It wasn't lasagna. It was pork chops with apple chutney because Madam Mayor loves trolling Emma and because it was apparently a nutritionally appropriate meal. Henry was excited to have dinner with his moms, especially since they seemed to be getting along. They talked about how his riding lessons were going, and which teachers he liked at school, and Emma was actually surprised how much Regina seemed to be able to get out of Henry that she'd never even thought to ask.

She found herself admiring the easy affection between the two of them, wondering how they slipped so easily into it given how tense and horrible the previous year had been. The answer, Emma realized of course, was that this was how they'd been before she showed up. Before the book. And she felt a bit guilty.

But not entirely. Evil Queen and curse and all.

They cleared the dishes and Regina and Henry loaded the dish washer after Henry had deemed Emma to be doing it incorrectly. Sometimes he did remind her of Regina.

"This was nice." He announced. "It's good to see my moms getting along."

"You mean not killing each other?" Emma remarked.

"You aren't killing each other, right?" Henry asked glancing between them. "You two keep looking at each other but I don't think it's murder."

Regina laughed a little uneasily. "No, but we did want to talk to you about something."

"Something's wrong. That's why we're having ice cream." Henry stated.

"No... we're having ice cream because ... I wanted it." Regina admitted and Emma realized that she was actually scared. No, terrified.

"Your mom and I, we've been talking a lot lately."

"Because of me."

"Yes, it started because of you. But we've started to wonder if maybe we might like each other ... in other ways."

Regina looked like she was about to turn green, and Henry looked between them as she spoke. "What Emma is trying to find a way of saying Henry, is that she and I would like to date. I didn't want to do that without telling you so you didn't think we were lying to you about anything."

Emma had to admire how straightforward that was, and mentally erased the rather convoluted way she had been planning to word it.

"Date." Henry said quietly.

"You know, how when two people..." Emma began, but he scrunched his face...

"Mom I'm 12 not 6. I know what dating means." He looked up at Regina with questioning eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"I wanted to be honest with you. I'm trying not to lie to you about things anymore." She said quietly.

"No, why are you doing this? Is this some sort of game to beat the savior? I don't understand, the curse is already broken..."

Emma looked over at Regina and she felt like she could hear the other woman's heart breaking a little. "It's not a game Henry. She isn't trying to hurt me."

He looked between the two of them and ran up stairs to his room, closing the door. Emma made a move to go after him but Regina caught her arm. "Give him a few minutes and I'll go up. He runs when he needs some space to think."

Emma raised an eyebrow.

"I did actually learn a few things last year."

Regina finished the dishes, and dried off her hands without saying anything, but brushed off Emma's attempt to give her a comforting touch on the arm. She glanced at her watch and nodded up stairs.

"How do you know he wants to talk?"

"He didn't go running out the door to sit in that death trap you call a car."

Emma nodded and put a hand on Regina's, "I don't think you are trying to hurt me."

Regina rewarded her with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "The irony here is that the person who is most in danger of having their heart broken is me." Emma raised an eyebrow, but Regina continued. "Your favorite coping mechanism is running away, and I don't get over things easily. As I think can be demonstrated by where we are standing."

"Your kitchen?"

"Maine."

"Point taken." Emma wanted to somehow reassure her, but the truth was she was mostly stuck on the fact that Regina thought she might get her heart broken. Was she afraid of the commitment or how invested was she already. "Should we go up together?"

"You can listen at the door, but I think this is a conversation I should have with my son."

Regina inhaled as she knocked on the door and opened it a crack. Henry was reading a book on his bed, but at least it wasn't the book. "I think maybe we should talk."

"Are you going to say that I hurt your feelings by asking you that?"

"You did hurt me, but it wasn't an invalid concern, so I thought we should talk about it." She sat down on the edge of his bed. "If you don't want us to date, we won't. That's part of the reason I wanted to tell you."

He put down his book and looked at her, "Is it about the curse? Or magic? Are you going to get something out of this? Are you trying to hurt my mom... or is this about grandma and grandpa?"

Regina inhaled. "The curse is broken, and despite everything I think I'm much better for it. I'm not mad at Emma for breaking it. I'm... actually rather grateful."

Henry looked confused, "Grateful?"

Regina offered a little smile. "I had you, but you didn't know who I was. And I worried... all the time really... that you'd hate me if you knew. It turned out you did hate me, but I think... hope," She hated using that word, "That you can also forgive me. I couldn't have that chance if the curse hadn't been broken."

"You aren't trying to hurt her?"

"No... I like Emma very much. I'm not sure how it will work out but I'd like to try and see. But not if you aren't okay with this." She tilted her head. "Henry, I'm really trying to be the best version of myself. That's ... maybe not the person you'd like me to be, and sometimes I'll make mistakes."

She put a hand on his foot and inhaled before continuing on. "Sometimes I do things to hurt other people and sometimes I hurt other people because I make mistakes."

"Why do you have to hurt anyone at all?"

Regina closed her eyes, "Sometimes I get angry, but mostly, because everyone hurts other people. Even without meaning to," She leaned forward a little as if sharing a secret, "Your grandmother and I... we hurt each other on purpose but I don't think those are the times we really wound each other. It's the times we hurt each other by accident that last."

"Grandma's not going to react well to this."

"No." Regina agreed. "But that's not why I want to date Emma."

"Why do you want to date her?"

Regina glanced over at the door where she knew Emma was listening and quietly got up from where she was sitting and closed it. Henry quickly picked up on why, and she walked back over to sit by him and spoke softer. "I think I might be in love with Emma, and I want, maybe, to see if I can be in love with someone and not drive them to run away."

"I'm not running away." He said quietly.

"You did for a long time." She answered without the hurt that might have been there before.

"I'm not now." He reached over and squeezed her hand. "You really think you love her?"

"I've ... known it for quite some time."

"But you were fighting."

"I've been fighting your grandmother for a long time too. I really need to stop fighting the people I love, don't you think?"

He raised an eyebrow himself.

"And if you repeat what I just said about Snow I'll deny it."

He smiled. "Our secret."