TLC = Tender Loving Care

Emma woke up even later than normal. She was very relieved it was Saturday now and didn't have to go into work. Especially after yesterday. Therapy had taken a turn for the better but just as they were leaving, David called her in to help deal with Sidney. The paperwork and all the technicalities of moving him back to the hospital cells were more involved than she would have liked and it had been very time consuming. By the time she got home, everyone was already asleep.

She got changed before making her way downstairs, hoping to come in contact with that wonderful smell of Regina's food. Well she was disappointed. She checked the entire bottom floor, but there was no one in sight. Frowning, she headed back in the kitchen and rested her hands on the counter. Then she saw the note left sitting there. Raising her eyebrows, Emma picked up the paper and read.

Emma,

Took Henry on a few errands. We'll be having brunch at Granny's at ten if you can wake yourself in time.

Regina

It was short, simply and to the point. Yet Emma stood with a smile on her face. Even if the tone was a bit snarky, Regina had still invited Emma along, and that made the blonde happy regardless. It showed that one: Regina was not angry about her public and very unexpected kiss. And two: They had taken another step forward in their relationship.

Relationship. Emma wondered when exactly she had started calling it that. They were forming one for show, yes. But when had it actually become the description of their drunken mistake? Probably when she started kissing her wife like she had every right to. But she did, didn't she? Technically at least. Emma kept thinking through that one. She almost forgot she had a brunch date to get to and realizing it was almost ten, grabbed her jacket and ran for the door.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." Henry said before running to the back. Regina hung up her coat by the door and walked over to a booth.

"Hey there Madam Mayor." Ruby greeted, pen and pad in hand.

"Miss Lucas." She inclined her head. "Can I just have a coffee for the moment?"

"Absolutely. Still waiting on people?"

"Yes. Henry is in the back and I assume Emma will be able to drag herself out of bed at some point this morning." She gave a small eye roll, but it seemed to be lacking her usual disdain.

"It's good to see you two out together so much." She smiled and Regina eyed her curiously.

"This was your idea, was it not?" She lowered her voice just slightly.

"Well yeah, but I'm still surprised at how it's going. I was sure you would have Emma under your thumb but after yesterday-"

"Wait, what are you referring to?" She asked with narrowed eyes and Ruby took a cautionary step back.

"Oh nothing I just…uh…"

"What is it Miss Lucas?"

"I saw you two…when I was out running."

"Saw us what?" She asked carefully and Ruby took an extra second to answer before reasoning that she needed to stop being so afraid of the woman.

"I saw Emma kiss you silly." She crossed her arms and grinned down and the Mayor. Regina was doing her best to control her reddening cheeks.

"She did not 'kiss me silly'." Regina felt ridiculous even uttering the phrase.

"Really? Cause that was a pretty silly expression on your face."

"Oh my God, you are as ridiculous as my- Emma." She stopped herself from saying wife and encouraging the girl further, but Ruby was already biting her lip with a grin.

"Your Emma? Well perhaps my earlier hypothesis wasn't completely incorrect."

"I didn't- That's not what I meant-"

"Don't worry Regina, she's all yours. I'm gonna go grab that coffee."

"No. Ruby." Regina hissed after her but the younger brunette was already moving quickly back to the other side of the restaurant.

"Are you okay?" Henry questioned as he approached the table.

"Yes sweetheart. Why don't you figure out what you're having for breakfast." She gave him a smile, but as he looked down at the menu, her eyes turned to glare at the young waitress. Luckily for Ruby, before she could be berated, there was a ding from the bell above the door and Emma came strutting through.

"Oh hey, your Emma's here." Ruby looked at Henry but was clearly saying it for the Mayor's benefit and the woman was gritting her teeth. "Hi Emma." She turned towards the blonde who mirrored Regina's earlier curious gaze at the waitress.

"Hey, Rubes. Sorry I'm late." She looked back to the table and took the seat next to Regina again.

"I'll give you all another minute." Ruby gave one last smile before disappearing again.

"Hey can I go talk to August?" Henry asked, pointing to where the red headed boy was sitting with Marco.

"Sure, Henry. You want waffles?" She asked and he nodded happily before running off again.

Ruby came back a moment later and took their order. Regina was still eyeing her warily, hoping the girl would not repeat her words in front of Emma. She was relieved when the waitress simply wrote down their food and walked away without another word.

"You okay?" Emma gave a little nudge to Regina, wondering about the looks she had shot Ruby.

"I'm fine." She tried to shrug her off but Emma tilted her head and kept her eyes on Regina's face.

"Tell me." She insisted and Regina sighed.

"It's nothing. I just realized that you're little friend over there may just be more immature than you."

"No kidding?" Emma asked with a smile and Regina shook her head.

"Maybe not more." She added with a small smile.

"Hey, I haven't done anything immature."

"Today." Regina laughed and Emma dropped her jaw in fake offence.

"Ah, I can't imagine why you would say such a thing. After all, you were the one who made Pongo attack my face." Emma was still smiling and her voice was playful.

"You wanted a kiss, I gave you one. You're welcome." Regina lifted her chin.

"Well you don't give very good kisses." Emma crossed her arms and neither woman realized or cared how childish they looked.

"Oh I assure you I do."

"I don't believe it."

"You are not challenging me on this." Regina said disbelievingly and Emma smirked.

"Well we both know I'm an excellent kisser." She gave a cocky grin and Regina blinked a few times.

"I cannot believe we are actually having this discussion." She turned back in the booth to face the front but Emma kept smiling.

"I can't believe you keep trying to change the subject."

"I am not."

"Are too."

"You sound like a five year old."

"I know you are, but what am I?" Emma was grinning so hard her face hurt.

"Okay, that is enough." Regina chided.

"I'll stop if you admit I'm an excellent kisser."

"I am not going to do that." Regina insisted seriously.

"If you don't, then I'll be forced to prove myself. Right here. Right now." Emma looked pointedly around the diner. It wasn't nearly as full as it had been the last time, but there were still plenty of people scattered about.

"Wait…you are not thinking of-" She started, looking down at Emma's lips.

"Yes, I am. Now tell me I'm an excellent kisser." She leaned in closer and Regina was debating what the lesser of two evils would be in this case. She was just opening her mouth when-

"Here you are." Ruby walked up with her arms full, setting the three plates down carefully. Regina started to smile, feeling prematurely relieved. "Anything else?"

"Oh hold on a sec, Rubes. Regina was just about to say something." Emma looked back at Regina, biting her lip to control herself as she anxiously awaited what Regina's reaction would be.

"I think you're mistaken, dear." She spoke through clenched teeth, trying to think of a way out of this. She considered using magic, but didn't think that would go over well with the blonde. Surprisingly, she had no desire to set them back again.

"Okay." Emma said and leaned in. Regina's eyes widened as she realized Emma really was going to go through with it and kiss her right here. She shot a hand out to Emma's chest to stop the movement. Emma lifted an eyebrow expectantly.

"Um…" She started, looking between the grinning blonde and very confused waitress who hadn't budged. "You're an uh…" *clears throat* "…kiss…" *cough* She looked off to the side and Emma started shaking her head in disapproval at the lack of actual words in Regina's sentence.

"What?" Ruby asked, still unsure of what was happening. Regina's cheeks just kept getting redder and redder as her hands slipped to her lap. Before Regina could react, Emma darted forward and pressed her lips onto her cheek.

"Never mind, sorry Ruby." Emma glanced at the younger woman who was now mirroring her smile. Ruby gave a wink before going back to the counter.

"I said it." Regina all but wined and Emma rolled her eyes.

"No you did not. You have till we leave here to tell me I'm an excellent kisser or I'm gonna kiss you so passionately right here in the diner, I swear." She spoke confidently and Regina's breathing deepened just slightly.

For some reason Regina couldn't possibly fathom, that sparked just a bit of a feeling she didn't want to acknowledge. She looked back down at her food, trying to distract herself. She didn't notice when Emma's expression changed from cocky to curious. She had gotten this feeling from Regina before and couldn't help as her face turned smug again. Seemed Regina wasn't quite as against kissing as she pretended.

Henry joined them again and they started to eat. They stayed on normal, generic topics of conversation in hopes of avoiding all the heavy areas both women had been involved in the past week. Henry was good to keep up most of the talking and it was becoming more and more clear that he was truly enjoying having them both together like this. Both women had stayed somewhat distracted the entire time until one word caught their attention.

"Grandma?"

Both of them perked up to see his gaze focused behind them. While Emma turned in her seat on the end to face her mother, Regina stayed looking forward.

"Hi." Mary Margaret started, as she made her way top their table. She seemed to take an extra second to take in the view of the two women sitting next to each other with Henry on the side.

"Hey you wanna sit with us?" Henry asked, not feeling any of the awkwardness of the others. Mary Margaret smiled and looked at Emma.

"Yeah, why don't you take a seat." Emma purposefully avoided looking at Regina, already pretty positive of what she would see. Mary Margaret looked a bit uncomfortable as she took the seat next to Henry.

"So I see you're feeling better, Regina." She inclined her head at the woman and Regina gave one curt nod in response.

"Uh yeah, Granny gave us the recipe of some special tea of hers. It really did the trick." Emma gave a small smile as she picked at her food on the plate.

"Well that's great. And thank you for calling the school. At least I'm assuming you did, considering they were rather insistent that I start immediately again Monday." She gave a easier smile now as she recollected the principal's phone call.

"Yes well, somehow Mrs. Johnson was a worse option to teach my son than you." She said with the hint of a sneer and Emma gave her a disapproving nudge that was completely ignored. Mary Margaret dropped the timid nature now.

"I'm surprised you two weren't fast friends. What with the whole evil stepmother thing in common."

"Mom." Emma narrowed her eyes a the woman who seemed to just realize what she said.

"Sorry." She muttered. "Anyway, I was hoping we could talk about the festival."

The moment she said the words, both women across the table rose their eye brows. Emma just shook her head, realizing how distracted she had been over the last few weeks. But Regina was completely displaying the oh shit look, she rarely let slip. She hadn't put any thought into it at all since before they got married. Of all the crap she had been working on in the office, she hadn't even had time to make it to the public activity.

"You forgot." Mary Margaret said simply, looking between them both.

"I did not forget, I have simply had quite a bit on my plate recently. If I didn't have to leave work twice a week for therapy, I may have been able to get through my work and focus on the festival."

"I thought there was a committee that handled all that?" Emma interjected, not wanting the women to break out into a fist fight at Granny's.

"Yes, but for starters, we need all the town officials to participate." She looked pointedly between them again. "And it's the Mayor's job to assign their positions."

"Positions?" Emma glanced over at Regina and back to her mother.

"Yes, who runs what booth. Like the games, food, bobbing for apples."

"We can have the same people running those as every other year. Everyone already knows what they are supposed to do." Regina gave the most logical politicians answer.

"Yes, but not all will be filled. Ashley has her husband and baby now, she doesn't want to do the dunking booth."

"Then I will have Miss Lucas do it. I'm sure she'll be fine running around in a wet t-shirt." She gave a small smile at that.

"Then who will run the kissing booth?" Mary Margaret folded her hands on the table with her head tilted and Regina was about to bite back an answer when she cut herself off. Slowly, a deep smirk formed as her eyes moved over to the suddenly scared blonde next to her.

"Oh, I have the perfect candidate for that." She was practically beaming as the thrill of revenge coursed through her. Emma picked the wrong day to mess with her. She lifted a hand and clapped it down on Emma's shoulder.

"You want Emma to run the kissing booth?" Mary Margaret looked a little incredulous.

"Yeah, I don't think that would look very professional." Emma lifted her hands, racking her brain for a way out of this.

"Nonsense, dear. It's a wonderful way to bring the community together." She couldn't stop smiling even if she wanted to. Which she didn't. There were few things these days that satisfied her more than seeing Emma so embarrassed.

"I don't know if she'd be the best person for that job." Mary Margaret said and Emma would have been annoyed had she not been so desperate to get Regina to change her mind.

"Oh I think she will be." She looked at Emma again and waited until she had the girl's full attention. "Apparently, she's an excellent kisser." She couldn't have been more satisfied at the look on the blonde's face. The girl had no response.

"Everything okay here?" Ruby approached slowly, noting the strange assortment of expressions on the table of four.

"Yes dear, we were just talking about the festival. I assume you'll be okay working in the dunking booth and letting our Sheriff take your old position." She smiled sweetly and Ruby glanced at Emma before grinning evilly.

"Why Madam Mayor, I think that is an excellent idea. I think Charlie will appreciate it as well."

"Thank you Miss Lucas. Then it is settled." She gave an approving nod to Ruby, unaware the younger brunette agreed for a different reason than she thought. But that will come later.

"Great." Emma's voice was strained as she spoke the word. She turned towards Ruby and mouthed "traitor" before facing front again. Ruby just skipped happily away, not a care in the world.

"Well, um, okay then." Mary Margaret was back to uncomfortable as she stood from the table. "It would probably do well for you two to actually come to a committee meeting." She raised her eyebrows at them.

"Well of course we will." Emma was feeling a little defensive now.

"Regina? Will you be at the next meeting?"

"Yes, Miss Blanchard." She lost some of her joy in answering the woman, but did like using her old title. "We will."

"Great." She clapped her hands together. "See you this afternoon." She started to walk away.

"Wait, this afternoon? As in today?" Emma stood up as well and her mother turned to face her again.

"Yes Sweetie. Three o'clock in the school gymnasium. See you there." She repeated her slightly condescending smile before spinning and walking out of the diner.

"Soooo…" Henry started, gaining his mothers' attention. "…can I hang out with August for the day then? They're going to the park." He shrugged, once again, completely unbothered by the situation. If there was one thing both mothers appreciated about the Neverland experience, it was how he had learned to be more of a kid and less of a conspiracy theorist. They glanced at each other, but the decision was easy.

"Sure kid, as long as Marco is okay with it." Emma smiled at him as he ran over to the pair, sending a nod back to them after seemingly asking permission to play with them for the day.

"Well this should be interesting." Regina muttered as she moved towards the door for her jacket. Emma came up and started to pass her.

"I'm telling Archie on you." She said before walking out. Regina knit her brow and followed quickly behind.

"What do you mean, telling on me?" She quickened her pace more to walk side by side with Emma.

"I'm telling him you did this and he's gonna give you a speech and I can't wait." Emma knew she sounded completely childish, she just chose not to be fazed by it.

"No he isn't."

"Yeah huh. He's gonna say it's not "productive to our relationship" and crap like that."

"Oh okay, and trying to trick me into saying you're a good kisser is helpful and mature."

"Saying what?" Emma asked with a pseudo confused expression.

"You're a good kisser."

"I knew you thought so." Emma smirked and Regina groaned.

"See? You're doing it again."

"Fine then tell me I'm not." She stopped and Regina followed suit, facing her on the sidewalk.

"What?"

"Tell me I'm not a good kisser. I'll know if you're lying or not." She tilted her head and crossed her arms, waiting patiently.

"This is ridiculous." Regina matched her, folding her arms over her chest and shaking her head dismissively.

"You're stalling again."

"I am not stalling."

"Okay, then say it." Again, Emma was biting back a grin.

"Fine." She bit out. "You are…not a good kisser." She kept her face completely devoid of any emotion. An award winning poker face. If only that had anything to do with Emma's super power, she may have pulled it off.

Emma started smiling wider and wider. She took a small step forward, then another. She moved until she was completely consumed in Regina's personal space bubble and still didn't stop. She dipped her head and tilted it to the side, bringing her lips just to the shell of Regina's ear.

"Liar." She whispered, and smirked at Regina's shiver in response. She pulled back slowly and Regina turned her head to the side, shaking it irritatingly.

"I…I'm going to the office." She turned swiftly and Emma watched after her.

"See ya at three, babe!" Emma waved at her flustered wife before walking happily back to her car.

Regina walked up to her office, happy the building was relatively empty on a Saturday. She figure she'd get a bit caught up on a few things and look over the plans for the festival so she wouldn't be behind at the meeting. The last thing she needed was another reason for little Snow White to look down on her.

She had mixed emotions at the moment. She was so overwhelmingly thrilled with herself for finding a way to get back at Emma. Forcing her to silence that loud, overconfident mouth and let anyone kiss her for an entire day. Regina was still smiling at the thought of Emma's face when each of the seven dwarves lined up for a smooch.

Then again, Emma still had way too much control in this relationship. She was way too cocky and always seemed to leave every conversation with that stupid grin. Whatever competition they lived in, Emma seemed to claim victory after every encounter. Regina was really getting tired of that, but had no idea how to change the situation.

"Madam Mayor!" Jessica squeaked, startling Regina. The brunette had been completely consumed in her thoughts and did not notice the girl there.

"Jessica? What are you doing here? It a weekend." She shook her head.

"Yes, well the office is just a little behind, so I wanted to make sure we were back on track by Monday."

"You mean I am behind?" She raised and eyebrow and Jessica lifted her hands.

"No, of course not. We all work for you, it's no one's fault." She quickly amended.

"I see. Well, as long as you're here, can you bring me all the information pertaining to the festival. Anything I need to look over, approve, sign…"

"Yes, yes, I'll be in in just a second." She smiled happily before dropping back to her desk and sifting though papers. Regina just ignored the overly enthusiastic woman and went back to her office. It took only a few moments before the red head was running back in.

"Thank you." Regina replied distractedly as she finished up a form.

"No problem. Anything else I can do?"

"Yes, can you pull out the booth assignments?" She didn't touch the pile, just pointing before looking back down.

"Yes, I got them right here."

"Great, go ahead and keep all the same stations and attendants from last year except I want Ruby Lucas in the dunking booth, and I want Miss Swan in the kissing booth." She couldn't help the small smile, but Jessica rose her eyebrows.

"Really? You want your wife in the kissing booth?" She clarified, watching the mayor closely.

"Yes." She replied immediately.

"Well, you are way more trusting than me." She started as she took the seat across from Regina and began writing. "I could never let my boyfriend be kissed by the whole town." She spoke casually and Regina glanced up a few times, confused at what had changed in their dynamic to make this girl think they were friends. That was certainly the way Jessica acted and Regina wasn't sure how to stop it without evoking the Evil Queen.

"That's nice, dear." She kept her eyes down, trying to look busy enough that Jessica would keep quiet out of respect. No such luck.

"Yeah I mean, I trust Charlie, but when you look that good-"

"Charlie?" Regina perked up, dropping her pen.

"Yeah, that's my boyfriend's name."

"Is that Charlie who was a Knight...in the Enchanted Forest?"

"Yes." She looked off dreamily.

"How long have you two been together?" She took Jessica slightly by surprise, but the red head quickly shook it off in the joy that her boss was showing an interest.

"A few months now." She shrugged.

"And you…you see each other often?" She leaned forward slightly, catching Jessica off guard yet again.

"Well we both keep pretty busy, but we find time for one another. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, dear…" Regina sighed at the realization that she was getting much too soft. "Put the file down, Jessica."

Wifey Regina is getting soft. Gonna have to have a few talks with her new friends.. Hope you enjoyed, please Review!