A/N: Fighting writer's block currently. Enjoy this short chapter while I try to find out where I'm going with this story :)
"Miss Swan. Fancy meeting you here."
"This is the faculty lunchroom. It's lunch time and I'm part of the faculty," Emma said, grinning over at her. "You're the one I should be saying that to anyway. You hadn't shown your face here since the start of school. For the last week and a half though, all of a sudden, you're here every lunch period. And you sit with me. I'm starting to think I have something to do with it."
"My, Miss Swan, your powers of deduction are astounding. You must be a very smart girl."
Emma grinned, plopping down next to Regina. They'd begun meeting in the cafeteria last week, following their conversation on the night they'd gone out to see the train. After Henry's observation that Emma was going well out of her way to come and get Regina, the brunette had suggested they begin meeting in the cafeteria to see Granny before then heading to the staff lunch room, which was between both of their classrooms. The first few days had brought stares and whispers, but Emma had held Regina's attention, keeping her laughing and distracted from the looks. By the end of the week, gossip began to fade and Regina became a common face in the staff lunch room, always sitting in the corner of the room where she and Emma ate lunch.
"So, it's the last week of school next week," Regina said, when the conversation went a little quiet. "Are you excited to be off?"
Emma shrugged.
"Yeah, it'll be nice to sleep in and just relax."
"Do you have any plans for the holidays?"
When Emma's jaw flexed, and not because she was eating, Regina almost regretted asking. She was trying to segue into inviting Emma for Christmas, at Henry's insistence of course, but she hadn't meant to upset the woman who had been nothing but kind to and supportive of her. She'd have to find another way to bring it up.
"Yeah, not really. I think I might travel around. I've never seen the East Coast."
"You're going to travel? Emma-"
"Don't tell me not to. I want to travel and this is the perfect opportunity."
"Emma, winters here are harsh. It's not the best time to be travelling," Regina said seriously. "You could get hurt. Besides, there isn't anything to see. Everything is covered in snow."
Emma smiled, though Regina could see it didn't reach her eyes.
"I like snow."
"Emma."
"Listen, I don't-" Emma glanced around, but the room was pretty much empty. No one was paying attention to them, so she continued. "I don't like holidays. They make me uncomfortable. So, can we just not talk about this anymore?"
Regina eyed her carefully before relenting.
"Okay. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. What are you and Henry planning on doing?"
"Not much," Regina replied, allowing Emma to change the topic of conversation. "We do our baking on the 23rd and spend Christmas eve watching movies all day. Christmas morning he opens his presents. We normally go to my parents' home and visit a few friends, but I'm not sure that we will this year after what happened the night of the Christmas train. Then, Boxing Day is spent playing with his toys. The rest of the time, we simply spend together."
"Sounds nice," Emma said wistfully.
"You know, we'd like it if you came," Regina blurted.
"What?"
"I'd like you to join us," Regina repeated. "Henry would like it as well. He's already asked if you'd come, and the reason I was asking about your plans earlier is because I was hoping you would join us."
"I-" Emma paused, hesitating.
Emma honestly didn't really want to, but she didn't know how to say no without disappointing her friend. She'd had enough of infringing on other families' Christmas holidays, sitting in the corner watching people open gifts while she opened a generic one that someone had bought. Usually it wasn't even with her mind, but one you bought 'just in case'. That's what she was, a 'just in case' person. It sucked, but she had figured opening something was better than opening nothing. But there were only so many boxes of chocolates or bath soaps one needed.
Emma wasn't trying to sound ungrateful. She had had more than one year she spent alone, or worse, she spent with others who truly did not want her there, who ignored her or sent her in another room where she could hear the festivities but was not allowed to partake. So she appreciated the invite, but she'd had enough of being wedged into a tradition she did not fit into or did not belong. She didn't want to feel out of place yet again, especially not with the two people who had come to mean so much to her.
"That's a nice offer, but I really wanted to tour the East Coast. Winter is pretty and the snow is nice. Maybe we could get together after the holidays, before school starts back up?"
Regina frowned.
"If that's what you'd prefer, but-"
"I would," Emma said, smiling sweetly. She was sure Regina would make an effort to make her feel included if she had joined them, but in the end, it would still end up with Emma feeling like an outsider. She didn't know their traditions, didn't know what to expect, didn't know what came next or what they did first. It would all have to be explained to her, like it did every year with every new family, and Emma didn't want that. She'd much rather just go off and do her own thing.
"When are you leaving?"
Emma shrugged.
"Whenever. I don't really have a plan. Just gonna take my GPS and see where I end up."
"Will you at least text me so that I know you're alive?"
Emma grinned.
"Yeah, I can do that." Emma reached over and snagged one of Regina's apple slices, munching on it as she shot the other woman a grin (to counter her glare). "So, you finish up the kid's Christmas shopping?"
"Yes, you thief. I did. Last month."
"Of course you've been done for a month. What'd you get him?"
"Legos, some new graphic novels, chocolates, socks, a few articles of clothing. I also bought him SingStar and Dance Dance Revolution."
"Okay, I know DDR but what's SingStar?"
"A singing game. I'm not quite sure. I believe the point of the game is to remember as many lyrics as possible or to sing a song. I don't know. I just know he and Ava were discussing the game."
Emma frowned, seeing the way Regina's voice had lowered, almost like she was sad.
"What's wrong with that?"
"When Ava brought up the game, he said he no longer wanted it. I overheard her telling him that what the boys said didn't matter. That if he wanted the game, he should ask for it for Christmas. Then Henry insisted that since it was a girl's game, he didn't want it." Regina looked up then. "I'm his mother. I know his voice. He wanted it."
"Do you think it's gonna upset him that you got it for him anyway?"
Regina shrugged.
"Perhaps? But I've spoken to David, who said he'd be willing to come over on Boxing Day to play it with Henry. If he sees a man playing, it may help him realise a game is just a game, and it can be enjoyed by anyone."
"Did he say who was teasing him?" Emma asked casually.
Regina raised her eyebrow, smirk on her lips.
"You aren't subtle."
"What?"
"You're going to try to speak to those boys."
"No, I'm gonna scare them into not being little shits."
Regina smiled, taking a small bite of her apple slice.
"Thank you. For wanting to defend him. But he needs to learn to defend himself. No matter how much I'd like to punish those boys myself."
"He said something to me before, about liking 'girl' things. I don't want him to change what he likes just because it's not… I don't know, what all the other guys are doing. I don't want him to feel pressured by societal expectations."
Regina sighed, nodding. She was under no illusions about her son's sexuality. She's known since he was four that he was a little more… feminine than most typical boys. He enjoyed dressing up, liked tea parties, gravitated towards pinks and pastel colours. He liked to dance and sing and wear feather boas. Her heels had become his favourite obsession at the age of 6, and when he was 8, she'd found him rifling through her make up. They'd had a quick chat about gender, Regina wondering for some time if perhaps Henry felt he was a girl, but he'd quickly set her straight with his answer of No, mom. I'm a boy. I like my penis. I just like your make-up too. She'd had to stifle a laugh at his innocent, yet honest response. So Henry was a boy, who was a bit feminine, and who would, in all likelihood, like other boys when he got older.
"He's a good kid. It pisses me off that he's being bullied for the shit he likes," Emma said, irritated.
"Children can be cruel. Luckily, we live in a world where children who don't conform to gender norms are becoming more accepted. However, he will continue to cross many bigoted people in his life, despite this, and as much as I'd like to shelter him from it all (and truly, Regina did, for it made her heart ache that her son was taunted for being himself), I can't. He needs to learn to defend himself and to navigate the bigots he will encounter in his life. As he ages, his penchant for more feminine things will become less and less acceptable to his peers. They'll be less tolerant and as the other boys begin to play sports and Henry, well, chooses to join a choir or the drama club, that will only increase their taunting. Or, hopefully by that point, there will be another wave of acceptance and he will not be targeted."
Regina blinked back tears, taking a sip of her water before continuing.
"Until then, I want to encourage his interests. I want him to have all of the singing and the dancing games he wants. I want his home to be a place where he is free to enjoy all the things he wants, even if he refuses to admit he enjoys them. And if I have to put up with the tantrum he may have that dancing is a girl's game, that he really doesn't want it, and to return it, I'll endure his tantrum, just as I have in the past when the voices of those around him invaded his thoughts and told him he shouldn't like something because he was a boy. So he'll have a fit, become angry, lash out. And then I'll forgive him when he comes and apologises and tells me that he truly does want the game, and he's sorry. I will put up with all of it until he understands that his mother will love him despite his interest in girl things, or maybe even because of them. I want him to learn there is nothing wrong with him."
And Regina would, she'd put up with every tantrum and every fit and every tear so that her son could eventually enjoy the things he wanted to enjoy. Because she knew he was struggling. She knew he was fighting himself, that he was trying not to like the things that he liked. He had tried to play with BB guns and GI Joes and footballs. But he didn't like them. And it was obvious he didn't like them. Regina had bought him those toys for his 9th birthday (at Henry's request), but he hadn't played with any of them. So when that Christmas rolled around and they went through the toy store and he'd stopped before the Easy Bake Oven, had looked and looked and wanted, despite his insistence that pfft, no. That's for girls.
Regina had bought it.
She had bought it and her stomach had clenched with joy at how excited Henry had become, his eyes lighting up and the grin etching wide of his face, squealing that he'd gotten an Easy Bake Oven! Until he had calmed down and then his face had changed, had become somber, and he'd pushed the box away and then yelled that Easy Bake Ovens were for girls. Screamed that he wasn't a girl and he didn't want girl things. It had taken a lot of tears and a tantrum and his being sent to his room for his rude words (he could express himself, yes, but not disrespectfully), and an hour of calming down before he'd come back downstairs, crying, and flung himself at Regina to apologise for his behaviour and admit that yes, he had desperately wanted that Easy Bake Oven. It had remained their secret, Regina kept under strict rules to keep the box carefully hidden at the back of the pantry, behind the extra tablecloths. And if anyone were to find it, she had promised that she'd say it was hers, that she'd wanted it, and she'd kept it hidden for fear of being mocked for wanting a children's toy.
Regina would do anything for her son, would endure anything (besides rude or disrespectful behaviour) because he was worth it. He was starting to struggle to accept himself, and Regina knew it was only going to get worse, but she wanted Henry to know that she accepted him no matter what, that she would love him unconditionally.
Emma was pretty sure she had just fallen in love. Okay, maybe not actually, but God damn she was swooning. Hearing this woman talk so passionately about her son, the way she was so accepting of him, it made Emma's heart swell. She wanted to lean forward and kiss Regina for how wonderful a mother she was. Instead, she reached out and grabbed Regina's hand, squeezing it.
"You're an amazing mother. He is so lucky to have you."
Regina smiled, pulling her hand away when Emma let it go. She ignored the way her skin burned where Emma had touched her, instead focusing down on her last two pieces of apple. Her heart was swollen in her chest, heavy with the emotions that always surfaced when she spoke about her son.
"I'm the lucky one."
"I'm glad you bought him the games. Maybe we can make a night of it when I get back, and I can finally make good on dancing those circles around you."
Regina smiled widely then, her grin matching Emma's.
"You're on."