone at her, "One..."

"But wait, look at me, I'm a disaster." She shook her head, glancing down at the orange goo covering her forearms, her hair falling messily over her face, and a string of pumpkin goo above her eye brow to top it all off.

"Two."

"Henry!" She exclaimed, but even her appearance couldn't stop the grin when he at last took the picture.

"Three."

Henry was doubled over, laughing uncontrollably, "You're such a mess Regina, it's awesome. My Ma will love it, I promise."

"That means I look horrific, let me see."

"No, no, nope, you'll just delete it!" He ran off with the phone to deposit it back on the hall table.

They finished scraping out the goo and moved on to carving their designs into the orange flesh.

Henry completed his classic screaming pumpkin design, while Regina had chosen to carve a (presumably) black cat, with its long tail sticking up in the air.

"Awesome man," Henry smiled and gave Regina a sticky high five.

Sometime over the course of the afternoon, she'd gotten lost in the enjoyment of pumpkin carving and she'd forgotten to feel guilty. At some point, up to her elbows in pumpkin, the panic had dissipated. Oh Emma, please forgive me.

And then guilt turned on its heel and came rushing back as a dream.

She imagined the three of them filling the kitchen with laughter. She could see Emma with perfect clarity teasing Henry with gobs of slime. There was Emma creating a disaster of a pumpkin.

The next image hit her like a Mack truck. Emma was coming up behind her and kissing the back of her neck.

That was unexpected.

The images kept coming.

Emma bumping into her, grinning at her, whispering in her ear. Her eyes fluttered shut as she imagined Emma's arms about her, trapping her against the counter, kissing her.

"Regina! Regina!"

She shook herself back to reality, "I'm sorry, what is it Henry?"

"I'm done! Now I wanna make pumpkin seeds."

A slow trickle of panic came back "I'm afraid I don't know..."

"That's ok, I remember how Ma does it." Minutes later they shoved the baking sheet of pumpkin seeds, oil and salt, into the oven. "Now we cook 'em 'til they're dead!

Henry!

"What! It's Halloween!"

She couldn't hide her smile.

Then she gestures at the chaos before them, "We do have to clean this up before we do anything else."

He pouted again, "It's too much work"

Mother and son, they wielded far too much power over her. Instead of feeling uncomfortable from the lack of control, she found her heart warmed. She felt loved, she felt part of something, something wider than the faint grey circle she lived her life in. She grinned, "Maybe you should have thought about that before you threw bits of slime at me."

"Oh yeah, " Henry giggled sheepishly, "It was totally worth it to hear you scream, you're such a girl Regina."

"I take that as a compliment young man. " She tossed a wet sponge at him, "Now get going."

"Finneeee," He grumbled.

Later the of two of them sank down to watch Charlie Brown and The Great Pumpkin while they munched on their home made pumpkin seeds.

Regina cried as the credits rolled.

Henry only shook his head, "My ma cries too. Every. Single. Time. What is it with girls?"

"I've never seen it before," She offered as an excuse, wiping a tissue beneath her eye to stop the mascara from running down her face.

Henry gaped at her. "What! No way! That's not possible! It's totally old you must have seen it."

A sudden smile spread over her features and the tears were quickly forgotten. "Young man, did you just call me old?"

"Uh no..." He scurried away from her, a grin reaching to his ears.

"Don't ever call a woman old" She launched forward, tickling his sides and the backs of his knees, "Didn't you mother teach you anything?"

"Stop Regina! Stop Regina!" He giggled, falling off the couch in his effort to scramble away. "I promise I'll never call you old again."

"Old? Did I just hear you say old again?" She teased, this time catching the bottom of his feet as he rolled out of tickling distance.

"I promise I'll never call you...call you that again." He managed though his giggles.

They queued up Monster House in the DVD player while they ate dinner. It wasn't long after that Henry curled up on the couch beside her, sound asleep after the day's excitement.

Regina was left with her thoughts and the tears returned.

I'm sorry Emma.

I'm sorry that you couldn't be here.

I'm sorry that I forgot to feel guilty.

I'm sorry that I was glad you weren't here today so that I could be.

I'm sorry.

And thank you for giving the gift of today.


Emma waved the picture in the air, "You mean to tell me that that was your first pumpkin?"

"Yes it was, " Regina blushed, "Did I do it wrong? "

"Did you do it...? Regina, It's a fucking piece of art," She glanced at Henry, "Uh I mean freaking...tootin' piece of art!"

"Thank you," She whispered, a warm glow settling in her belly.

If Henry noticed his mother's choice of words he didn't show it, "Hey Ma did you make your famous pumpkin this year?"

"Nah Kid, we can't carve pumpkins in here because were not allowed knives here."

"Oh yeah, I guess so." He glanced around the room, eyes downcast, "I wish I could see it ma."

"I know kid, I know." It was more than just the absent pumpkin, they both knew that. She answered anyway, "Next year okay?"

"Yeah," He answered glumly.

Emma turned a desperate gaze to Regina, "But uh kid... Guess what, some of the younger girls are going trick or treating here. We collected pudding and stuff for them at commissary and they're going to dress up in toilet paper costumes. It's going to be really fun."

Henry mumbled, thoughts as grey as the sky outside, "It's pretty weird to think of kids in here, like they're not much older than me."

"This is their chance to make a difference though, " Emma scrambled to put a positive spin on the circumstances, "Being here gives a lot of them a second chance at life and some of the girls will make a good life for themselves."

"I hope they'll be ok." Henry shrugged.

Emma and Regina share a look, one that only parents could share. Love and pride and concern.

It felt oddly domestic.

After a few minutes of silence, the young Swan piped up, waving the picture once more, "Hey Ma! Remember our deal about the picture!"

"I remember."

"Ok...so go ahead..." He grinned.

"Right now?"

"Yes! So you don't forget!"

Emma pushed her glasses up her nose and tucked her hair behind her ears. It didn't hurt to primp, not when you're asking out a gorgeous lady while in a dreary prison. She added a fake British accent, because she could use all the help she could get. "Regina milady, would you do me the honour of going on a date with me, sometime next year, say in late February, early march when I have been freed from the prison the holds me back, body and soul, from loving you. "

Regina flushed a deep pink.

Henry rolled his eyes, "Gross Ma, whenever you really like someone you act so silly."

Regina blushed harder.

Emma caught her gaze, caught it and held it. "So what do you think?"

"Yes," She whispered. Then a little bit louder, she repeated, "Yes."

"Finally," Henry grumbled. "Now can you please tell Regina that we can't give out raisins because that's the absolute worst!"


She lay in bed that night, hugging pillow to her chest, with the image of a blushing Regina glowing in her mind.

Flirting was one thing, they'd been doing it for quite some time now. Or so she imagined. It was only small casual things that made your heart bump in your chest. So small, that you could call it just being friendly.

But then again there were the comments that couldn't be ignored, coming on so strong that they made you squirm in your seat. Even then, Emma hesitated to call it flirting. She didn't know what the brunette was thinking. It drove her crazy not knowing how if Regina was just being exceptionally nice to her since she was in prison, or if it was the real deal.

"Fuck it," Emma whispered out loud. It all felt so good, it didn't matter to her what it was called.

That was in the past.

A date was a date though.

Or was it.

Could it just be friendly, because she was stuck in jail? Henry hadn't really given Regina a choice. Emma shook her head, she should know better that it didn't mean everything.

Her thoughts raged war on each other.

A date.

A date was a date.

That meant something didn't it?

Game changer.

Whether or not their past interactions, or flirtations or whatever you wanted to call them, were simply being friendly, a date meant that she could change the tide on their relationship.

If she wanted to.

A date meant that she had a real chance to woo Regina, the gorgeous woman that had come into her life in the most unexpected manner. One she would never be sorry for.

A date that was still four months away.

She'd have to make it count.

She made a mental note to thank Henry properly when she got out of here.

In the meantime she had lots of time to plan a date of the most epic proportions.

It also gave lots of time to evaluate her feelings. She tucked the pillow beneath her head and closed her eyes, soft smile tugging at the corner of her lips, as she again remembered the way Regina had blushed earlier.

She rolled over in bed again a few minutes later. She slipped her feet out of the blanket and rested them on the cool wall of the cement cube she called home. Cool feet, warm heart, she thought absentmindedly.

She rolled again, searching for sleep. No luck. It would seems like the time to evaluate her feelings was right now.

Someone snored in the next cube. She wondered if Regina snored. It would be adorable, she had no doubt.

Regina was admittedly smoking hot, that was a definite plus. hence the flirting. She guessed they'd have chemistry, how could they not? Emma was amazing in bed and she would bet that, as Ruby had once speculated, that Regina would hold her own.

She sighed deeply, inching her hand between her legs to relieve the throbbing pressure.

But no, her mind was well and determined to evaluate her feelings right now.

"Damnit," She said out loud.

Her bunkmate snorted in her sleep at this middle of the night outburst.

They talked, god could they talk. Emma spent more time on the phone with Regina in the past few months than she had spent in the past ten years. It was so easy between them. It had never been so easy with anyone, other than August, but he was like a brother. Regina was definitely not in any way related to her, no way. Their friendship, that was something familiar, something she could cherish forever.

Henry. Regina cared about Henry. If she'd been looking for a girlfriend, that would have to be a definite requirement. Well ok, she reasoned, she'd dated some girls who didn't care, but that was when she didn't want complications.

This one was worth the complication and she was not about to mess it up. But really, how much more messed up could a relationship be if it started while one of you was in prison.

She could see the three of them together when she got out, doing all sorts of normal boring sht. It seemed pretty fantastic to her.

Friends, family, chemistry... Regina Mills.

Warmth seeped into her heart at the thought, a tiny ray of sun that pushed the dark fog further from her mind. It was far away that sliver of light, but it was there. With the memory of a kiss on her cheek, a blushing brunette, and the promise of warmth keeping her company, her eyes drifted closed and she fell into the first peaceful sleep in weeks.


A/N: Thank you lovely people for reading! Happy Halloween! (In case I don't update before then).

P.S. I get so distracted with a million different stories at the same time! Or at least three different stories at the same time...Feel free to the others out too :) Maybe you'll forgive me for slow updates then :P