"Elsa?" Emma asked as she walked closer to the blonde woman sitting outside of Regina's front door.
"Emma." Elsa offered a shy smile as she hesitantly stood up and shuffled her feet nervously. She released the breath that she was holding when Emma returned the smile. She leaned in and wrapped Emma into a firm hug. The other blonde paused awkwardly for a brief second before she responded in kind.
After a few long moments they broke apart. Elsa turned to Regina and moving in smooth steps, pulled her in for a very gentle hug. "I'm so sorry for just turning up on your doorstep unannounced like this, Regina," she apologised. The fair haired woman smoothed a stray lock of straight hair behind her ear. "I did try and call but somebody," she indicated Emma with a sideways motion of her head, "wasn't answering their phone."
Emma felt around in her pockets, starting with her jeans, and then moved on to her jacket.
Elsa pointed a well manicured finger towards the apartment door. "It's inside. I could hear the Beach Boys' loud and obnoxious singing from out here," she commented with a look of distaste. Regina smiled inwardly, glad she wasn't the only one dismayed by Emma's choice in music.
"Oh. I didn't even notice I didn't have it with me." Emma responded dumbfounded, still absent-mindedly feeling her jeans' pockets for the missing item.
Emma and Elsa continued to stare at one another. The silence growing heavy in the hallway as neither woman looked away from the other.
Regina looked from Emma to Elsa, and then from Elsa to Emma. She cleared her throat loudly. "How about we move ourselves from the hall into the comfort of the apartment?" she suggested, holding her hand out to Emma for the keys.
Emma handed her the keys that she had forgotten were still in her hand. Regina unlocked the front door and moved inside, waiting for the other two women to follow. Emma picked up Elsa's suitcase and guided the woman into the apartment with a familiar hand on the small of her back. The awkwardness that permeated the atmosphere outside was brought into the apartment with full force. Emma placed Elsa's suitcase just by the front door and then quickly exited the room. She returned a few brief moments later with three bottles of water in her hand. She handed one bottle to Elsa, and tucked one under her arm while she twisted the cap off the remaining bottle and handed it to Regina. All three women took a sip of their waters.
"So….." Emma started, drawing the single syllable word out for much longer than was necessary.
Elsa put the lid back on her water and leaned up against the door. "You're wondering why I am here, right?"
"It kinda crossed my mind, yes." Emma responded.
"I just had a few things that needed to be tied up. I needed to sort a few things out for Mom's estate," Elsa said in a shaky voice. It was obvious that the woman was trying desperately to control her emotions, the loss of her mother still raw. "I've only been here a couple of days, and I wasn't going to come and see you, because I know that you need to concentrate on helping Regina," she paused and looked over to the brunette, flashing her a warm smile. "But I missed you and I thought it was sort of rude to be in the same city and not at least say hi to you."
"You could have called and told me you were in town." Emma said as she placed her hands rather aggressively on her hips.
"I know. I'm sorry." Elsa said as she ducked her head. She took a deep breath and looked back up to her former lover. "I can go if you like. I was staying at Mom's but they need to prep it for sale so I have a motel booked just a few blocks away."
Emma and Elsa appeared to be in some sort of Mexican standoff. Emma was not giving an inch and Elsa was looking hesitantly at Emma. Regina couldn't help but feel sorry for the younger woman and her loss, she knew first hand what it was like to lose a parent.
"Nonsense." Regina said rather forcefully from her position next to the lounge suite. Both blondes turned to look at her quizzically. "We have plenty of room here for you to stay."
"Ummmmmm," Emma said, once again drawing the monosyllabic word out. "Actually, Regina, your place is pretty full at the moment. In case you've forgotten I've kind of shotgunned the guest room."
Regina rolled her eyes and huffed. "Well then you can have the couch and Elsa can have the guest room." Oh God what was she doing? Don't encourage the ex-girlfriend of the woman you love to stay in the same location.
"What? Thats totally not fair." Emma pouted, her voice reaching an octave higher than it probably should under normal circumstances.
"Thank you Regina. That is a very kind offer, but I don't want to put anybody out. Like I said, I just felt like I needed to stop in and say hello."
Emma stood staring at Elsa, then she turned to look at Regina. She sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair.
"You're not putting anybody out," Emma huffed. "You take my room and I will take the couch. If I get too uncomfortable I'll jump into bed with Regina."
Regina's eyes grew twice in size and shot up to look at Emma. Elsa nodded along in agreement smiling shyly at her former lover, both women oblivious to Regina's reaction.
"Okay. Well, you know where the guest room is so you may as well take your suitcase in there, otherwise Regina will start whinging about how its a safety hazard and someone will probably trip on it and blah, blah, blah."
Regina went to vocalise her disapproval at being mocked when Elsa spoke up and declared that she would actually prefer to have a cup of hot tea.
"Of course. I'm sorry. I should have offered you one sooner." Regina apologised as she went to make her way into the kitchen.
"That's okay. You stay there, I'll make it." The blonde walked passed both Emma and Regina, both women still standing in the middle of the entry. Regina looked at Emma with a questioning glance. Emma shrugged her shoulders before turning on her heal and following Elsa. Regina trailed on behind feeling somewhat bewildered. What a strange day this was proving to be.
Once in the kitchen Regina made herself more comfortable on a barstool as Emma jumped up and sat on the kitchen counter. Elsa made her way around the kitchen as if she had only been in it yesterday.
"How many sugars do you have, Regina?" Elsa asked as she turned to address the older woman. Noticing Emma sitting on the bench top she frowned and slapped the blonde on the leg. "Emma! Get off the counter, you're not a ten year old."
Emma rubbed her stinging thigh and dejectedly slid off the counter without so much as a peep. She jutted her bottom lip out in a pout that was indeed reminiscent of a ten year old. Regina's heart melted at the sulky display of behaviour- she found the young blonde impossibly adorable. She dragged her eyes away from Emma when Elsa placed a piping hot mug of tea in front of her, along with the sugar container and a teaspoon. She watched then as the other woman went and rifled through her pantry, opened a spice jar, took a smell and then proceeded to sprinkle some of the contents over the hot chocolate she had made Emma. Elsa delivered the blonde's favourite drink with a thousand watt smile. Emma hesitantly took the drink, temporarily distracted by the charming smile, and returned the smile in full. Regina felt a sharp pang in her chest. There was definitely some serious chemistry between these two women, and it was going to make for a very long and painful weekend.
Regina took a tentative sip of her tea and tried not to watch as the two women continued to stare at each other. The moment was broken though when Emma took a long gulp of her hot chocolate.
Her formerly smiley face instantly turned into a grimace. She turned to the sink and dramatically spat the contents of her mouth out. "Holy shit!" she garbled.
"Oh my god Emma, whats wrong?" Elsa asked with concern, placing her hand reassuringly on Emma's back.
"Whats wrong," Emma shrugged the other woman's hand away "is that you still cant tell the damn difference between nutmeg and cinnamon."
Regina couldn't help but burst out into vigorous laughter as Emma acted as though she had been poisoned, and Elsa look affronted as though she had been accused of it.
"Well who puts stupid cinnamon on their hot chocolates anyway?" Elsa yelled as she waved her hands in the air.
"I do!" Emma yelled back.
"Well its a ridiculous habit, Emma, and I've never understood it."
"Thats because you can't tell the god damn difference between cinnamon and nutmeg."
Emma was busy scraping her tongue with her fingers as Elsa passed her a bottle of water. She flashed an eye roll and a shake of the head to Regina.
"So tell me, Regina," Elsa asked enthusiastically "What has it been like living with two children these past few weeks?"
Emma made more ridiculous and loud hacking noises into the kitchen sink to emphasise her rather childish point. Elsa pretended to ignore her.
"Oh, I am not getting involved in this," the brunette said as she pointed her finger in the general direction of the two blondes.
Emma turned, and scowling at Elsa, she handed her the bottle of half drunk water. "Fuck this, I'm having a beer."
"Language!" both Regina and Elsa yelled at the blonde.
"Why? It's not like Henry is here to hear it." Emma whined at she opened the fridge door, reaching in to get herself beer.
"Speak of the devil." Regina said as she looked down to her phone to read her messages. "He is making a quick stop at the library with Grace for an early start on a class project so he is going to be a little later than usual."
"Okay. Well, good to know." Emma took a long pull of her beer, then pointed to Elsa with the bottle. "Just a heads up. I wouldn't expect him to be overly happy to see you."
"What? Why?" Elsa asked, slightly offended.
"He was really angry at me when I told him I was moving to Seattle. And you know, you are kinda the reason that I am moving, so he may not be your biggest fan."
Elsa contemplated what Emma said for a brief amount of time before she nodded her head in understanding. "That's fair enough. I understand that. But," she raised her index finger to Emma. "I will woo him in no time at all, Swan. I am quite the charming individual you know."
"Pfffft. Whatever!" Emma scoffed as she took another drink from her beer.
"You know I'm right," she looked Emma directly in the eyes. "I won you over didn't I?"
"Wait?" Regina interjected, placing her cup of tea down carefully into its saucer. "YOU pursued Emma?"
Elsa nodded in the affirmative, picking her cup of tea up off the bench and blowing on it to cool.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Emma asked affronted. "I'm good enough to be pursued. I'm hot, and funny, and awesome. Why would you be surprised that Elsa chased after me?"
"I'm not saying that you aren't any of those things, Emma. Its just that… you know… Elsa is a bit more… refined."
"Refined my ass. Besides, why is this such a surprise. I thought you already knew how we met?"
"I did. You helped Elsa when she was having a panic attack at the train station. But then I just assumed it was you that followed it up."
"Nope." Elsa interjected. "All me. Unfortunately for Emma she has absolutely no idea when someone is into her. She is completely oblivious."
"Hey! In my defence I thought you were just being nice because I helped you. Plus, I didn't know you were gay."
"Another thing. Her gaydar is as dodgy as heck. She has the worst gaydar in the history of mankind," Elsa turned her attention form Regina to Emma. "I think you should write a formal letter of complaint about that, Em."
"Yeah, well. You may be right about that one. It is pretty crap." Emma conceded.
"So, anyway, I kept asking her out and we would go to movies and out for coffee, and one time I even took her up to my parents cabin in the country. She still didn't have a clue. So one night i just grabbed her by the lapels of her stupid red jacket and kissed the obliviousness right out of her."
"Yeah." Emma said with a dopey grin on her face. "I kind of suspected then that your motives weren't entirely platonic."
"Well, obviously. People don't just randomly kiss people with tongue in a platonic manner."
Both Regina and Emma looked everywhere but at each other. Emma cleared her throat and challenged Elsa. "Well, they could. Just because people share passionate kisses it doesn't mean they have to get married or that they want anything more than friendship. Sometimes it just happens."
Elsa took another sip of her tea and rolled her eyes. "Okay. Now you're just being ridiculous. The last time I kissed someone without intent was when I was in college and we were playing spin the bottle. I'm just saying- as adults, when you spend a lot of time with someone, and you stick your tongue in their mouth- there is more to it."
Emma continued to look at Elsa ready to make another challenge. Regina seemed very interested in the pattern on her tea cup and she wasn't sure if it was getting warmer in the kitchen or not but she really felt as though she should change into something cooler.
"I'm home! Mom, Emma?" the three women heard from the front door.
"In the kitchen." Emma yelled back.
Henry came sauntering into the room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Elsa. "Elsa."
"Hey, Henry." Elsa threw him another one of her megawatt smiles. She really was quite charming.
Henry narrowed his eyes at the woman, clearly displeased with her presence in his house. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
Emma made eye contact with Elsa and raised her eyebrows in an 'I told you so' gesture.
"Oh I was in the neighbourhood," she waved her hand around in the air. "I thought I would drop in and say hi to Emma and your Mom before I headed back to Seattle in a couple days."
"So your not staying?" suspicion still laced his voice.
"Huh? Nah, I have work to get back to," she commented with an air of disinterest. "I do, however, have to go to some fancy gamer shop here to get Kristoff a Playstation game. Apparently it is the best store in America, blah blah. So that should be fun." She feigned boredom.
Henry's eyes grew large with excitement. "Can I come with you?"
"I don't see why not. It would actually be easier for me if I had some help from someone with extensive experience on the subject."
He turned eagerly to his mother and put on his best puppy dog eyes, which have been much more effective since Emma had been staying with them. Clearly the blonde woman had been giving him some pointers.
"Yes, Henry, you can go. You can even take the money from the swear jar to buy yourself a new game." Regina said with a smile.
"Awesome." He was practically bouncing with excitement. Then he stopped and crinkled his nose. "I don't think the swear jar as quite enough in it for the exact game that I want."
"How much are you short by?" Elsa asked.
"About twenty dollars I think."
"Well that's just a goddamn, fucking, bullshitting shame." Elsa responded.
"Elsa! Fucking watch your fucking language." Emma yelled with a laugh.
Regina was dumbfounded. She sat with her mouth agape wondering what had become of her household.
"Is that twenty dollars now?" Elsa asked.
Henry did some quick math in his head. "I'm about three dollars short."
Everyone in the room turned and looked at Regina. A mixed look of horror and shock contorted her features. She realised quickly what everyone was expecting of her. She sighed heavily before saying "Cocking, piss, bollocks."
The other three occupants of the kitchen gave a loud, unanimous cheer.
It was after they all had Thai takeaway and Henry had talked Elsa into playing the Playstation that Emma noticed that Regina was missing. She left the lounge room unnoticed amongst giggles and playful provoking. She made her way to Regina's room, pausing briefly to knock at the doorway. Regina was standing at the end of her bed folding laundry.
"Regina!" Emma scolded as she yanked a crumpled t-shirt out of the woman's hands. "What have I told you about doing housework? Sit." She guided the brunette gently onto the bed to sit.
"Emma, it is hardly a difficult task." Regina moaned.
"I don't care. You will do as you are told, so help me." Emma feigned belligerence. She folded the t-shirt in her hands and placed it on the bed amongst the piles of other folded clothing.
"So." Regina started.
"I know," the blonde responded knowing full well that Regina was talking about the presence of Emma's former girlfriend. She frowned at a bra that she had picked up and looked questioningly at the brunette. Regina indicated a pile closer to her.
"Mine."
Emma threw the bra on the indicated pile. "It's weird isn't it?"
"That you can't tell our bras apart?"
"No. You know what I mean," she picked up another item of clothing from the washing basket. "I mean, I should be happy to see her shouldn't I? I mean… I'm happy to see her, but…"
"But?" Regina asked as she watched Emma fiddle with the latest item of clothing she had picked up.
"It's different. Not bad different. Just… different."
"I can't tell you what to feel, Emma. You two certainly seem to have fallen back into your usual banter easily enough. The chemistry between you two is palpable."
Emma seemed to be lost in her thoughts for a few minutes as she twirled the small fabric of clothing around her index finger. She looked squarely at Regina.
"Chemistry between Elsa and I has never been a problem, Regina" she said pointedly.
"Oh." Regina whispered, not sure what else she could say to such an obvious statement.
"I think I really should just spend some time with her tomorrow. Alone. Just the two of us." she turned to look at the brunette sitting on the bed. "Will you be okay alone all day?"
Regina threw her a big smile. "Of course, Emma. Henry will be home and we can spend some quality bonding time together." What else could she possibly say. No I do not want you to leave me and go and spend time with your girlfriend because I am really jealous and I will miss you terribly?
"Okay, thats sorted then. I'll go and talk to Elsa." Emma nodded to herself and started walking towards the door.
"Emma?"
Emma twirled around and looked at Regina with a questioning smile.
"My underwear." Regina held out her hand.
Emma frowned and looked down to what she had been holding in her hand this entire time. She turned a bright shade of red, almost the same colour as Regina's underwear, when she realised what she had been playing with.
"Whoops. Sorry," she placed the lacy item in the other woman's hand before making a quick exit from the room.